There was an accompanying editorial in The Lancet that also recommended that birth control pills be available over the counter.

There's a tiny but interesting debate about it in the Wall Street Journal blog.

"The authors of the new study say their findings show that the Pill has already prevented 200,000 ovarian cancers and 100,000 deaths worldwide."

Wow.

That's awesome, and it's one of the reasons I've continued to take the pill despite being single for a long time now. My grandmother had ovarian cancer 25 years ago (and survived! she's still alive today - even her doctors were shocked, they called her the Miracle Patient) and my Mom had breast cancer a few years ago. Even if there was an increased breast cancer risk with the pill, the fact that Ovarian Cancer has comparitively crappy survival rates would make it worthwhile.

I guess this is sort of good news for those of us with the genetic tendency to get ovarian and breast cancer. Take the pill for a while, then stop taking the pill five years before you're approaching breast cancer age? My mom died of breast cancer, and my aunt is dealing with ovarian cancer right now. We'll see how her chemo works out...

The pill is associated with many effects, good (contraceptive, dermatological, cycle regularity, pain reduction, etc), and bad (mood changes, weight gain, embolism, etc). The evidence of risk and benefit for these things varies between pills and subgroups of women. These risks and benefits also have to be considered at an individual level when a woman considers whether to take the pill because it may prevent/cause cancer. You also need to consider if you might be high-risk for breast cancer, which is thought to be more hereditary than ovarian. (cervical cancer is not hereditary at all- it is 100% caused by HPV).

A few things about preventing ovarian cancer vs possibly increasing the risk of breast/cervical:
1. there is a vaccine out now to prevent cervical cancer. once we get a "herd" (critical mass) vaccinated, hopefully hopefully cervical cancer will never be a problem for our younger sisters/daughters, etc.
2. Until that day, there is a very effective screening tool to nip cervical cancer in the bud before it advances. PAP SMEARS! There is no such screening tool for ovarian cancer.
3. There is also a screening tool for breast cancer: mammography. (Not a perfect tool, admittedly, but a tool nonetheless). Mortality rates from breast cancer are signficantly lower than that of ovarian, partially because of screening detecting cancers early.

But shouldn't we be punishing the whores?

Just kidding. That's awesome.