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/
I’ve been trying saw palmetto for the extra body hair. I haven’t seen any results yet but I have only been on it for a couple of months. Yeah, all of those things are so lovely aren’t they?
The reality, IMO, is that physicians and drug companies have no idea what the long-term affect of most drugs is. They’re testing drugs on smaller groups for shorter periods of time. Physicians blow you off when you report side effects. Check out the website: www.askapatient.com or read the FDA report on your medications. The insert, that comes with the drug, is only part of the story.
Type in the name of the medication and see what side effects hundreds of patients have experienced. The majority tried to report the side effects to their physicians and were blown off. Buyer beware! In my experience, physicians listen to you for about five minutes, hand you two or three prescriptions, and send you on your way. They have no idea what is wrong with you and you end up taking poison while supporting drug companies. All this before DeathCare starts. Just imagine the horror of DeathCare when your visit is cut to one minute.
In the eyes of the nobles in politics, it is a matter of risk benefit. They are willing to risk the lives of serfs to help control them. Part of the homo thing may be estrogens but consider how the behavior is marketed by hollywood and the PC crowd—homos don’t reproduce either.
If the regular old pill can do this, I have to wonder what kind of damage is going to be done by these new contraceptives that reduce menstruation to just 4 times a year.
Then, of course, there is the added benefit of birth control and poverty prevention!!!
Why? It would seem to be safe if used in moderation. No different from sugar.
Interesting article from the ADA. Anyway, those of us with PCOS can't consume any type of sugar even in moderation. If we consume what normally would be moderate, our PCOS becomes worse. The problem that I see with HFCS is that it is in everything! Read your labels. It will be in things that it has no business being in. HFCS does not need to be in yogurt, granola bars, etc. I expect it to be in soda, but not food that people typically look at as “healthy.” It is added because it extends product shelf life. I really don't want to eat something that has unnecessary sweeteners and has a shelf life of 68 years.
Okay, understand. It’s not that HFC is any worse than sugar - it’s just that it gets added a lot to packaged foods, and you need to avoid it just like you avoid sugar. Makes sense.
I read a story with an environmentalist interviewed about that once. He said something like, "Yeah, well, we know it affects the environment, but we can't really expect people to change their behavior in that way".
Nah. Not about fornicating, no. Just about driving, heating, cooling, cooking, eating, turning on lights, using the toilet, etc. etc. etc.
One report on tv recently, I am thinking Dr Oz show, is that with sugar you feel full- while with HFCS you do not so you continue eating longer.
Yes, the problem is those calories are hidden and hard to count. I lost 75 lbs since last summer by counting calories and looking for the HFCS so that it may be included as part of my caloric intake count.
Oh gosh, I'm a guy, and don't get me started on the Pill and PCOS. It's GROSS maltreatment. You're right....they don't fix the underlying cause AT ALL. They just shove the pill down your throat, which fixes precisely nothing so then they can sell you MORE meds for fertility.
Natural this and natural that nowadays...and yet doctors are still pushing it as if it were a good thing to be screwing up people's natural reproductive cycles with artificial hormones. And these pious little enviro-nuts. Are you people flipping kidding me? You insist on eating only organic food, you won't touch transfats and HFCS, and you are on the freaking Pill????
Sorry, had to rant there. But I'm delighted to hear you are getting good treatment now. :)
My wife and I have 3 beautiful daughters gifted to us in the span of 3 years. She was on the pill for 2 of them.
What I find most interesting is that the promise of the “pill” has not materialized. Was the goal to increase promiscuity which greatly expands the spread of sexual disease and the rate at which new venereal diseases evolve?
We have even more out of wedlock pregnancies and broken families. The cost it can be argued is far greater than had we just kept with the idea of controlling oneself sexually and dealing with the consequences. We have more abortions than we ever did before which you would think would not even be necessary.
The pill also has been found to mess with women’s natural hormone balance and make them less likely to choose men who are good for forming families. The pill has benefits but it has been one of many things that is is destroying our culture and eroding our civilization.
I think the pill makes sex less enjoyable. There have been studies that show this. I don’t like my wife much when she is on the pill. Not because I want her constantly barefoot and pregnant it is just she is more moody, demanding, and less intimate. People get all up in arms about about men taking steroids but women taking something that screws with their natural hormones is fine because it gives them “power” over their bodies. We live in a culture of denial on sex and it isn’t for lack of openness it is because of a lack of the reality of it and its purpose. The left has used it as a wedge to divide and a wedge to shape the culture towards one that is more dependent on bureaucrats and experts where our forbears had no necessity that they be sex educated they seemed to work it out with strong communities and a little thing called shame.
Deserves repeating!
The real tragedy of “The Pill” is how it has swept away eons of female behavior.
This has been ignored for quite some time...
Anything that interferes with the promise of unrestrained promiscuity is ignored.
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