A Dirty Little Secret

Below is a letter written by Dr. Chris Kahlenborn on the 50^th anniversary of the birth control pill. Dr. Kahlenborn practices internal medicine in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He co-authored “Oral Contraceptive Use as a Risk Factor for Pre-menopausal Breast Cancer:  A Meta-analysis” (2006)

The Pill After 50 Years: The Dirty Little Secret

By Chris Kahlenborn M.D.

I find it disturbing that after nearly 50 years, both the media and the medical establishment have failed to give a true airing to one of the pill’s most dangerous side effects, namely, that “dirty little secret.”   What’s that? One need only check the Mayo Clinic Proceedings—the major medical publication of the Mayo Clinic—to find our little-known study, which showed that the pill increases the risk of premenopausal breast cancer substantially when taken at a young age (see Mayo Clinic Proceedings: October 3, 2006). In October 2006, we reviewed the medical literature and combined data in an analysis (referred to as a meta-analysis): We found that 21 out of 23 studies showed that using oral contraceptives prior to a woman’s first birth resulted in a 44 percent increased risk in premenopausal breast cancer. Our meta-analysis remains the most recent study in this area and updates the previously analysis (the Oxford analysis published in 1996), which relied on older data with older women (two-thirds of whom were over age 45); unfortunately, the Oxford study continues to be quoted by ACOG, textbooks, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society and most researchers and obstetricians, claiming that oral contraceptives carry little breast cancer risk especially 10 years after last use.


I continue to be amazed at the discordance between the medical literature and public/medical awareness. To my dismay, after our meta-analysis was published, the Mayo Clinic sent out a press release to all major media in the country. The response? (          ).  The blank space between the parentheses is purposeful. Although our meta-analysis received scant internet coverage, almost no major media covered this study, which is shocking, given the fact that about 40,000 women in the U.S. get premenopausal breast cancer annually, oral contraceptives are an elective risk factor and our study is the most recent meta-analysis to date on the oral contraceptive-breast cancer link. 


In addition to our meta-analysis, it’s important to note that the World Health Organization classified oral contraceptives as a Class I carcinogen in 2005—the most dangerous classification. Even more data has come forth recently in a paper by several researchers—one of whom is a major researcher of the National Cancer Institute—which not only cited our meta-analysis, but found that oral contraceptives increase the risk of triple-negative breast cancer in women under 40 by 320 percent (triple-negative breast cancers are extremely aggressive). (Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, April 2009.)


Few in the medical establishment or the public are aware of this data, or if they are, young women almost never hear about them. It’s been almost four years since the publication of our study in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings; I am beginning to think that our study has been effectively “buried.”  Breast cancer and the pill—that dirty little secret? Some day perhaps someone in the media and/or medical establishment will dust a little dirt off those pink ribbons and let young women hear all the facts so they can finally make truly informed decisions.

Getting the Word Out on the Alternative to the Pill

This morning, I received an email from a friend. She refers to a Katie Couric video I posted on Facebook regarding the pill. 

Below is my friend's email.

I just watched the Katie Couric bit on FB regarding the pill.  One thing I am very confused on. Why does the Catholic Church keep NFP  (Natural Family Planning) such a well guarded secret? I never heard of NFP until I was 47 years old during my marriage prep.  I still hear of the outdated Rhythm Method, but not NFP.  Every now and then Relevant Radio mentions NFP.  What is your opinion of how to get the word out? 

As you know, I love the Catholic Church, but I really think they are missing the boat on this one.  Maybe we should have bombarded all the news stations asking why  they didn't talk about other methods. (My husband) was wondering if the nurse practictiners at Redi-Clinics, etc. are aware of NFP.

The last time I went to the Redi-Clinic, the nurse who took care of me raised an eyebrow when I mentioned NFP to her.  I unfortunately missed a wonderful opportunity to educate her.  My bad.

My humble opinion is that as long as people are not aware of their options, they are going to continue to use the pill and abortion as contraceptives.  I feel it's time that NFP gets as much "air time" as the pill.  I hate to say it, but it seems to me Planned Parenthood is winning a very ugly battle. 

