(350 words) Stanford University medical researchers conducted a study on the correlation between the use of fertility drugs and ovarian cancer. Their study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, concludes that the use of the fertility drugs, Pergonal and Serophene, may increase the risk of ovarian cancer by three times. The lead author of the studies, Professor Alice Whittemore, stated, “Our finding in regard to fertility drugs is by no means certain. It is based on very small numbers and is really very tenuous.”
FDA Commissioner David Kessler would like the infertility drug manufacturers to disclose the study findings and offer a warning on the drug packages. He notes, “Even though the epidemiology study is still preliminary, women have a right to know what is known. We’re not looking to make more of this than there is.”
If you were a manufacturer of one of the drugs, would you voluntarily disclose the study information?
