Letter to the Editor

After reading the Online 49er's article "The Pill lowers risk of heart disease" by Elizabeth Eide, I felt compelled to write a letter regarding the incorrect and missing information from the front-page story. The article focused on the "latest findings" of The American Society for Reproductive Medicine's study by The Women's Health Initiative.  It is asserted by Eide in the article that the pill lowered the risk of having any form of cancer by seven percent. According to the study and other reliable news sources such as the Associated Press and ABC News Health, there was no increased risk of breast cancer, bladder cancer, or colon cancer for pill users. However, Eide's article fails to mention this qualification when citing the lowered risk of "any form of cancer." 

Furthermore, the article fails to point out that any of the benefits of using the pill are negated, and risks for cardiovascular issues are increased by a woman's increasing age, elevated body mass index, and smoking.  Due to these omissions from the story, it seems that what could have been a well-balanced news story became an inaccurate and unreliable promotion for the pill at large without any reference to the specific benefits, risks, and personal variables that each woman must know before making the choice to take the pill.  Knowledge is power.  In this case, our paper's front-page article lacked the first and thus severely limited the second.

— Michelle Stonis
Master's Student, History