The Truth About Breast Cancer

• Seventy percent of women with breast cancer have no family history and no other risk factors

.

• Mammograms do not protect against breast cancer, and actually deliver ionizing radiation directly to breast tissue. 

• Anyone can print a pink ribbon on a product label and say they're donating to the fight against breast cancer.

• Many of the corporate sponsors of the Pink Ribbon Campaign manufacture products with ingredients linked to breast cancer.   

*  *  *  


Many women will tell you that breast cancer runs in their family. But researchers estimate that less than 10% of breast cancer cases are related to genetics. 

The truth is that breast cancer may run in families because families share their environment - the air they breathe, the water they drink, the food they eat and the products they use.  

For years, women have walked for the cure, urged their mothers and sisters and friends to get their mammograms, and purchased pink ribbon products that claim that a percentage of their sales will be donated to breast cancer research.

But with all that walking, urging and purchasing, the incidence of breast cancer has increased. The American Cancer Society predicts that more than 230,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year. More than 40,000 will die. A woman's chance of developing breast cancer in 1940 was 1 in 22.  Today it's 1 in 7. 

The fact is, women are getting the wrong message about breast cancer. The message they need to hear it that we can take steps to reduce our risk of breast and other cancers, that we have choices for different (less risky) screening techniques, that we need to protect our young pre-teen daughters when they are most vulnerable, and that our voices together can make a difference in this fight.