The Breast Cancer Fund Alarmed & Saddened by Marin County Breast Cancer Rate Increase

Breast Cancer Fund
Wednesday, 16 January 2002

Calls for Action Towards Eliminating Environmental Causes of Disease

The Breast Cancer Fund (TBCF), a national nonprofit based in San Francisco, expressed alarm and sadness at the news from The Northern California Cancer Center that breast cancer rates have increased 60% in Marin County between 1991 and 1999. With more and more women in Marin County and throughout the United States suffering from breast cancer, TBCF continued to call for policymakers to address prevention of breast cancer by studying and reducing the number of cancer-causing chemicals in our environment.

"The staggering number of women suffering from breast cancer will not remain unique to Marin County and should not be dismissed as a problem for Marin alone. These numbers sound the alarm for the rest of the nation," said Jeanne Rizzo, Executive Director of The Breast Cancer Fund. "As the number of women with breast cancer increases across the country, so does our need to take action. Reducing cancer-causing chemicals in our bodies and our environment is an essential step to stopping breast cancer from killing more women."

An estimated 75,000 synthetic chemicals are in commercial use today in the United States, but two-thirds of them have never been tested for their effects on human health. Meanwhile, an emerging body of evidence has drawn links between cancer and exposure to toxic chemicals found in the environment. Even more alarming, studies have identified the presence of more than 200 foreign chemicals in women's breast milk, including significant levels of dioxin, a known carcinogen that has been shown to disrupt children's hormone systems.

There are a few known factors that contribute to higher risk of breast cancer including, alcohol consumption, personal characteristics such as early puberty, age at first full-term pregnancy or late menopause and social factors such as higher income. However, even when all known risk factors and characteristics are added together, more than 50 percent of breast cancer cases remain unexplained.

"We refuse to simply watch our friends die from breast cancer or wait for more of our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends to face the disease. And while we don't know exactly what is causing breast cancer rates to rise so substantially, environmental causes should not be ignored," continued Rizzo. "We can get mammograms, drink less alcohol and exercise more, but we will not end this epidemic until we prevent the disease by eliminating the environmental causes, find safe, reliable early detection methods, and develop more effective, nontoxic treatments."

For more information, or to contact Breast Cancer Fund, see their website at: www.breastcancerfund.org