Long-term follow-up data from two cancer prevention trials conducted in the United Kingdom have confirmed that women at high risk for breast cancer continue to receive a risk-reduction benefit from tamoxifen ¹ years after they have stopped taking it. That risk reduction, the reports show, is matched by another favorable development: a significantly lessened risk of serious adverse effects, such as blood clots and endometrial cancer.

The new studies also support the follow-up data ² from a similar study conducted in the United States, the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT), which found a continued benefit from tamoxifen after its use had ended and a stronger benefit-to-risk ratio in premenopausal women. Read more ³  

NCI's Epidemiologic Research on Benzene Contributes to New EPA Rule

Since the British surgeon Percivall Pott reported in 1775 on the high frequency of scrotal cancer among chimney sweeps, studies of occupational groups have been instrumental in the discovery of environmental carcinogens and the development of preventive measures. In modern times, regulatory agencies have depended to a considerable extent on epidemiologic studies in the workplace in formulating public health policies to control hazardous exposures among both workers and the general population.

Most recently, a series of studies in NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics ⁴ (DCEG) was considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in establishing a new rule to limit the benzene content in gasoline and adopt controls on passenger vehicles and portable fuel containers in order to significantly reduce emissions of hazardous air pollutants. The rule was signed and submitted to the Federal Register ⁵ on February 9.  Read more ⁶  

The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads the national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.