THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502220005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
Kathryn F. Dean (letter, Feb. 13) states that an article published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on April 6, 1994, from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, reported that women on the pill for 10 years or more had 70 times the risk of contracting breast cancer than women who had never taken the pill.
This article did not report a 70-fold increase but rather concluded ``long-term oral contraceptive use among women - beginning near menarche - may be associated with a small excess breast cancer risk.'' Overall, the researchers found no increased incidence of breast cancer associated with ever having used oral contraceptives.
The Cancer and Steroid Hormone Study of the Centers for Disease Control of the U.S. Public Health Service found no overall increased risks for breast cancer in oral-contraceptive users. Evaluations by an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and by the United Kingdom's Committee on Safety of Drugs did not find an increased risk.
The natural methods of birth control have not been as effective, with a reported failure rate of 13.8 per year, as compared with the failure rate with consistently used oral contraception of less than 1 percent.
WILLETTE L. LeHEW, M.D.
Norfolk, Feb. 14, 1995 by CNB