Tehran (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Iranian researchers have published the results of a new study that women who abort are at 193% higher risk than average of contracting breast cancer. The study follows news that Komen for the Cure gave 7.5 million dollars in 2009 for activities related to abortion in the Planned Parenthood system. The results were published in the April 3, 2010 issue of the journal Medical Oncology, but has only come to public attention now.
Hajian-Tilak K.O. and Kaveh-Ahangar T. from the Babol University of Medical Sciences have examined 100 cases of women who had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and compared them with two hundred women of the same age. The researchers found that abortion significantly raises the risk of cancer. And even a first pregnancy at older age increases the risk of breast cancer by 310 percent.
Iranian scientists have confirmed the results of other studies, namely that a greater number of pregnancies significantly reduces the risk of cancer. The Food Consumer Web, giving news of the study, indicates that a number of equal or greater than five pregnancies reduced the risk of breast cancer by 91%, compared to women who have never been pregnant. Each pregnancy reduces the risk of cancer by more than 50 percent.
The Iranian study appeared just before research conducted by scientists in Sri Lanka found that women who had abortions in the past had more than a 242% chance of contracting breast cancer. The study was published in the Cancer Epidemiology journal. Abortion was the most significant factor in the study on the risk of breast cancer, and researchers have also shown that prolonged breast-feeding by the mother reduces the risk considerably.
Malintha De Silva and her colleagues at the University of Colombo conducted the research.
The Iranian study along with others from the United States, China and Turkey, published in the last eighteen months lead to a conclusion that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. In American research, co-author Louise Brinton, chief of the National Cancer Institute, admitted that "induced abortion and the use of oral contraceptives are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer." The authors indicated in 40% of cases increased risk linked to abortion.