Grad Student Uncovers Possible Pill-Cancer Link

Dr. Howard W. Ory, a student in the School of Public Health, last Thursday released a two-year study that shows some of the first evidence linking estrogen-progesterone birth control pills to the risk of pre-cancerous changes in the cervix.

The study, based on 9811 low-income black women in Atlanta, Ga., did not reveal a connection between the pill and cancer of the lower portion of the uterus.

Instead, Ory's study proposes that the possibilities of contracting pre-cancerous changes, or carcinoma-in-situ, are greater among women using the pill than those using intrauterine devices.

Ory emphasized yesterday that the study data should be interpreted conservatively. He said he favors repeating the study before drawing any conclusions.

Could Be Coincidence

"It's the first time there has been a reasonable link, but it could be a coincidence," Ory said. "If I were a practicing physician and a patient asked me if she should stop taking the pill, I would say no."

Ory said that his birth control findings should serve only to remind women to undergo Pap smear tests annually. "The pre-malignant lesions are 100 per cent curable and are easily discovered," he said.

Ory insisted that his study was not fully definitive, and he recommended that the birth control situation be looked at more deeply.