OK, I'll get off my soap box now.  But I am very curious on how we can knock Planned Parenthood down to their knees.

My response is that I love my friend's SOAP BOX! We, as Catholics, should all be trying to figure out how to knock PP down to their knees. They are the devil in disguise! After all, how can an organization with a name so benign as "Planned Parenthood" be bad? When young couples walk through the doors of PP, little do they know that the statements they will hear are full of deceit, leading them to make "choices" that will bring them back for more counseling by "professionals" who are themselves deceived. And the cycle goes on.

I agree that NFP is not well known! A raised eyebrow by a clinic nurse is very telling. The woman probably thought my friend was talking about rhythm and it's no wonder she raise an eyebrow! Of course rhythm works for very few women since so few have such regular cycles. And due to her own experience with men, this nurse could have been thinking, "Yeah, right! Get a man to have self-control!" The problem is - if she thought about it - using the pill gives a man that much more control over a woman's sexuality. Women are more enslaved to men now than ever with regard to sex.

I personally think that the 50th anniversary of the pill is a GLARING opportunity to get the word out on NFP. It's no wonder people laugh at the Catholic Church regarding birth control. We aren't telling anyone that we have something better! JPII gave his teachings on Theology of the Body at the beginning of his papacy 30 years ago. Christopher West only started getting the word out on TOB 20-25 years later after his own personal conversion. GOD BLESS HIM!!! 

Benedict XVI is getting lines of communication open from the Vatican - really using the internet and such - but progress (keeping up with technology) has been slow in the church. This is a perfect time for us as Catholics to write letters to the editor that promote NFP when we see articles in newspapers and magazines that laud the anniversary of the pill.

Up until the 1960s, fertilization and conception were considered the same thing. Anything that prevented a fertilized egg from implantation was considered an abortion. Also, in 1963, the Health Department had issued a leaflet that said, "All the measures that impair the viability of the zygote at any time between the instant of fertilization and the completion of labor constitute, in the strict sense, procedures for inducing abortion."  So re-defining conception and abortion were key steps in promoting the birth control pill. In 1965, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a small group of people in the medical community, deliberately  re-defined conception as implantation of a fertilized ovum into the woman's uterus and an abortion was re-defined as the expulsion of the products of conception.

This was all the pharmaceutical companies needed to market the birth control pill. But it is time for everyone to understand that, indeed, conception does begin at fertilization and the pill does not always prevent ovulation. And there ARE some people who are working on getting the word out. I was just sent this website from another friend who is very pro-life.
http://www.thepillkills.org/

This year, the day to protest the BC pill is June 5. Stand in front of any pharmacy or clinic that promotes or sells birth control pills and let people know that the pill is an abortifacient.

Those of us on the side of good need to take lessons from PP's marketing skills - appealing to people's sense of good. We don't need their skills on how to deceive, but on how to tell people what is truly good and how they will benefit in the long run as well as short term. Hitting people with the effects of the pill on the environment might be a good way to protest the birth control pill in a culture that wants everything to be environmentally friendly, but it is only a start.

People are often just plain lazy. And commitment in our culture is almost unheard of. Using NFP means that you have to use some self-control. In our culture, people want what they want when they want it - and that, unfortunately, includes sex. And why make a commitment these days when you can have sex any time you want it? Thus the conundrum! Maybe the biggest hurtle is to show that although doing good usually takes a bit of effort and commitment it is well worth it.

When it boils down to it, women are going to have to get fed up with self-enslavement before they want to change things in this world. It is time to tell both men and women that there is something better. It is time to tell them that the love they are searching for will not be found in the immediate gratification of sex. God will only be found when they truly learn to love one another. It is the only love that brings true satisfaction. We cannot throw God out with the bath water to find what fulfills us. God has to be part of our lives. We must fight those who are trying to separate us from God. We are meant for a relationship with God. It is sin that prevents or destroys that relationship.