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Breast Cancer by Triana Silton October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But the emphasis has been on mammograms and early detection not on prevention. Very little discussion takes place on the causes - the link between what we’re exposed to in our environment and what happens in our bodies.
Worldwide, in 1980, 1/2 million women died of breast cancer, by 2000, the number will be over 1 million. In the United States, 183,000 women develop breast cancer every year. 2.6 million women currently have breast cancer, only 1.6 million of whom know it. One third of the women with breast cancer will die, including a disproportionate number of women of color. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for women between the ages of 32 and 52. Despite the horrifying statistics, this country has remained virtually silent about the epidemic we are faced with, devoting few resources to searching for the causes, prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Almost exclusively, it is women that develop breast cancer, leading to it low priority within the cancer establishment tin terms of research dollars. The American Cancer Society spent 4.5% of its $350 million 1992 budget on breast cancer research while the National Cancer Institute spent 10% of its $2 billion 1993 budget. Breast cancer represent 16% of all cancers in the general population, and accounts for 32%l of all cancers in women. If research dollars were to reflect breast cancer’s presence in the general population, the ACS would have to almost quadruple it current allocation and the NCI would have to increase its allocation by one half current funding levels. Inadequate funding for research on breast cancer and the connection between the cancer establishment and producers of chemotherapy drugs have stymied progress on treatment methods. Slash, burn, and poison, or more scientifically surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, have been the only treatment methods sanctioned by the cancer establishment for the last thirty years. The 1991 chairman of one of the 20 largest cancer research institutions was also chairman of Bristol-Myers Squibb, the nation’s largest producer of chemotherapy drugs, providing add incentive to ensure limited treatment methods. The problem is not only in the treatment methods that do exist, but in access to those methods. While women of color and white women seem to contract breast cancer at similar rates, women of color die far more frequently from the disease because of inadequate access to information about detection and minimal funding for treatment. Women of color often don’t get information concerning mammograms, a process that detects the cancer with a high degree of certainly, and even when they do mammograms are often unaffordable and not covered by health insurers--if one is fortunate enough to have health insurance. Early detection allows for treatment that potentially prevents the spread of the cancer, decreasing the likelihood of the disease being fatal. Perhaps even more surprising than the lack of progress in treatment technologies is the lack of progress on the causes of breast cancer. Today, almost 80% of the women that develop breast cancer do not fall into any of the known at risk categories. Studies have come out dispelling popular notions that breast cancer is linked to one’s diet or heredity. Current theories link breast cancer to elevated levels of estrogen and progesterone -- elevated levels caused by exposure to industrial chemicals that mimic naturally occurring hormones. Japanese women are one-fifth as likely to develop breast cancer as American women. Yet when they move to the United States, their rates become equal. During the 1970’s, Israel had one of the highest and fastest-rising rates of breast cancer in the world. And a similar high level of organochlorine pesticides in human milk and tissue. In 1978, Israel aggressively phased out some organochlorine pesticides resulting in substantial decreases of organochlorines in mother’s milk. At the end of ten years, the rate at which young women contracted breast cancer decreased as well. The studies in the last three years have been much more definitive in linking breast cancer with organochlorines. Counties with hazardous waste sites are 6.5 times more likely to have elevated breast cancer rates according to the US EPA, female chemical workers are 63% more likely to develop breast cancer according to the National Cancer Institute, women with breast cancer have 50-60% higher levels of organochlorine pesticides in their breast tissue according to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Despite this definitive research, the cancer establishment has actively denied and obstructed the organochlorine connection, partly because of its own ties to the petrochemical industry. More than one third of the board of the Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC, one of the top 20 research establishments, is tied to the oil, chemical and automotive industries. Armand Hammer, head of Occidental Petroleum, chaired the executive board of the NCI for most of the 1980’s, and his legacy outlives his tenure as only 3% of the 1993 budget is devoted to the connection to environmental contaminants of any form of cancer. The American Cancer Society has created a blacklist of scientists it doesn’t consider meritous, slowing down the pace of change in the cancer establishment by maintaining the status quo and blacklisting scientists interested in the industrial chemical connection. The only way to stop the epidemic is to prevent the disease by cutting back on our production of synthetic organic chemicals, catch it early by providing adequate information and funding the develop safer and effective treatment methods. October is national Breast Cancer Awareness Month and provides an opportunity for us to draw attention to the issue and demand action. Audre Lorde had images of armies on one breasted women descending on Congress and demanding action--maybe soon her vision will come true. Anyone wishing to get involved in demanding that corporations reduce their production of chemicals, the cancer establishment increase and redirect funding and that health information and care be provided please contact the Center at (909) 360-8451. Other Resources: "Rachel’s Children" through Women’s Environment and Development Organization 845 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022 or Greenpeace 847 W. Jackson, Chicago, IL 60607. MUST READING - Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks At Cancer and the Environment by Sandra Steingraber; Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1997. A Woman’s Cancer Agenda In 1991, it was estimated that 555,000 US women were diagnosed with cancer and 242,000 women died of it. Nearly one in three women in the United States will get cancer in her lifetime and over 40% of these will be cancers of the female reproductive