Prostate cancer rates around the world could be linked to oral contraceptives, a new study indicates.
Dr. Neil Fleshner and Dr. David Margel from Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto say they have found a significant link between oral contraceptives, prostate cancer and mortality.
They found this was especially the case in developed countries in North America and Europe where there is a birth control pill use is high.
The authors suggested that estrogen from birth control pills may be excreted through women's urine, ending up in water supply systems and, thus, boosting prostate cancer rates.
They say the oral contraceptives could be acting as endocrine disturbing compounds (EDCs) — chemicals that interfere with hormones that could result in side effects such as cancer.
"Temporal increases in the incidence of certain cancers (breast, endometrial, thyroid, testis and prostate) in hormonally sensitive tissues in many parts of the industrialized world are often cited as evidence that widespread exposure of the general population to EDCs has had adverse impacts on human health," the authors wrote.
"Oral contraceptives in use today can potentially act as EDCs . . . which is excreted in urine without degradation,” they noted.
