This is a multi-part message in MIME format. A panel of federal scientific advisers says estrogen should be placed on the nation's list of cancer-causing substances, even though it remains a good treatment for many women. Another type of post-menopausal estrogen, conjugated estrogens, already is on the federal carcinogen list.
Doctors already know about the cancer link.
But the NTP advisers said putting all estrogens on the federal list would help women trying to balance the benefits and risks when choosing hormone therapy. They only discuss benefits. Michelle Medinsky, a toxicologist from Durham, N.C., said before the vote. The committee of scientists advises the NTP, a branch of the National Institutes of Health that every two years updates the federal list of proven and suspected cancer-causing substances. The NTP typically follows its advisers' recommendations, but an officially updated carcinogen list isn't expected until 2002.