LONDON, March 26, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Only one day after international media were reporting on a study linking the birth control pill to breast cancer, another study has shown a link between use of the pill and cervical cancer. The Lancet medical journal carries a study which found that long-term use of the pill could increase the risk of developing cervical cancer by up to four times in women with a sexually transmitted disease.
Eight studies involving nearly four thousand women were examined by researchers at the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The study found that HPV positive women who used the pill for more than ten years were up to 400% more likely to develop cervical cancer, over HPV positive women not using the pill.
Interestingly, media coverage of the study concentrated on downplaying the results of the study and encouraging women to continue to use the pill despite the study’s findings.
See the BBC coverage: https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1894000/1894085.stm