Friday, December 9, 2011

Should the nuns take the pill?



Not having children increases the risk of cancer in women!
Contraceptive use reduces the risk of gynecologic tumors!



               Women pay a high price for celibacy, as pointed out by the Italian physicianBernardino Ramazzini in 1713 when the nuns had documented a very high incidence of what he termed the 'damn plague': breast cancer.


        This is the reason that animated Kara Britt, Research Program Breast Cancer andProstate Monash University and Roger Short, from the University of Melbourne (bothAustralia), to defend an opinion on this collectively use the pill for health reasons."Today, worldwide, there are 94,790 nuns who continue to risk their health for their chastity, because they suffer from the dangers of nulliparity, more likely to breastcancer, ovarian and uterine cancer," recognized in the last 'The Lancet'.

By not having children

     Previous studies conducted between 1900 and 1954 in the U.S. with 31,658 Catholic nuns showed that the religious are more likely to die from any of the above mentioned gynecological tumors when compared with the general population. Later, in 1970,came to light early research that found that women who have given birth are less likely to develop breast cancer compared to those without children.

     "And mothers are protected even if they have their first child at an early age and alsogive suck. These reproductive factors have been linked now with ovarian cancer anduterine", say Australian scientists.

     Nulliparous women have a greater number of menstrual cycles "due to the absence of pregnancy and lactation and this increase in the number of cycles affects the risk ofcancer," he added.

      In fact, epidemiological research on breast tumors have found a direct relationship between menstrual cycles and the most common female cancer. "Women who experience menarche (first menstruation) before age 12 have a slightly higher risk of breast cancer that they have it at 15. Similarly, the odds of developing the diseaseincreases by 17% per five-year delay in the onset of menopause, "says the study.

Health effects of the pill

  These evidences are also two investigations have shown the health effects of contraceptive use. "So, the pill significantly reduces total mortality figures, does not increase the risk of breast tumors and significantly reduces the chance of developing ovarian cancer and uterine cancer," documenting the experts. They believe,moreover, that "the possibility of venous thromboembolism has been associated withits use should be considered before recommendation for what should always consider the patient's clinical history."

   Despite all the arguments, "the Catholic Church condemns the use of all forms o fcontraception except abstinence as indicated by Pope Paul VI in 'Humanae Vitae' in 1968. Although the encyclical does not mention the nuns, they should be free to make use of the pill to protect against the risks of nulliparity. Especially since the paper argues that the "Church does not consider illegal therapeutic means deemed necessary to cure diseases, but they also have a contraceptive effect, "added Brittscientists and Short.

      In his opinion, the Catholic Church could make the "pill was freely available to the nuns, in order to reduce the risk of 'pests' damned: the ovarian and uterine cancersand thereby giving the nuns the recognition they deserve in this difficult situation. "


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