Radiation and Breast Cancer Risk

["ERIC GOLDIN" <goldinem@songs.sce.com>]

     I also have a question regarding the newspaper article about the 
     study indicating increased risk of breast cancer.  If I recall 
     what I read in the paper, the women studied were subjected to 
     radiation as a treatment for some other primary cancer.  The 
     article didn't make clear that the additional risk was due to 
     what I've always heard of as "secondary" cancers; that is, the 
     incidence of breast cancer in women who were being treated for 
     some other type of cancer.  Nowhere in the newspaper article was 
     there any reference to this, but I would assume (hope) that the 
     published paper in a reputable journal like Cancer must have 
     taken this into account.  I don't have easy access to a good 
     medical library, but can someone out there in academia let the 
     rest of us know the answer to a key question:  Was the risk of 
     breast cancer increased when compared to a cohort of women who 
     were treated without radiation for the primary neoplasm?  Or was 
     the reported risk only compared to the incidence of breast cancer 
     in an ordinary control group?
     
     Eric Goldin, confused and disclaimed, of course
     Southern California Edison
     <goldinem@songs.sce.com>