On November 24th, 1989, I lost my mother to breast cancer. I would turn 24 the next day. To this day, I miss her. She never got to see her grandchildren and I often think about how much she would have adored them.
Last night, for the second year in a row, my wife and I attended the The Susan G. Komen Foundation's Pink Tie Ball.
It was an honor and a privilege, as well as, moving, informative and fun. They do great work that helps a lot of women and men.
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The Pink Tie Ball® is a formal dinner-dance to raise funds for breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment. Up to 75% of the income raised stays in the Louisville Metro Area and is granted to local breast cancer agencies to support education, mammography and diagnostic screening, treatment and support programs for the under-insured. The remaining 25% is donated to The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Research program.
The other main fundraiser the foundation sponsors is the Race for the Cure. I haven't participated in that yet, but most likely will the next time it comes around.
Again, they do stellar work and I hope everyone will support them. What I'm about to say shouldn't be taken as criticism, rather a suggestion.
Last night, I heard a startling statistic. One-in-eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. That is an epidemic. I don't like those odds one bit. I fear for my wife and my daughter.
When my mom had breast cancer, I believe the number was one-in-ten. Yes, early and better detection may be responsible for some of those numbers, but I find it hard to believe that something in our environment isn't contributing to the growth in this horrible disease.
At least someone agrees with me on that.
As a breast cancer activist, I appreciate the spirit of your letter, but have some questions about it.
Your statement, "breast cancer incidence rates continue to increase as a result of more effective detection methods and changing lifestyle patterns," implies that these two factors alone explain the rate increase. It has not been demonstrated conclusively that either is the case. Campaigns for mammography following Betty Ford's diagnosis in the early 1970's triggered a brief spike in breast cancer incidence, but they don't explain the steady increase in breast cancer incidence over the past 30 years. "Changing lifestyle patterns," no matter how often they are mentioned, may account for some breast cancer cases, but it is widely agreed that the cause of half or more of breast cancer cases is unknown. Meanwhile, it is more and more clear that involuntary environmental exposures contribute to many breast cancer cases. The American Cancer Society has been among the last to acknowledge the role of environmental carcinogens. Your response, regrettably, reflects this reluctance once again.
It appears the American Cancer Society isn't necessarily on top of their game when it comes to environmental cause and effect. To be honest, I'm not sure where the Komen Foundation is on this matter either. However, I heard nothing about the environment during the presentations. Again, I'm not being critical, but I'm just saying that the Komen Foundations work to help women and find a cure has been stellar. Wouldn't it make sense to have a "search for the cause?"
As noted in the message to which you responded: "...The incidence of breast cancer has nearly tripled in the past 50 years. A woman's lifetime risk has increased from 1 in 20 in the 1950's to 1 in 7 today." A three-fold increase in 50 years can simply not be explained by changes in our genes, or in our lifestyles. Women who migrate to the United States acquire our breast cancer rates within one generation. It is only logical that carcinogens in food, water, air, soil, and household products are factors in the breast cancer epidemic. Until a significant portion of the unknown billions of dollars currently spent on breast cancer research are focused on identifying and eliminating what makes us sick, we cannot claim that we are "preventing" breast cancer, or even that we are trying to do so.
My wife deserves a special mention here. As a Director in her company she gets to choose "her cause." She obviously knows about my mother and made this her cause. Her company paid $3,000 for our table on her behalf. Thanks, baby. I love you.
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