Only now they tell us!

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Cervical and breast cancers kill more than 16,000 women every year in Britain.

This is not a new phenomenon. It's been going on for more than 20 years.

The Pill has been used by hundreds of thousands of women... for more than 20 years.

Now (nearly 1984) we find out that there is a high risk of contracting these cancers if you use a high-dosage pill for more than four years. Since low-dosage pills have only been prescribed relatively recently, that means that most women using the Pill are at risk of contracting cancer.

There have been cancer 'scares before, yet major investigations have not been carried out. Even the latest studies, done by Jo Thwaites Vessey and Pike, still aren't conclusive, and allow doctors to say: 'Well, this needs to be confirmed by other investigators'.

It is scandalous that a drug can be prescribed for over 20 years to so many women without proper conclusive tests having been carried out as to its safety.

But is it surprising? How many millions have been made by the drug companies? How much more simple and profitable to carry on with the Wonderpill, which sets so many women's fears of pregnancy to one side. Never mind the risk of women's deaths in the process.

Cervical cancer need not be a killer. There is a laser treatment for it which is effective if the cancer is diagnosed early enough. That is why regular cervical smears are important.

Yet smear tests on the NHS only became available in 1971, and still aren't nearly well enough used by women.

Now there is talk of cutting back on these tests - tests that are vital if women are to survive 20 years of abuse at the hands of doctors and drug companies.

It seems likely that the Pill is not the only cause of cervical cancer. The truth is that the medical profession doesn't know what causes it. What is known is that nuns don't get it.