Breast Cancer and Media Bias

Last night NBC national news reported on a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) which documented a significant increase in malignant breast cancer among young women (under 34).  NBC’s chief health correspondent (a doctor), cited possible causes for this increase as obesity, smoking, or other, as yet, unknown factors.  This got me riled up because there have been numerous recent studies demonstrating the link between the use of contraceptives and breast cancer, and also the link between abortion and breast cancer.   How could NBC fail to mention any of this?  This information is readily available to anyone with access to the internet.  Rather than expound on it myself, here are quotes I obtained in less than 2 minutes.  This is not just pro-life propaganda, the first four quotes are from the National Cancer Institute (cancer.gov) and I found it in just 3 clicks:

·        A number of studies suggest that current use of oral contraceptives (birth control pills) appears to slightly increase the risk of breast cancer, especially among younger women. However, the risk level goes back to normal 10 years or more after discontinuing oral contraceptive use.

·        Oral contraceptive use is associated with an increased risk of cervical cancer; however, this increased risk may be because sexually active women have a higher risk of becoming infected with human papillomavirus, which causes virtually all cervical cancers.

·        A 1996 analysis of epidemiologic data from more than 50 studies worldwide by the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer found that women who were current or recent users of birth control pills had a slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who had never used the pill.  The risk was highest for women who started using oral contraceptives as teenagers. 

·        A recent analysis of data from the Nurses’ Health Study, which has been following more than 116,000 female nurses who were 24 to 43 years old when they enrolled in the study in 1989 found that the participants who used oral contraceptives had a slight increase in breast cancer risk. 

This next one is from sciencedaily.com:

·        Apr. 4, 2012 — The first large-scale U.S.-based study to evaluate the link between an injectable form of progestin-only birth control and breast cancer risk in young women has found that recent use of a year or more doubles the risk. The results of the study, led by breast cancer epidemiologist Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, are published online ahead of the April 15 print issue of Cancer Research. 

Although the national press chooses to ignore this, the Catholic press, published this 2 years ago in the National Catholic Register:

·        The 2009 Jessica Dolle study of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center appeared in the April 2009 issue of the cancer epidemiology journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

·        The research showed that women who start using oral contraceptives before the age of 18 multiply their risk of TNBC by 3.7 times. Recent users of oral contraceptives within the last one to five years multiply their risk by 4.2 times.

·        Furthermore, the study is noteworthy because it contained an admission of the link between abortion and breast cancer by National Cancer Institute (NCI) researcher Louise Brinton, who had previously influenced the agency to deny an abortion-breast cancer link.

·        The study showed a 40% risk increase for women who have had abortions, and one of the study’s tables listed abortion as a “known and suspected risk factor.” 

This one is from slate.com:

·        Last summer, in a study of more than 50,000 African-American women, Boston University epidemiologist Lynn Rosenberg found a 65 percent increase in a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer among those who had ever taken the birth-control pill. The risk doubles for those who had used the contraceptive within the past five years and had taken it for longer than 10 years. 

 

It is not remotely possible that the doctor who serves as NBC’s medical editor and advisor, could be totally unaware of these studies.  Never the less, no mention of them was made in her report, probably because NBC, like so many others in the media, continue to promote the notion that birth control and abortion are an integral part of “women’s health care.”  The Obama administration has even referred to them as “important preventive health measures,” as if denying anyone access would be a detriment to their health, when in fact the opposite is true.  It seems to me the Catholic Church has had it right all along: contraceptives are injurious to women’s health, and have led to an unprecedented increase in STDs and cancer.   Abortions not only kill a baby, but numerous recent studies demonstrate higher risk of breast cancer and premature birth in future pregnancies.   Why has the media ignored these numerous and well-documented studies?  The obvious answer is that it doesn’t fit with their agenda.