Taking folate in pregnancy and risk of maternal breast cancer: Authors and publishers must not disclaim ethical responsibility

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7491.600

BMJ 2005;330:600 (12 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7491.600

Letter

Taking folate in pregnancy and risk of maternal breast cancer

Authors and publishers must not disclaim ethical responsibility

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—On 10 December 2004 a banner headline on the frontpage of a popular tabloid newspaper read: "Cancer danger offolic acid" on the basis of a paper by Charles et al on takingfolate in pregnancy and risk of maternal breast cancer.^1
2 Althoughcoverage in the broadsheets was more balanced, the overall messagewould inevitably cause concern to women taking folate to reducethe risk of fetal neural tube defect in a desired pregnancy.

Credit: CORDELIA MOLLOY/SPL

Despite the likelihood that the most likely explanation forthe reported association is chance, as reported in the commentaryto the paper,² numerous susceptible women will probably nottake folate, and some of these may conceive fetuses with neuraltube defects. In addition, what company or government will takeresponsibility for fortification of wheat and corn flour withfolate, now that this question has been raised?

The authors themselves point . . . [Full text of this article]

Gordon Stirrat, senior research fellow in ethics in medicine

Centre for Ethics in Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol BS2 8BH g.m.stirrat@bristol.ac.uk

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