Smoking may raise breast cancer risk

A panel of U.S. and Canadian researchers says smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke may increase the risk of breast cancer.

The report, which suggests girls and young women face a higher risk than postmenopausal women, goes against the consensus of most scientists that there isn’t enough evidence to link smoking to breast cancer, The New York Times reported Friday.

The panel of 10 U.S. and Canadian breast cancer and public health experts, put together by the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit at the University of Toronto, was led by the group Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. Their findings are based on a review of recent studies that tended to distinguish women who had been exposed to smoke, whether as smokers or through secondhand smoke, from women who were never exposed to tobacco smoke, The Times said.

The report said several studies suggest women who start to smoke when they are young increase their risk of breast cancer by 20 percent.