EASY WAY #2
Avoid birth control & HTR drugs if over 40
Fact #1: Taking birth control drugs can double or triple a mid life woman’s risk of developing breast cancer; especially if you are over 40 and have used a pill, patch or injection for five, ten or twenty years or more.During your recent physical exam, did your doctor or nurse practitioner mention the risk of taking birth control pills if you are over 40? Probably not.
When your breast biopsy came back positive, did the oncology staff tell you to stop taking your contraceptive drugs? Of course they did; too bad the horse was already out of the barn.
In June 2005, the World Health Organization classified estrogen-progestin combination drugs used in birth control and hormone replacement drugs as a Group 1 Carcinogen, not only for breast, but also for cervical and liver cancers. This is the highest classification of carcinogenicity, used only “when there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans.” Risky business.
Fact #2: Those inserts or printed sheets, found in birth control refills, are where pharmaceutical companies are supposed to list documented adverse reactions to the birth control drug. But most of these inserts include only outdated and incorrect information when it comes to risks of breast cancer.For example, in their Junel Fe 21 Day and Kariva inserts, Barr Labs lists oral contraceptive research from 1963 to 1986 instead of the more recently published studies. In the Ocella insert, Bayer Labs does not cite a single research study to back up the numerous false statements they make regarding oral contraceptives and breast cancer risks. With one in seven American women now being diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, this industry- wide misinformation practice is outrageous.
Fact #3: Contraceptive drugs are currently a $4 billion a year market in the United States. This is a monthly bonanza for big pharma. But their profits will take a hit as more and more mid-life women or their partners choose to substitute IUDs, tubal ligations or vasectomies for birth control drugs. No wonder Barr and Bayer and others continue to hide current information on contraceptive drugs from their older customers.
Contraceptive drugs are an excellent form of birth control for younger women with limited known breast cancer risks. However, as we grow older these drugs not only increase our breast cancer risk, they cause aggressive types of cancer — HER2 positive breast cancer and triple negative breast cancer. Both of these cancers create advanced tumors that are fast growing and rarely found by a mammogram.
Fact #4: Hormone replacement drug sales of Premarin and Prempo dropped by 60% in 2002 when the National Women’s Health Study showed that HRT drugs increased a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer by 26%. Twenty million women stopped filling their HRT prescriptions overnight and estrogen positive cancer rates permanently dropped by 15% among these older women.
When the recent research linking increased breast cancer in mid-life women who still use birth control drugs goes mainstream, millions of women over 40 will drop these drugs like hot potatoes.
Birth Control & HRT Articles
State of the Evidence: The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment: 2008. This 127 page document is written in easy-to-understand language and lists recent of the research data they discuss.Read about the recent research linking birth control drugs and breast cancer. State of the Evidence is produced by the non profit, non commercial and independent Breast Cancer Fund. Visit their website to download or request a free hard copy.
Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2006 — Oral Contraceptive Use and Breast Cancer Risk: Current Status
Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2006 — Oral Contraceptive Use as a Risk Factor for premenopausal Breast Cancer: A meta Analysis:
August 5, 2009, New York Times — Medical Papers by Ghostwriters Pushed Therapy
Worker's World — Breast cancer rates linked to drug company profits
National Cancer Institute — Decrease in Breast Cancer Rates Related to Reduction in use of HRT
April 19, 2007, New England Journal of Medicine — The Decrease in Breast Cancer Incidence in 2003 in the United States