Contraceptive pill cuts cancer risk

Women who take the contraceptive pill for eight years or less could cut their chances of getting cancer, scientists have found.

According to one of the largest studies ever carried out, the contraceptive can reduce the likelihood of developing the disease.

But it also found there could be an increased risk for those who have used it for more than eight years.

Professor Philip Hannaford of the University of Aberdeen, who helped carry out the research, said: "These results show that the contraceptive pill was not associated with an overall increased risk of any cancer, indeed it may produce an important net public health gain.

"These findings will probably reassure most pill users living in the UK and their doctors."

The research is one of the largest detailed studies of the pill in the world.

Scientists recruited 46,000 women in 1968 to take part. Half were already using oral contraceptives, and the other half had never taken them.

Researchers analysed the data, which spans a 36-year period, to come up with the findings.

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.