WE want to reach any of your readers who believe they may be at high risk of developing breast cancer which, in the UK, affects one in 12 women.

For those with a family history of the disease, the risk is likely to be at least double this. These are the women we are recruiting for IBIS, the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study.

Run by the United Kingdom Co-ordinating Committee on Cancer Research, it is testing whether the drug tamoxifen - could also prevent it.

The only way to find out is through a large randomised study and we need 15,000 volunteers. Half will be randomised take a tamoxifen pill for five years and half a placebo (dummy) pill.

We would like to hear from readers, aged 45-65, with a mother, sister or daughter who had breast cancer at the age of 50 or younger, or two close blood relatives who had the disease at any age.

We would also like to hear from women aged 35 to 44 who had either a mother or sister who developed breast cancer before the age of 40, or had two or more blood relatives who developed it before the age of 50.

Tamoxifen is a well tried and tested drug which has been taken by over a million women worldwide over the last 25 years. It has been proved effective in treating women with early stage breast cancer and has also been shown to reduce the risk of patients developing new tumours in their other breast by 40 per cent.

However, like all drugs, it can have side effects, so anyone interested in taking part will be asked to think hard about the pros and cons.

CLAIRE O'NEILL, Senior Study Co-ordinator, IBIS, PO Box 123, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX.

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