Kills millions?
A Facebook user shared misleading claims from other women: “Barbara O’Neill: Here is the part no one tells you about contraceptive pills.
Elaine Hollingsworth claimed: “Contraceptive pills cause mass killings of millions of women.” Women who use contraceptive pills have a 4 times higher chance of developing breast cancer. High estrogen and low progesterone levels cause osteoporosis and thyroid problems. Contraceptive pills disrupt your hormones.”
Sources of rumors
The internet user herself indicated the sources of this information. These are the two mentioned women, Barbara O’Neill and Elaine Hollingsworth.
B.O’Neill is a promoter of “alternative health” with no medical education.
The woman claims that the body is designed to heal itself if helped with “natural” remedies, special nutrition, and lifestyle changes. She often combines health advice with Christian and biblical themes.
In 2019, the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission in Australia issued her a lifetime ban on providing health services due to dangerous and unfounded claims.
An investigation revealed that B.O’Neill gave potentially deadly health advice to vulnerable clients: for example, she told cancer patients to refuse prescribed chemotherapy and instead use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), and during seminars and online she provided misleading and dangerous advice on pregnancy and child care.
There is much less information about E.Hollingsworth online. However, it can be concluded that she is also a promoter of alternative medicine. Her book “Take Control of Your Health and Escape the Sickness Industry” contains scientifically unproven claims, and the title alone suggests that the woman is biased against traditional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry.
Contraceptive pills and breast cancer
Contraceptive pills can protect against some types of cancer but increase the risk of others. Health and cancer organizations state that contraceptive pills do slightly increase the risk of breast cancer, but this risk is not high and certainly does not match the internet user’s claim of a “four times higher chance of developing breast cancer.”
According to the World Health Organization, most women using contraceptive pills are not at increased risk of breast cancer, but women with inherited BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations may have a higher risk, especially with long-term use of the pills.
The American Cancer Society states that if a woman is currently using or has recently used contraceptive pills, her risk of breast cancer is slightly increased compared to women who have never used them. However, studies show that this risk is small and disappears within 5-7 years after stopping the pills.
The World Cancer Research Fund also notes that contraceptive pills slightly increase the risk of breast cancer. The risk disappears a few years after stopping use.
The organization “Cancer Research UK” states that using combined contraceptive pills containing two hormones – estrogen and progestogen – slightly increases the risk of breast cancer compared to women who do not use them. Ten years after stopping the pills, the risk is no longer increased.
As stated by the US National Cancer Institute (archived), almost all studies examining the link between oral contraceptives and cancer risk are based on observational studies – both large prospective cohort studies and population-based case-control studies.
Data from observational studies cannot definitively prove that a certain factor – in this case oral contraceptives – causes (or prevents) cancer. However, studies show that oral contraceptives increase the risk of breast and cervical cancer but reduce the risk of endometrial, ovarian, and colorectal cancers.
Analysis of data from more than 150,000 women participating in 54 epidemiological studies showed that overall, women who had ever used oral contraceptives had a slightly (7%) higher risk of breast cancer compared to women who never used them.
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Women who were using oral contraceptives at the time had a 24% higher risk, and it did not increase depending on the duration of use. After stopping contraceptive use, the risk decreased, and 10 years after stopping, no increased risk was observed.
The 2010 Nurses’ Health Study (about 116,000 participants) also found a small increase in breast cancer risk, but it was almost exclusively associated with “triphasic” pills. This link was also found in another study that examined contraceptive use based on medical records.
A 2017 large Danish study examining newer contraceptives found about a 20% higher risk of breast cancer in women currently using or recently stopping combined contraceptives compared to those who never used them.
What do doctors say?
Obstetrician-gynecologist Rasa Kučinskaitė states that breast cancer is more often diagnosed in women who use combined hormonal contraceptives. However, this may be because women using combined hormonal contraceptives check their health more often. This means there is a higher chance of detecting cancer.
As obstetrician-gynecologist Danuta Vasilevska explains, although many women use contraceptives, certain myths about them still spread.
“To dispel one of the widespread myths, it is important to mention that they (combined contraceptive pills – editor’s note) contribute to reducing the risk of ovarian and colorectal cancer, as well as reducing the risk of endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and ectopic pregnancy,” the doctor said.
D.Vasilevska points out that the largest and longest study, involving 23,000 women who used and did not use pills over 36 years, revealed that their use reduced the overall risk of all tumors by 12%, ovarian cancer by 46%, uterine body cancer risk by 42%, and colorectal cancer by 28%. The risk of breast cancer did not change for combined contraceptive pill users.
“For women infected with high oncogenic risk human papillomavirus, using these pills for more than 5 years increases the risk of cervical cancer, but up to 5 years does not increase it. Using pills for 5-9 years increases the risk of cancer development by 1.3 times, and more than 9 years by 1.9 times,” emphasizes D.Vasilevska.
Obstetrician-gynecologist Lina Mockevičienė calls the claim that hormonal contraception can cause oncological diseases when the hormone estrogen affects breast tissue a myth.
According to her, this is not scientifically justified; even hormonal IUDs inserted into the uterus are recognized as protective against uterine cancer. It should be emphasized that using contraception for five years has no negative effect or influence on cancer development.
In 2017, the Lithuanian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists initiated a study on the use and perception of contraceptive methods. It involved 510 women from all over Lithuania, aged 15 to 40 years.
It is noted that 17% of respondents spoke about the risk of developing cancer, but scientists proved that hormonal contraception increases the risk for certain cancer forms absolutely minimally and is only one of many contributing factors.
Commenting on the study data, obstetrician-gynecologist Ingrida Basevičienė also commented on the risk of breast cancer. She drew attention to the Danish study. It involved 11,500 women with an increased family risk of breast cancer and examined its association with hormonal contraception. The study’s conclusions showed that the risk is very small: in absolute numbers, breast cancer cases increase by 1 case per 7,690 women using hormonal contraception, while general statistics report 14 breast cancer cases per 100,000 people worldwide annually.
15min verdict: partly false. Studies, health, and cancer organizations indicate that contraceptive pills can increase breast cancer risk, but slightly. After stopping these pills, the risk disappears. Generally, various contraceptive methods can protect against certain cancer forms or cause some risk. The internet user relies on unreliable sources without medical education.
Publication prepared by 15min in cooperation with Meta, aiming to stop the spread of misleading news on social networks. More about the program and its rules – here.
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