Study: Women Who Use Birth Control Pill 1.5 Times More Likely to Develop Bowel Disease

LONDON, UK, March 13, 2009 - A study on the role of oral contraceptives in the cause of inflammatory bowel disease, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, found that women who use the pill are one and a half times more likely to develop Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) than women who have not used oral contraceptives.

The research by doctors at the Gastroenterology Unit of St. Mary's Hospital, Imperial College, and the Department of Surgery of St. Mark's Hospital, London, reported that a total of 75,815 patients were involved in the study of the etiology of UC and CD between 1983 and 2007. Of these women, 36,797 used the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) and 39,018 did not.

The report stated that the relative risk of developing Crohn's disease increased with a prolonged exposure to the OCP. Whereas the overall average of increased risk was 1 1/2 times, the relative risk of developing CD for a woman who has used the pill for three years increases to almost 3.5 times.

This study has also shown that the risk associated with OCP exposure was reversed to that of the non-exposed population after stopping the use of the drug.

The adjustment of the results for smoking was an important aspect of this analysis, since it was found that smokers are more likely to take the OCP, and oral contraceptive users have been reported as more likely to smoke. The adjustments for smoking increased the relative risk of CD and decreased the risk of UC.

The study also suggested that a reduction in the estrogen and progesterone dosages in OCPs over the last two decades has not reduced the relative risk of inflammatory bowel disease in women who use the contraceptive pill.

An abstract of the study is available here.

Read related SLN articles on the dangers of the oral contraceptive pill:

Birth Control Pill May Cause Prostate Cancer and Bladder Disease in Mothers' Children

Birth Control Pill Raises Heart Attack Risk 100%

Massive Study Finds the Pill Significantly Increases Cancer Risk if Used more than Eight Years

Birth Control Pill Linked to Hardening of the Arteries

Medical Expert Says that Contraceptive Pill is Causing Global Rise in Male Infertility

Writing for the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano, doctor cites growing medical evidence

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

VATICAN CITY, January 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An eminent doctor writing for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has stated that hormones from the contraceptive pill are causing a significant rise in male infertility in western nations.

Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, President of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC), writes that "we have sufficient data to affirm that one of the reasons for the not insignificant rise in male infertility in the west (due to increasingly fewer sperm in men), is the environmental contamination caused by 'the pill'."

"We are confronted with a clear anti-ecological effect that demands further explanation from the manufacturers," continued Castellvi, who also noted that the abortifacient and carcinogenic effects of the contraceptive pill are also well known (see LifeSiteNews coverage at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09010504.html).

Castellvi's statements echo similar utterances made by numerous other medical and scientific experts since 2004. Female hormones from birth control pills, which enter the water supply through urination, are being blamed for declining sperm counts in human and animal populations, the growth of female sex organs in male fish, breast growth in young men, and early onset of puberty in young girls.

In September of last year, a scientist at the University of Montreal's Department of Chemistry announced the discovery that Montreal's water treatment plant was dumping estrogen products into rivers at a level 90 times the critical amount, a level far beyond the minimum for disrupting the fertility of fish.

Last week, Mexico's Secretariat of Health issued a warning that use of the contraceptive pill during pregnancy could raise the risk of "genital ambiguity," also known as hermaphrodism, in newborns.

"The sad thing about this is that, if we are talking about the regulation of fertility, these products are not necessary," writes Castellvi, noting that Natural Family Planning methods, which involve abstaining from sexual intercourse during the fertile period of a woman's monthly cycle, "are just as effective and furthermore they respect the nature of the person."

Despite mounting evidence indicating the harmful effects of artificial hormones on the environment, the French Press Agency reported that Castellvi's statements were "promptly dismissed by several organizations," which claimed that female hormones are present "everywhere" and change once they are digested.

Castellvi's statements are supported by a report recently issued by FIAMC, which he says contains more than 300 source citations, the majority of which are from medical publications. His article appeared in the January 4th issue of L'Osservatore Romano.

Related Links:

Estrogen 'Flooding Our Rivers,' Montreal Study Finds
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080918170628.ht...

Male fish becoming female?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6436617/

Hormones in water blamed as more men seek breast reduction
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article549956.ece

Secretariat of Health Alert Regarding Genital Ambiguity (Spanish)
http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/ElFinanciero/Portal/cfpages/c...

Original L'Osservatore Romano article: L’«Humanae vitae» Una profezia scientifica (Italian)
http://tuespetrus.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/l%C2%ABhumanae-vi...

Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Study Confirms Estrogen in Water from the Pill Devastating to Fish Populations
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08021805.html

Hormonal Contraceptives Pollute Drinking Water - Environmentalists Turn a Blind Eye
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07071105.html