Panel-puts-estrogen-on-cancer-list-(guru)-


				Friday, December 15, = 2000
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InfoBeat - Panel puts estrogen on cancer list



By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press Writer

	   WASHINGTON (AP) - A panel of federal scientific advisers says
estrogen should be placed on the nation's list of cancer-causing
substances, even though it remains a good treatment for many women.
	   The National Toxicology Program advisory committee voted 8-1
that steroidal estrogen _ a type used in post-menopausal treatments
and birth control pills _ should be listed because of an
association with endometrial cancer and, to a lesser extent, breast
cancer.
	   Another type of post-menopausal estrogen, conjugated estrogens,
already is on the federal carcinogen list.
	   Doctors already know about the cancer link. That's the reason
post-menopausal estrogen is given together with another hormone
called progestin: The combination lowers the risk of endometrial
cancer.
	   But the NTP advisers said putting all estrogens on the federal
list would help women trying to balance the benefits and risks when
choosing hormone therapy.
	   ``Physicians never discuss any of these risks when they are
prescribing hormone therapy. They only discuss benefits. Listing
might force it on the table,'' Michelle Medinsky, a toxicologist
from Durham, N.C., said before the vote.
	   The committee of scientists advises the NTP, a branch of the
National Institutes of Health that every two years updates the
federal list of proven and suspected cancer-causing substances.
	   The NTP typically follows its advisers' recommendations, but an
officially updated carcinogen list isn't expected until 2002.
	   Thursday, after a daylong debate, the panel declined to add talc
powder to the list, saying there wasn't enough evidence linking its
use in feminine hygiene products to ovarian cancer. The panel
deadlocked over whether to a second type of talc, fibrous talc that
some studies have linked to lung cancer in talc miners.
	   On Wednesday, the panel voted to add ultraviolet radiation _
those sunburn-causing rays long known to cause skin cancer _ to the
official carcinogen list.
	   The panel on Friday continued debating an association between
cancers of the nose and sinuses with industrial exposure to wood
dust.
	   Talc has long been controversial. When studies first appeared
suggesting it migrated into the ovaries to cause tumors, many
feminine hygiene products replaced talc with cornstarch.
	   Panelist Medinsky said she had been prepared to list talc powder
as ``reasonably believed to cause cancer.'' But after listening to
hours of industry attacks on the science, ``the evidence has
knocked me out of the 'reasonably' category into 'not list,''' she
said before the panel voted 7-3 against listing talc.
	   Talc in one form or the other can be found in many papers,
paints, ceramics, food wrappers, hard candy, chewing gum, cosmetics
and pills. Most people are familiar with talc as a loose powder
used in cosmetics and as a drying powder.
	   Industry officials also attacked studies that showed increased
lung cancer in talc miners in New York State and questioned an
experiment that showed that rats breathing high concentrations of
talc got lung cancer.
	   Higher lung-cancer rates in talc miners may have resulted from
their smoking or from the presence of radon gas in the mines or
asbestos in soils nearby, industry officials said.
	   The scientific advisers then deadlocked on whether this second
type of talc, fibrous talc, caused lung cancer, voting 5-5 on
adding it to the carcinogen list.
	   UV light, however, was a no-brainer for the panel, which voted
unanimously that it was a known human carcinogen.
	   UV radiation is not visible, but it is felt as heat and can
damage the eyes and skin. It comes in three forms, ranging from the
relatively long-wavelength UVA to the shortest wavelength UVC. UVA
accounts for most of the solar UV radiation because it is not
absorbed by the atmosphere. UVB is mostly absorbed by the ozone
layer and UVC is totally absorbed.
	   All three are produced by mercury arc sun lamps, while other
lamps that simulate sunlight produce primarily UVA.
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