Dear Friends:
Some people will be celebrating the birth control pill's 50th birthday
next year, but they probably won't be cancer patients and survivors
whose health was damaged by the pill. The Sun-Times News Group is
kicking off the celebration early with a story by Jeanne Millsap that
contains many inaccuracies. Her story is entitled, "The pill's
versatility."
Millsap quotes obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Mary Fitzgibbon of Provena
St. Joseph Medical Center who encourages teens to take the pill during
the most cancer-susceptible time of their lives to treat acne,
irregular menstrual periods and menstrual cramps. Irregular menstrual
periods are beneficial in reducing breast cancer risk because, by
having fewer cycles, the young woman is exposed to less estrogen.
Cramps can be treated with ibuprophen, and acne can be treated with
antibiotics.
Fitzgibbon is wrong about the protective effect of the pill against
colon cancer. You can read Millsap's article and our letter to the
editors of the Sun-Times News Group's newspapers below.
Sincerely,
Karen Malec
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
ABORTION-BREAST CANCER NEWS HEADLINES
Letter to editor
Sun-Times News Group
Re: "The pill's versatility," by Jeanne Milsap, 9/2/09. Available at:
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/lifestyles/1746742,4_5_JO02_PILL_S1-090902.article
Dear editor:
It's unwise to advise patients to take a carcinogen to prevent cancer.
Dr. Mary Fitzgibbon claimed the pill reduces the risk of some cancers
("The pill's versatility," 9/2/09). However, far more Americans die
annually from cancers the pill causes than cancers it prevents.
In 2005, World Health Organization scientists said the pill containing
estrogen and progestin increases breast, liver and cervical cancer
risk, but decreases endometrial and ovarian cancer risk. They wrote,
"Most combined contraceptives are taken orally, but they can also be
delivered by injection, transdermal patch or vaginal ring." [1,2]
In 2006, Mayo Clinic Proceedings' meta-analysis found a 44% increased
risk in premenopausal breast cancer for the pill's users before first
full term pregnancy (FFTP). [3]
Nearly all of the breast lobules are cancer susceptible before FFTP.
The latest issue of The Linacre Quarterly says breast cells don't
become cancer resistant until they undergo lactation. During the last
months of FFTP, the fetus produces hormones that mature 85% of the
mother's lobules into permanently cancer-resistant lobules. The journal
says:
"[A]fter the Hiroshima atomic bomb exposed women to high doses of
radiation, it was young, nulliparous (childless) women who later
developed breast cancer while the older parous women (with children)
did not." [4]
Cancer-causing, steroidal hormones shouldn't be peddled to teens during
the most cancer-susceptible period of their lives. Alternative
treatments for acne and cramps are available.
Professor Joel Brind (Baruch College, City University of New York)
corrected Fitzgibbon's false claim that the pill reduces colon cancer
risk by 25%. He said:
"Not only has no such decreased risk of colon cancers for oral
contraceptives (the pill) users been established, but the largest and
most recent study of over 1/4 million Chinese women published this year
revealed a statistically significant 56% increased risk of colon cancer
among women who had taken the pill for 10 years or more." [5,6]
Sincerely,
Karen Malec
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
References:
1. International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC Monographs on the
Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. Available at: http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Classification/crthgr01.php
2. Cogliano V, Grosse Y, Baan R, Secretan B, El Ghissassi F.
Carcinogenicity of combined oestrogen-progestagen contraceptives and
menopausal treatment. Lancet Oncology 2005;6:552-553.
3. Kahlenborn C, Modugno F. Potter D, Severs W. Oral contraceptive use
as a risk factor for premenopausal breast cancer: A meta-analysis. Mayo
Clinic Proceedings2006;81(10):1290-1302. Available at: <http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/pdf/8110/8110a1.pdf>.
4. Lanfranchi, A. Normal breast physiology: The reasons hormonal
contraceptives and induced abortion increase breast cancer risk. The
Linacre Quarterly 2009;76:236-249.
5. Private communication with Professor Joel Brind.
6. Rosenblatt KA et al. Oral contraceptives and their risk of all
cancers combined and site specific cancers in Shanghai. Cancer Causes
and Control 2009;20:27-34.
#####
The Coalition on
Abortion/Breast Cancer is an international women's organization
founded to protect the health and save the lives of women by educating
and providing information on abortion as a risk factor for breast
cancer.
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make tax-deductible, credit card donations. Donations can be mailed to:
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P.O. Box
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FURTHER INFORMATION:
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