IARC says HRT causes cancer

United Nation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Says HRT Causes Cancer

How did I miss this one? Could it be because it was barely covered?

I don’t live in Scotland so I don’t read The Scotsman newspaper. But if I did, I’m sure that in the first week of August I would have told you about a Scotsman article dated July 30, 2005, with this headline: “Fears for Millions as UN says HRT Causes Cancer.”

I just happened to stumble across that article while doing some research this week. And I was a little taken aback to read that the United Nation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has reclassified hormone replacement therapy (HRT) from “possibly carcinogenic to humans” to “carcinogenic to humans.”

That’s a phrase you definitely DON’T want to see on a medication information sheet.

Specifically, the IARC singled out the combined use of estrogen and progesterone, which is typically prescribed to women who have not had hysterectomies. The treatments are combined to avoid uterine cancer (a risk when estrogen is taken alone), but they raise the risk of breast cancer. Estrogen taken alone carries a lesser risk of breast cancer.

I’m really not a wild-eyed conspiracy theorist, but what should we make of the lack of coverage on this UN action?

A search of Reuters Health, MSNBC and The New York Times turns up nothing. Apparently these news outlets ignored the item. Meanwhile, 3,000 miles away, folks in Scotland got the news – no problem.

So is that a rat I smell, or was July 30th just such a busy news day that these major outlets didn’t have time to cover the UN announcement?

And once again I have to apply the “what if” measurement. What if an alternative treatment for menopausal symptoms – such as natural progesterone yam cream – was classified by the UN as carcinogenic to humans? How long do you suppose it would take for us to hear about it – or for the FDA to ban all yam cream products?

Sources:
“Fears for Millions as UN Says HRT Causes Cancer” Even Harrell, The Scotsman, 7/30/05, news.Scotsman.com/uk