organs. With these shocking facts in mind, we have compiled the following list of demands, to be presented to the American Cancer Society and the US government. Regarding Research Increase the funding through new allocations for research on cancers of the female reproductive organs: breast, cervical uterine, vaginal and ovarian, to whatever level is necessary to allow for meaningful research resulting in decreased incidence and decreased mortality among women of all races, ethnic groups and social classes. Increase the funding through new allocations for research focused on identifying the causes of the recent 12-13% increase in childhood cancer incidence, which could be due to toxic exposure to either or both parents. Fund research, through new allocations, on all other types of cancer with an emphasis on similarities and differences between men and women, and between women of different races, ethnic groups and social classes, in the causes and course of the disease and the effectiveness of treatment. Develop an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to research that takes into account the whole individual and her social and political context, not just the cancer cells in her body. Study the interrelationship between the immune system, the neuroendocrine system, and cancer, and the importance of support networks in enhancing he length and quality of life. W demand decision-making power for women, minorities and the poor, including those with cancer and at high risk for cancer, in all American Cancer Society decision-making bodies, especially the councils which decide research funding allocations. Regarding Public Policy Pass the Women’s health Equity Act, a set of legislative initiatives drafted by the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues concerned with research, services and prevention related to women’s health. Enact a comprehensive and universal national health plan that will allow access to conventional and alternative health care for people of all socio-economic groups. In the meantime, enact legislation to allow for health insurance coverage of experimental cancer treatments and end discrimination against people with cancer. Enforce the Americans With Disabilities Act which was signed into law on July 13, 1990, as it pertains to employment discrimination against people with cancer. Direct research to focus on prevention, the environmental causes of cancer and new, non-toxic therapies. make the identification and removal of all carcinogens from our environment an all-time high priority. Ban the production and dumping of toxic wastes. Ban cigarette advertising (as has been done in Canada, France and other countries). Ban the export of US tobacco. Implement the recommendations of a recent report from the Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States, 1990 (Unconventional Cancer Treatments, (G.P.O. #052-003-1207-3), describing unconventional cancer treatments, such as herbal substances, vitamins and dietary changes, an offering suggestions to the cancer establishment, such as providing funds and expertise for the evaluation of these treatments. The present highly polarized situation between mainstream and alternative treatments is not in the best interest of people with cancer. Statement from "Rachel’s Children" The following statement has been endorsed by some sixty grassroots organizations ( and the list is growing) around the world. The goals of the groups that have joined this campaign are: to support and strengthen the role of women as leaders to define the current health crisis as one that has its origins in the environment; to help build a broad-based, popular movement to create the political will and awareness necessary to address these urgent issues; and to develop a prevention-oriented action agenda that targets the chlorine and nuclear industries. Women, Health and the Environment: Action for Prevention We are Rachel’s Children.'Named in honor of Rachel Carson', who was the first to sound the alarm on the link between pesticides and cancer. We are women from the United States, Canada, and Mexico [endorsees include a number of groups in Africa and Asia as well], dedicated to ending the silence about the deterioration of women’s health and its connection to the environment. We are initiating a worldwide campaign to take action to prevent cancer --particularly breast cancer-- as well as other diseases caused or triggered by preventable environmental factors. We do not accept the fact that one out of three people will get cancer, ad one in every four will eventually die from it. Manmade toxins -- such as organochlorines and radionuclides-- are being produced without regard to our lives, the lives of our families, future generations, or the planet. These poisons are being produced ad dumped in neighborhoods of the poor, the disenfranchised, and people of color. The United States, Japan, Germany, and many other countries export toxins to developing countries. In some areas, whole communities are being poisoned and destroyed. We demand accountability from corporate polluters who are sacrificing the health of millions for billions in profit. As a beginning, we seek the phase-out of the entire class of chlorinated organic chemicals and an end to the production and use of all nuclear power and weapons. With careful transition planning, the use of hazardous materials and toxics can and must be replaced with clean production, renewable energy, and healthy workplaces. Women’s lives and health have been compromised by the cancer establishment. We hold these agencies and institutions responsible for their inaction and failure to prevent cancer. We demand immediate action with a priority on prevention in all programs, policy, and research areas. We hold accountable our governments that are supposed to be protecting us. We challenge them to confront the polluters that are poisoning us and stop them before millions more die. For too long, women have been excluded from decisions that profoundly affect our lives and our families. We demand our right to participate in all stages of decision-making about health and environmental matters. We have the right to live in communities where the air we breath, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the places we work are clean and poison-free. We invite you to join us in our campaign to achieve these basic human rights. Together, with effort, we can create the political will and awareness necessary to address these urgent issues. *When Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, was published in 1962, many critics from the chemicals industry asked: "Why should Rachel Carson b concerned? She doesn’t have any children." Two years after she died of breast cancer at the age of 56. Rachel’s Children" through Women’s Environment and Development Organization 845 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022 or Greenpeace 847 W. Jackson, Chicago, IL 60607.
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