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Too Early To Tell If Pill Is Safe In Relation To Breast Cancer Risk, Researcher Warns LONDON, ENGLAND -- April 20, 1999 -- The reassurances offered by the recent epidemiological evidence on the long-term use of the birth control pill in relation to breast cancer risk may be seriously misplaced, states professor Klim McPherson, of the Cancer and Public Health Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The possibility of a delayed effect on the development of breast cancer, from pill use at a young age, has been played down in the calculation of risk, he writes in the current issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The international studies, of some 100,000 women, on which much of the reassurance hinges, did not include the long-term effects of current patterns of oral contraceptive use -- that is, widespread use of the pill among young unmarried women. "As far as breast cancer is concerned, this rather obvious observation could be crucial in the interpretation of the epidemiology," McPherson said, adding that researchers may not be able to include these effects in the reliable estimation of risk until 2010. Breast cancer risk is increased among women for whom the time between the start of periods and the first pregnancy is the longest, suggesting that their hormones have a part to play during this time. This could equally apply to oral contraceptives derived from synthetic hormones, particularly as the latency period for breast cancer can be very long, McPherson said. He points out that research shows cell proliferation rates -- a factor involved in the development of cancer -- are significantly higher in young women on the pill who have not yet had a child. Pill scares happen all too often and are regrettable, McPherson writes, and doctors and scientists have a long way to go before being able to convey risk meaningfully. "Concluding no long term detrimental effect [of the pill] may be premature and may also inhibit new studies of an important possible effect," they write. At the moment, the risk of developing breast cancer before the age of 50 is around one in 50, but on the basis of a 15-year latency period and four years of pill use before a first pregnancy, this could be as high as one in 18. Related Links: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version