Teenage Smoking Increases Breast Cancer Risk - Study LONDON (Reuters) - Women who start smoking when they are teenagers are 70 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than non-smokers, Canadian scientists said on Friday. But those who take up the habit later in life, after their first pregnancy, have a reduced chance of suffering from the illness. Dr. Pierre Band of Health Canada in Quebec and colleagues from the British Columbia Cancer Agency in Vancouver questioned 2,000 women, with and without breast cancer, in a survey to determine the impact of smoking on the risk of the disease. About 1,400 women had gone through the menopause and the others had not. "Our results suggest that cigarette smoke exerts a dual action on the breast, with different effects in premenopausal and post menopausal women," Band said in the research published in The Lancet medical journal. The scientists found that in younger women the risk of breast cancer increases if they start smoking within five years of puberty. But in older women, smoking does not increase the chances of suffering from the disease regardless of when smoking starts. They found a reduced risk in women who took up the habit after their first pregnancy. Band and his team believe that breast cancer tissue could be particularly sensitive to cancer-causing agents during puberty when the breasts are developing. "Our observations reinforce the importance of smoking prevention, especially in early adolescence," he said. [10/04/2002; Reuters News Service] Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.