Action Breast Cancer has welcomed the publication of a major report which suggests that taking the contraceptive pill does not increase a woman's chance of developing cancer.
The report, published yesterday by the British Medical Journal, found that women who take the pill over a short period can actually have up to a 12 per cent lower risk of developing the disease.
But the research also showed women who used the pill for more than eight years had a significantly higher risk of developing cancer.
Naomi Fitzgibbon, manager of Action Breast Cancer, said it would have to study the findings in detail. "But any research into what reduces the risk is welcome," she said.
It was encouraging, Ms Fitzgibbon added, that while it did not find that taking the pill reduced the risk of developing breast cancer, the research showed there was no increased risk for those who had taken the pill.
Scientists at Aberdeen University analysed data from 46,000 women who were recruited in 1968 to take part in a study by the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Half were already using oral contraceptives, and the other half had never taken them. Spanning a 36-year period, the data showed those who took the contraceptive for shorter periods suffered from significantly lower rates of bowel and rectal cancer, uterine cancer and ovarian cancer. Up to 29 per cent had a reduced risk of developing one of the main gynaecological cancers.
But those who took the pill for more than eight years - a quarter of those in the study - had an increased risk of developing several forms of cancer, particularly cervical and central nervous system cancer.
Prof Philip Hannaford of the University of Aberdeen, who helped carry out the research, said: "These results show that in this UK cohort the contraceptive pill was not associated with an overall increased risk of any cancer; indeed it may produce an important net public health gain."
The results suggest that, at least in the group of women studied, "the cancer benefits associated with oral contraception outweigh the risks".
