Copper I.U.D. may be cancer cause

Press, 19 February 1980, Page 3

Copper I.U.D. may be cancer cause

PA Auckland Some 100,000 New Zealand women are estimated to be using contraceptive devices which could speed up the formation of an agent able to cause cancer. The head of obstetrics at Auckland University, Professor Colin Mantell, said yesterday that about 75 per cent of New Zealand women using inter-uterine devices (I.U.D.s) preferred the copper variety. He estimated the number to be about 100,000 women. An Australian research team at Deakin University, Geelong, has linked copper I.U;D.s with a carcinogen, malonaldehyde. Professor Mantell said population studies made by Johns Hopkins University in the United States showed that between 5 per cent and 10; per. cent of married women in developed countries used I.U.D.s. In New Zealand': there are three copper and, One plastic I.U.D.s on the market. A second plastic I.U.D. was discontinued a few years ago when it was associated with severe : infections, / Professor Mantell said. Professor Michael Briggs, who led the Australian research team,, is a member of the World Health Organisation toxicology panel for contraceptives. • He said that inalpnaldehyde, which was strongly carcinogenic, was formed when animal fats ■ went rancid. Copper, speeded up the rancidity, he said. Two ■ groups -of women were, tested, using copper and.plastic I-U.D.s. A significantnumber of those using the copper device, showed traces of malonaldehyde. There' were no traces from the women using plastic. : - Professor Briggs said no

cahcer had been ..detected in any of . the women tested ~ “they are. all perfectly healthy young women.” He said’ it would be difficult tb interpret the full significance of the discovery because it could take a long time —- 15 to 20 years — for cancer to. develop, ; ■■ “It is up to the individual to decide about future use of the copper devices,” he said. “They should discuss, it’ with the person who inserted the device.” ;' '

Professor Briggs said women with a. family history of cancer should seek advice. The discovery came after members of the team had developed •an electrochemical method of identifying maldnaldehyde: