Posted on 06/01/2010 5:35:13 AM PDT by Daniel T. Zanoza
Dr. Chris Kahlenborn is the lead author of the Mayo Clinic Proceeding’s article cited below. Kahlenborn testified before the FDA in June of 2000 regarding the link between oral contraceptives and breast cancer.
May 2010 marked the 50th anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the birth control pill in the United States. Newspapers and magazines around the country ran stories on this, mostly extolling the social and medical benefits of the pill. This theme was bolstered by a recent communiqué from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) which noted: “The pill remains one of the safest and most popular forms of contraception in the U.S.” (Office of Communications, ACOG, May 6, 2010 http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr05-06-10.cfm)
I find it disturbing that after nearly 50 years, both the media and the medical establishment have failed to give a true airing to one of the pill’s most dangerous side effects; namely, that “dirty little secret.” What’s that? One need only check the Mayo Clinic Proceedings-the major medical publication of the Mayo Clinic-to find our little-known study, which showed that the pill increases the risk of premenopausal breast cancer substantially when taken at a young age (see Mayo Clinic Proceedings: October, 2006: available to the public on line). In October, 2006, we reviewed the medical literature and combined data in an analysis (referred to as a meta-analysis): we found that 21 out of 23 studies showed that using oral contraceptives prior to a woman’s first birth resulted in a 44% increased risk in premenopausal breast cancer. Our meta-analysis remains the most recent study in this area and updates the previously analysis (the Oxford-analysis published in 1996) which relied on older data with older women (two-thirds of whom were over age 45); unfortunately, the Oxford study continues to be quoted by ACOG, textbooks, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society and most researchers and obstetricians, claiming that oral contraceptives carry little breast cancer risk especially ten years after last use.
I continue to be amazed at the discordance between the medical literature and public/medical awareness. To my dismay, after our meta-analysis was published, the Mayo Clinic sent out a press release to all major media in the country. The response?: ( ). The blank space between the parentheses is purposeful. Although our meta-analysis received scant internet coverage, almost no major media covered this study, which is shocking, given the fact that about 40,000 women in the U.S. get premenopausal breast cancer annually, oral contraceptives are an elective risk factor and our study is the most recent meta-analysis to date on the oral contraceptive-breast cancer link.
In addition to our meta-analysis, it’s important to note that the World Health Organization classified oral contraceptives as a Class I carcinogen in 2005 (i.e., the most dangerous classification). Even more data has come forth recently in a paper by several researchers-one of whom is a major researcher of the National Cancer Institute-which not only cited our meta-analysis, but found that oral contraceptives increase the risk of triple-negative breast cancer in women under forty by 320 percent (triple-negative breast cancers are extremely aggressive) (Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; April, 2009).
Few in the medical establishment or the public are aware of these data, or if they are, young women almost never hear about them. It’s been almost four years since the publication of our study in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings; I am beginning to think that our study has been effectively “buried.” Breast cancer and the pill-that dirty little secret? Some day perhaps someone in the media and/or medical establishment will dust a little dirt off those pink ribbons and let young women hear all the facts so they can finally make truly informed decisions.
* Chris Kahlenborn, MD The Polycarp Research Institute Box 105 Enola, PA 17025 717-732-4904 Drchrisk@polycarp.org http://www.polycarp.org/
The pill is politically correct. You can’t bring up facts when discussing it. Bringing up facts is misogynistic and phallocentric.
Nobody ever questions the effects of tens of millions of women pissing extra estrogen into the water stream for decades. Meanwhile, fish are all turning female and homosexuals seem to be everywhere. No connection, there, right? Has anyone even checked to see if there is?
We banned DDT for less.
Not only everything you mentioned in your post, but another little understood part of the pill is that it is not exactly fool proof either. For example, if you take anti-biotics, you can get pregnant even though taking the pill. ANd what people in general don’t realize is there is only about a 10% chance in any given month of becoming pregnant. So what it really does is cut that 10% chance down by 98%. The drug makers don’t want you to know that it isn’t really worth screwing up your body chemistry to take the thing. I took it for awhile when I was first married and had to stop because it would give me raging migraines for a week at a time....so bad that I would be vomiting and dizzy. Totally not worth it. And yet, even after I went off it, my husband and I managed not to get pregnant until such time as we wanted to.
