The Nation - News from Sept. 6, 1989

The largest study ever to examine the effects of birth control pills offers reassuring evidence that middle-aged women who did not first take the pill until their mid-20s face no unusual risk of breast cancer. “Past use of oral contraceptives does not appear to increase the risk of breast cancer for women in their mid 40s and 50s,” said Dr. Walter C. Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. While the research is good news for older women, it does not dispel worries that younger women who took the pill throughout their teens and early 20s may have an increased risk of this common form of cancer. The Harvard study, published in today’s issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, was based on a 10-year follow-up of 118,273 female nurses aged 30 through 55 who first filled out questionnaires in 1976.