Birth Control Pills Said To Cause Cancer
What a pill! We always knew its contraceptive powers and more recently we've discovered its powers to regulate hormone levels in women, but now we discover, thanks to the World Health Organization, that hormone-based oral contraceptives may be carcinogenic.
In a controversial decision, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, now calls birth control pills a "category one" carcinogenic. This categorization means that there is enough evidence proving that cancer may be triggered in humans as well as in laboratory animals in a controlled environment.
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Before making their decision, IARC didn't do any new studies. Instead, they reviewed past research on the topic. Because of this, pharmaceutical companies are frustrated by IARC's decision.
The risks are not new and are already noted on drug labels, says Candace Steele, director of global public relations for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which makes birth control pills and menopausal hormone therapy drugs.
In fact, the reality is a little complicated. Researchers have found that combined estrogen-progestin birth control pills may "slightly" raise breast cancer risk in women currently or recently taking those pills, but the risk seems to drop back to normal 10 years after stopping the pill, write the researchers.
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However, in the same women, uterine and ovarian cancer risk is lower.
For this reason, and for the important symbolic power the pill has with women who came of age in the feminist era of the 60's and 70's, IARC is careful to say that they are not trying to stigmatize birth control pills as a whole.
In a statement, IARC wrote: "Because use of the pill heightens risk of some cancers and reduces that of others, it is possible that there may be an overall net benefit to public health," More rigorous analysis is needed to show this, they add.
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What is a woman to make of all this? IARC says that women should consult their doctors about birth control before embarking on any program. However, IARC does go as far to say that women in their 30's and 40's who have a history of breast cancer in their family should definitely avoid the birth control pill altogether.
