By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Posted: Tuesday, May 16, 2006

LETTER
Publication Date: May 16, 2006

This letter appeared in the Science section of the May 16, 2006 New York Times:

To the Editor:

While raloxifene (Evista) is certainly not a "magic bullet" to prevent breast cancer, the data clearly indicate that it does reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer in high-risk women, and thus it represents a significant advance ("Sorting Out Pills to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk," May 9). All drugs have potential side effects; raloxifene has fewer than the other chemopreventive drug against breast cancer, tamoxifen.

Increasingly, we are taking drugs (for example, statins) not because we are ill, but as a means of reducing risk of disease. The decision by healthy people to take drugs to reduce the chance of health threats is one that can only be made by patients in consultation with their doctors.

If a woman chooses to lower her risk of breast cancer and expose herself to potential side effects, that should be her decision, after being fully informed of her own individual balance of benefits and risks.

Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Manhattan
The writer is the medical director of the American Council on Science and Health.

See also: ACSH's brochure and full report on benefits and risks of medication.