Pill prevents ovarian cancer for decades

Birth control pills can protect women against ovarian cancer for 30 years or longer after they stop taking them and have so far prevented 100,000 ovarian cancer deaths worldwide, British researchers said on Thursday.

The longer women stay on the pill, the lower their risk of developing the disease, which is more common after age 50, the researchers wrote in the journal Lancet. For example, women who take the pill for 15 years cut their risk in half, they said.

Worldwide the pill has already prevented 200,000 women from developing cancer of the ovary and has prevented 100,000 deaths from the disease, Valerie Beral of the University of Oxford and colleagues wrote in their report.

The findings are the strongest evidence yet of the benefits of the pill when it comes to ovarian cancer, and show the protection lasts far longer than people had thought, Beral said.

“When you are 60 it matters whether you took it for five years or 10 years in your twenties,” Beral said in a telephone interview. “The longer you took it, the better off you are when the risk of ovarian cancer is high.”

An estimated 300 million women have used the contraceptive pill since its introduction in the early 1960s. Hundreds of studies have looked at its safety, some suggesting benefits and others showing a raised risk of breast and cervical cancer.

-from MSNBC.com

 

Taxpayers would get checks under economic stimulus plan

U.S. taxpayers would get checks of several hundred dollars from the federal government under a plan to stimulate the economy, congressional and Bush administration officials said Thursday.

“Tens of millions Americans will have a check in the mail,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said at a Capitol Hill news conference. “It is there to strengthen the middle class, to create jobs and to turn this economy around.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, “I’m looking for quick action in the House. I hope that the Senate will follow quickly so that we can put this money in the hands of middle-income Americans as soon as possible.”

Speaking a few minutes later at the White House, President Bush said the package will “boost our economy and encourage job creation.”

Department said the plan would send checks of $600 to individuals and $1,200 to couples who paid income tax and who filed jointly.

People who did not pay federal income taxes but who had earned income of more than $3,000 would get checks of $300 per individual or $600 per couple.

A Democratic aide and Republican aide said there will be an additional amount per child, which could be in the neighborhood of $300.

Those who earn up to $75,000 individually or up to $150,000 as a couple will be eligible for the payments, said Republican and Democratic sources familiar with the tentative deal.

Pelosi said as many as 116 million American families will get a rebate check.

Checks could be in taxpayer mailboxes by June, according to an Associated Press report.

The agreement includes a robust package of business incentives and help for homeowners facing possible mortgage foreclosures.

The Treasury Department still must analyze the numbers to determine the price tag of the stimulus package, sources said.

To get to the agreement, Democrats dropped calls for increases in food stamps and an extension of unemployment compensation. Republicans agreed to allow people who pay Social Security taxes but not income taxes to get the checks, sources said.

“This package has the right set of policies and is the right size,” Bush said Thursday. “The incentives in this package will lead to higher consumer spending and increased business investment this year.”

He added, “This package recognizes that lowering taxes is a powerful and efficient way to help consumers and businesses.”

-CNN.com