Jan. 7, 2004 – Researchers affiliated with the California Department of Health reportedly for the first time established a strong and almost definitive link between smoking and an increased risk of breast cancer.
The conclusions of the studies carried out so far on the question had generally been ambiguous, and a few had even suggested that cigarettes could offer some protection against this disease.
However, studying more than 115,000 women for four years, scientists found that smoking increased the risk of developing breast cancer by about 30%. Women who started smoking before the age of 20 or five years before their first pregnancy appeared to be most at risk.
Former smokers have reason to rejoice, since researchers have not detected an increased risk in them. Exposure to second-hand smoke did not appear to be dangerous in this regard either.
Researchers now want to elucidate the exact nature of the link between smoking and breast cancer. They believe, for example, that the toxins in tobacco could be stored in the fatty tissue of the breast.
The results of this study are published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Jean-Benoit Legault – PasseportSanté.net
According to BBC News; January 7, 2004.
