United State

Since the mid 1980s, a strange sight has been on the political horizon. Feminists are standing alongside their arch-enemies, conservatives and religious fundamentalists, to call for anti-pornography laws.

     This phenomenon threatens the well-being of women in at least three important ways:

• Feminism is no longer a stronghold of freedom of speech;

• Women's unacceptable sexual choices are now under new attack;

• It involves rejecting the principle "a woman's body, a woman's right."

A new vaccine has completely eliminated a type of breast cancer tumour in tests on mice, say researchers from Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

"Cellulose sulphate gel appears to be "an effective vaginal contraceptive without many side effects," Dr Christine K. Mauck. In a preliminary study, Mauck and colleagues found that cellulose sulphate vaginal gel performed as well as nonoxynol-9. With time and further research, this vaginal contraceptive may become an alternative to the nonoxynol-9 based contraceptive gels currently available in the US, they suggest.

The AMA supports public education efforts to help women recognize their important role in breast self-examination and to encourage them to report immediately to their physicians any changes that they notice. The AMA encourages physicians to educate their patients in the process of breast cancer detection, emphasizing the technique of self-examination of their breasts. Physicians requesting mammographic examinations should refer their patients to radiologists who use properly functioning equipment that provides the best image resolution at the lowest level of radiation exposure (less than one rad to mid breast for two views of both breasts). Physicians are encouraged to recognize the importance of mammography as an effective screening device to detect early breast cancer. The AMA encourages pharmaceutical companies to include in the packaging of their contraceptives, and all female hygiene products, materials which promote the package and correct techniques of breast self-examination, and which stress the importance of physician breast examinations and appropriate use of screening mammography.