We live in a pill driven culture. Most women figure the risks are slim and worth it...... I’ll stick with the birth control God provided me with - natural family planning.
DON’T LET YOUR BOYS EAT OR CONSUME SOY!!!!!!!!!
Now, having said that, it seems to me that Breast Cancer has a very strong political component. By that I mean that it has high profile advocates, high profile fund raising events, and lots of political baggage. The pill contributes to breast cancer. Abortion contributes to breast cancer. The feminists wail and gnash their teeth over the devastation of breast cancer -- and yet these same feminists push the Pill and Abortion relentlessly.
And to top it all off, as the Left seizes more and more control of the health care industry, the guidelines for early detection of breast cancer are tightened, meaning that more women will die young from this disease to which the "sex positive" views of the Left have made such a contribution.
They are blind to the consequences of their immoral ideology.
I tried to go back on the pill after I had my son, but stopped taking it after three days. Not only did my milk production plummet, but I felt like crap! I had been on the pill since sixteen because of irregular periods. Later I was diagnosed with PCOS and my obgyn told me that the pill would help my condition. The problem is that it doesn’t cure the condition and I had to take fertility meds to get pregnant. After searching for alternative treatments and regular chiropractic treatments, I finally have a regular cycle. The pill is the devil.
We have switched to paraben-free body and hair care products as well.
Be SURE and stay the hell away from NutriSweet....I was working for Searle Monsanto when the crap first hit the market and heard all the controversy about the lack of proper testing (which was true - they rushed it to market)...Nobody seems to care the crap causes brain cancer!
I took the pill for a very short time and had the same reaction. It would give me a headache so bad I thought my head was going to explode.
NO fake sugars in our house! My mom was diagnosed with neuropothy: she couldn’t feel part of her face. Doc told her no more fake sugars and the feeling came back! We also try to avoid high fructose corn syrup. Careful with these comments though, there are FReepers who will flame us for these comments! Also, I have heard that skim, 1%, and 2% milk is fortified with powdered milk (haven’t had enough time to research, son is teething!) and it’s not on the labels because it is an industry standard. Powdered milk increases hardening of the arteries because it has been oxidized. Rumor has it that whole milk is not fortified with any powders. I recently read Dr. David Servan-Schrieber’s Anti Cancer. It was very interesting, and he backs up his natural approach with medical studies published in places like the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Ping.
The pill has other functions in which it is prescribed by a doctor. Not to gross anyone out but my 17 year old daughter HAD the grossest periods - heavy flows, leaks and not on any type of pattern and moody as hell - until her doctor (our neighbor) suggested that we get her on the pill in order to lessen the surprises and get it on a pattern. System operating the way it should now.
Although I do understand the concern about rushing products to market before extensive testing.
If you don’t mind, what alternative treatments for PCOS worked for you? I don’t like that the only answers doctors want to give are “the Pill if you don’t want to get pregnant, fertility meds if you do”.
Here’s another possible, theorized problem:
http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/news/20080812/bad-sex-pill
Chiropractor did wonders! I combined that with STEM (the electrodes) on my lower back, which helped me with swelling in my ovaries. My chiro is wonderful and listened to my problems. I discovered that STEM helped simply by accident. I had some lower back pain and he put me on the machine. It was about the time I should have ovulated and I did ovulate that cycle. Also, nursing my son for the first year helped, IMHO. I kind of kicked my body back into gear. I go to Dr. Winer in Pittsburgh for natural help. His website is painreleaseclinic.com . He is on the radio but you can listen online if you are outside of the broadcasting area. He has been helping people for decades. You can call and ask him questions. A low GI diet has also helped my PCOS. It sucks, because PCOS makes you crave sugar, yet more sugar makes PCOS worse. The low GI diet also helps with that pooch that I got around my middle due to the PCOS.
Yeah, I’ve been figuring that out with the sugar/pcos thing... no fun at all. Hmm. Interesting.
Very interesting, I was diagnosed with PCOS after being on the pill for a few months. I went on it to regulate my period. Now I am left with all truly ugly parts of PCOS.
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