FDA admits cancer risks with Estrogen medications  

An FDA advisory committee recommended on December 15, 2000 that synthetic estrogen medications like Premarin, be included on a list of known cancer causing agents.   Several scientific studies have revealed that HRT and ERT and even birth control can greatly raise cancer risk, especially breast cancer. But the American Cancer Society and the FDA have been slow in making any announcements regarding the cancer risk with those medications.   While panel members said these steroids have important medical uses and clear medical benefits, they have long been associated with a risk of uterine, endometrial and breast cancers.  The panel agreed 8 to 1 that these hormones cause an elevated risk and should be considered not merely as associated with increased cancers but as substances that are "known to be a cause of human cancers."

The federal Report on Carcinogens is required by Congress to inform the public, medical community and regulatory agencies about potential cancer-causing substances. It is prepared by the National Toxicology Program, which is headquartered at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, NC.  NIEHS/NTP sought the views of the panel of 13 outside scientists as one step  in the development of the Tenth Report on Carcinogens, which will be written and published after further public comment and review.

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