For 10 years, Dr. Joel Brind has been in possession of a bombshell piece of information: Abortions can increase the risk of breast cancer. Dr. Angela Lanfranchi believed him.

As president of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, which educates women on how to reduce the risk of breast cancer, Brind received — along with Bishop Emeritus Vincent De Paul Breen of Metuchen, N.J. — the 2003 Pro Vita award presented by the Metuchen Diocese.

Brind is a professor of biology and endocrinology at Baruch College of the City University of New York. Lanfranchi, a New Jersey breast surgeon, spoke with him for the Register about the abortion/breast cancer link.

When did you first become aware of the abortion/breast cancer link?

I became aware that a full-term pregnancy reduced the risk of breast cancer in 1982 while doing a literature search for a grant proposal. In response to a 1992 article in Science News on pregnancy and breast cancer, I did another literature search and became convinced about the abortion/breast cancer link. I also became convinced that the results of these studies were being suppressed. I began to give presentations to other scientists on this subject.

Could you explain how abortion increases a woman's risk of breast cancer?

The link between abortion and breast cancer is based on the same two principles that account for 90% of all other breast-cancer risks. Those principles are: 1) excess exposure to estrogen, and 2) the maturation of the breast from type 1 and 2 lobules to type 3 and 4 lobules.

Every pregnant woman knows that soon after conception her breasts start to enlarge and become tender. What is happening is that the number of type 1 and 2 lobules is rapidly increasing in number in response to the marked elevation in estrogen.

Estrogen levels rise by 2,000% by the end of the first trimester. Type 1 and 2 lobules are known to be where cancers start. These increased numbers of type 1 and 2 lobules would increase her risk of breast cancer if they did not mature to cancer-resistant type 3 and 4 lobules after 32 weeks of her 40-week full-term pregnancy.

So if the woman's pregnancy is prematurely terminated through abortion before full maturation, she is left with more type 1 and 2 lobules than she had at the start of her pregnancy, where cancer can arise.

What were the reactions of your colleagues to those presentations?

A well-known cancer researcher with Strang-Cornell [a breast center and cancer prevention institute] in New York City, Leon Bradlow, who was a friend, expressed disbelief until he confirmed the data with other colleagues who had confirmed it in their own work.

One negative reaction came in 1993 by then president of Beth Israel Medical Center, Dr. [Robert] Newman. After he had read a quote by me in The Lancet, a British medical journal, I lost my appointments as the research investigator at Beth Israel and as an adjunct faculty member at Mount Sinai Medical School.

How did you try to publicize the abortion/breast cancer link?

I went to Washington, D.C., in 1993 to educate congressmen on this issue with the hope that there might be legislative initiatives that would get the word out on an important public health problem.

Dave Weldon, a congressman and a physician, told me that a meta-analysis was necessary before I could hope for any support.

A meta-analysis is an evaluation of all the studies done on a particular topic. By pooling the results of the studies, one is able to get a more accurate appraisal of the data evaluated.

So in 1996, with colleagues from Pennsylvania State Medical School, I did a comprehensive review and meta-analysis of abortion as an independent risk factor for breast cancer. This was published in a British medical journal. It showed an overall 30% increase in breast cancer risk with 18 of 23 studies showing an association.

Why do you think this is a vital issue for the pro-life movement?

This is an issue that transcends the question of abortion per se. It is important in reaching those who believe themselves to be pro-choice. It can help them to consider the damage abortion causes not only to the unborn but to the mother as well. It could lead some to reconsider their positions.

Most importantly this information can help protect women and their children. This information is needed to have full informed consent before the choice is made that can lead to cancer and even death. It is just one of the many ways that abortion hurts women physically.

It is also vital information for women who have already chosen abortion. They need to understand their need for breast cancer screening, which may need to be started before the recommended age of 40 if they had an abortion at an early age. By finding a cancer early through screening, the chance of survival increases.

This information can also help to bring about a culture of life by exposing a lie that rests at the foundation of the abortion industry — that abortion is safe. It is far from safe and, in fact, is often lethal to the mother.

What has encouraged you to continue educating the public on this issue?

One source of continuing encouragement is that people such as pregnancy counselors have told me that the information I have supplied has convinced women to choose life.

Also, last July, at the urging of 28 Congressmen led by New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, the National Cancer Institute took down its inaccurate Web page denying the abortion/breast cancer link.

What is your hope for the future? What is your goal?

My hope is that through the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute we will be able to educate the public and the medical profession about the abortion/breast cancer link and other lesser-known risks such as birth control pills so the incidence of breast cancer will actually be reduced.

There are at least 10,000 cases of breast cancer a year attributable to abortion alone that could be eliminated. The scientific truth of the matter cannot be suppressed forever with growing numbers of women who are aware of it.

Dr. Angela Lanfranchi is a breast surgeon practicing in Somerset County, New Jersey.