Posted on 10/22/2006 10:33:37 AM PDT by fightnight
Breast Cancer and Oral Contraception
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, which is an annual campaign to build public awareness about the disease as well as to raise funds for research.
What does this educational campaign have to do with contraception? It has to do with the fact that many types of oral contraceptives contain estrogen, a synthetic steroid believed to have a role in the development of breast cancer.[1]
Over the past two decades, multiple analyses and studies have provided convincing evidence that using oral contraceptives increases the risk of breast cancer. (See "For Further Reading" below.) The evidence keeps mounting -- a 2006 review of multiple studies reaffirmed the associated breast cancer risk.[2]
The evidence puts contraception advocates in an awkward position of having to admit that the pill isn’t as safe as it presumed to be. Yet they cannot ignore the published evidence and maintain credibility, so they simply minimize the cancer risk by making it sound insignificant. Additionally, these advocates try to “balance” out the risk by emphasizing the fact that the pill can reduce the risk of developing endometrial and ovarian cancer.
Oral contraceptives not only pose a risk for breast cancer, but for liver and cervical cancer as well. [3] Considering the associated cancer risks, one has to wonder if it really is a good idea to "treat" the healthy state of fertility with know carcinogens.
(Excerpt) Read more at noroomforcontraception.com ...
A very good point... Full story and sources can be found at the provided excerpt link..
What are your thoughts?
We might start the Breast Cancer Awareness Month by noting that testicular cancer is four times more common and then allocate more money to the former.
I thought marching orders were to pray for a link between abortion and breast cancer. Is that battle finally over and now it's time to roll out every-sperm-is-sacred?
twenty plus years of research on OC and breast cancer has nothing to do with "marching orders"..
I refuse to break my perfectly functioning body. My husband, decent man that he is, accepts all of me, and I all of him. That means our gift of fertility as well.
I refuse to contribute to Susan G. Komen foudation because they support Planned Parenthood, I am always happy to explain why. And then ask why a foundation whose goal is the erradication of breast cancer would join forces with a group who supports some of the very causes of this cancer.
Women need to stop treating themselves as guinea pigs. I embrace my whole womanhood. Doesn't mean I have children coming out my ears. Just two, although I hope for more some day. My body is not the enemy. I will not break it.
Baptist Baylor University did a massive study and found NO link between abortion and breast cancer.
>>Baptist Baylor University did a massive study and found NO link between abortion and breast cancer.
Obviously you didn't read the whole article -- try doing so.
This article has nothing to do with any breast cancer and abortion. This is about oral contraception and breast cancer..
People, please read the article before responding.. This isn't DU you know...
I read the article in its entirety before posting. Since the political hotbutton of abortion/breast cancer appears finally to have been dismissed, is this the next tactic of denying women control over their own bodies?
Yes, barefoot and pregnant!
Marching orders from whom?
susie
>>I read the article in its entirety before posting. Since the political hotbutton of abortion/breast cancer appears finally to have been dismissed, is this the next tactic of denying women control over their own bodies?
How does pointing out the fact that these synethetic steriods cause cancer have to do with women controlling their bodies?
And I wouldn't call Baylor "Baptist". It used to be. But, Baylor is to Baptists what RINOS are to Republicans.
All hormones, particularly synthetic estrogen, greatly enhance tumor growth.
Anyone who adds to those naturally produced is putting herself at risk.
Also, the Baylor study on the ABC link did not end the debate, only muddied it.
I took HRT for over ten years, first as birth control in the sixties, then for hormone replacement after a hysterectomy in the seventies. In 1994, I lost my right breast to cancer. My doctors at the time admitted that it was likely the loss of the breast was directly attributable to the synthetic hormones in the Premarin.
How does ingesting carcinogens equal control over your body?
Isn't being fully informed on all possibilities the only way to truly control your body? If you don't know the risks, what kind of control is that?
Hello, Redhead:
Your experience is eerily similar to my wife's. She's an incredibly healthy, active woman with healthy parents still active in their 80s. At age 53 she was diagnosed with breast cancer after taking both the pill and HRT under a physician's supervision. The cancer was very small and three years out she's still cancer free, but it's something that stays with us every day. I wish you strength, courage, and hope.
I agree that there are other forms of cancer that should have more funding allocated to them, and that political activism causes more money to be spent on breast cancer research. But is it true that testicular cancer is more common? I don't even know anyone who had testicular cancer, much less died of it. I do know quite a few women who have had breast cancer and some who have died. Anecdotal, I know, but you'd think that if testicular cancer was so widespread people would encounter it more.
contraception would be eliminated in a just society.
+
If you want on (or off) this Catholic and Pro-Life ping list, let me know!
I'm very sorry for what you've gone through. However, notwithstanding your doctor's comments, recent studies have not been able to identify any links between HRT and cancer. The Women's Health Institute thought they found such a link back in 2002(?), but their methodology has since been proven problematic.
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