Abortion and Breast Cancer:
National Cancer Institute's Disinformation Halted

By Joel Brind, Ph.D.

For over six years now, the campaign to inform the public about the abortion-breast cancer link (ABC link) has centered around an erroneous "fact sheet" circulated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and posted on its web site. That ended July 1, when the fact sheet was abruptly removed from the NCI web site.

Until recently, this fact sheet had been biased in the direction of suggesting that evidence of the ABC link was "inconsistent." The version that was posted between 1997 and 1999 even said that the experimental evidence of the link - - conducted in laboratory rats over 20 years ago - - was "not consistent with human data." The overall tone was repeatedly used around the world to fuel denial by other public agencies, medical associations, and anti-cancer societies.

Earlier this year the fact sheet was amended for the first time since 1999, but not for the better. The new text went exactly in the wrong direction, concluding, "The current body of scientific evidence suggests that women who have had either induced or spontaneous abortions have the same risk as other women for developing breast cancer."

Gone was the description of the 1994 study by Janet Daling and her colleagues, a study funded by the NCI for the express purpose of examining the ABC link. That study reported that abortion raises a woman's risk of future breast cancer by an average of 50%. The revised fact sheet was decidedly short on data and long on denial.

The timing of the change preceded courtroom tests of the ABC link, one in California and one in North Dakota (see April 2002 NRL News). Both cases involved public interest lawsuits against abortion clinics on the basis of false advertising which the plaintiffs argued denied the ABC link.

Both courts ruled in favor of the defendants. Importantly, in the North Dakota case, the defendant used the revised fact sheet to buttress its claims. In his ruling, Cass County Court Judge Michael McGuire echoed the NCI's support of the denial of the ABC link.

But late in April, the National Physicians Center for Family Resources, a national physicians' organization based in Birming- ham, Alabama, sent Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, President Bush's newly appointed head of the NCI, a detailed critique of the NCI fact sheet. Among other flaws, the critique cited the NCI's " overall tone of denial," its "misrepresentation of the published medical literature on the ABC link," and its "inclusion of inaccurate statements."

Then, on June 7, a letter was sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson by Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ), Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), and no less than 26 other congressmen and congresswomen, they asked "that the fact sheet be reevaluated for accuracy and bias and that it be removed from the Department website until that review is completed." They based this request on their stated belief that the fact sheet "is scientifically inaccurate and misleading to the public."

That request was granted on July 1. It is certainly the first time that the words "Requested Document or Page No Longer Available" on my computer screen have put a smile on my face.

Removing falsehoods is a very good start on the road to the truth.

Joel Brind, Ph.D., is a professor of human biology and endocrinology at Baruch College of the City University of New York and president of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute in Poughkeepsie, New York.