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  • Title: Does the pill increase risk of breast cancer?
    Journal: Contracept Technol Update; 1991 Jul; 12(7):107-8. PubMed ID: 12284065.
    Abstract:
    Despite studies purporting to show that women who use birth control pills are at greater risk of getting breast cancer, experts say that the best available evidence does not warrant any changes in the use of oral contraceptives. As far the possible link between the pill and breast cancer, some have argued that estrogen hormones in the pill may cause cells in the breast tissue to grow faster than usual. Nonetheless, the chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, William Creasman, explains that the findings of studies examining the link have been inconclusive. While some studies indicate that some groups of women (especially women who began using the pill at a young age) have an increased risk of breast cancer, others have found no such relationship in similar groups of women. Many organizations, including the National Cancer Institute and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have states that the available evidence does not demonstrate an increased risk. Additionally, a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, a group of scientists who advise the federal government on medical matters, stresses that women should not discontinue using the pill out of fear of breast cancer.
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