-Caveat Lector-
{Remains a god treatment for many women??? Makes me wonder. AKE}
Federal panel adds estrogen, but not talc, to cancer list
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 - A panel of federal scientific advisers says estrogen
should be placed on the nation's list of cancer-causing substances, even
though it remains a good treatment for many women.
THE NATIONAL TOXICOLOGY Program advisory committee voted 8-1 that
steroidal estrogen - a type used in post-menopausal treatments and birth
control pills - should be listed because of an association with endometrial
cancer and, to a lesser extent, breast cancer.
Another type of post-menopausal estrogen, conjugated estrogens, already
is on the federal carcinogen list.
Doctors already know about the cancer link. That's the reason
post-menopausal estrogen is given together with another hormone called
progestin: The combination lowers the risk of endometrial cancer.
But the NTP advisers said putting all estrogens on the federal list
would help women trying to balance the benefits and risks when choosing
hormone therapy.
"Physicians never discuss any of these risks when they are prescribing
hormone therapy. They only discuss benefits. Listing might force it on the
table," Michelle Medinsky, a toxicologist from Durham, N.C., said before the
vote.
The committee of scientists advises the NTP, a branch of the National
Institutes of Health that every two years updates the federal list of proven
and suspected cancer-causing substances.
The NTP typically follows its advisers' recommendations, but an
officially updated carcinogen list isn't expected until 2002.
Thursday, after a daylong debate, the panel declined to add talc powder
to the list, saying there wasn't enough evidence linking its use in feminine
hygiene products to ovarian cancer. The panel deadlocked over whether to a
second type of talc, fibrous talc that some studies have linked to lung
cancer in talc miners.
On Wednesday, the panel voted to add ultraviolet radiation - those
sunburn-causing rays long known to cause skin cancer - to the official
carcinogen list.
The panel on Friday continued debating an association between cancers
of the nose and sinuses with industrial exposure to wood dust.
Talc has long been controversial. When studies first appeared
suggesting it migrated into the ovaries to cause tumors, many feminine
hygiene products replaced talc with cornstarch.
Panelist Medinsky said she had been prepared to list talc powder as
"reasonably believed to cause cancer." But after listening to hours of
industry attacks on the science, "the evidence has knocked me out of the
'reasonably' category into 'not list,"' she said before the panel voted 7-3
against listing talc Talc in one form or the other can be found in many
papers, paints, ceramics, food wrappers, hard candy, chewing gum, cosmetics
and pills. Most people are familiar with talc as a loose powder used in
cosmetics and as a drying powder.
Industry officials also attacked studies that showed increased lung
cancer in talc miners in New York State and questioned an experiment that
showed that rats breathing high concentrations of talc got lung cancer.
Higher lung-cancer rates in talc miners may have resulted from their
smoking or from the presence of radon gas in the mines or asbestos in soils
nearby, industry officials said.
The scientific advisers then deadlocked on whether this second type of
talc, fibrous talc, caused lung cancer, voting 5-5 on adding it to the
carcinogen list.
UV light, however, was a no-brainer for the panel, which voted
unanimously that it was a known human carcinogen.
UV radiation is not visible, but it is felt as heat and can damage the
eyes and skin. It comes in three forms, ranging from the relatively
long-wavelength UVA to the shortest wavelength UVC. UVA accounts for most of
the solar UV radiation because it is not absorbed by the atmosphere. UVB is
mostly absorbed by the ozone layer and UVC is totally absorbed.
All three are produced by mercury arc sun lamps, while other lamps that
simulate sunlight produce primarily UVA. LOW 14� News | Opinions | Weather
| Shop@MSNBC | MSN | Comics | Find | About MSNBC | Help | Index |
News Tools | Jobs | Write Us | Advertising on MSNBC | Terms, Conditions, and
Privacy
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
