Breast Cancer Industry Awareness Month

From about.com :

The National Cancer Institute stated in 1995, "Breast cancer is simply not a preventable disease." In 1997, the American Cancer Institute offered a similar opinion, that "there are no practical ways to prevent breast cancer—only early detection."

Soon after the NCI made that statement, a study was released which linked the output of internal combustion engines with increased risk of breast cancer. NCI was quick to hop on board into a collaborative research program with General Motors (GM). 140,000 female GM employees aged 35 and older were invited to participate to assess their risk for developing cancer. The employees with the highest possible risk were then eligible to participate in the NCI's "Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene" (STAR)program, which randomly assigned daily doses of either of the two drugs to the healthy women for a period of five years.

Yet again, the cancer industry relied upon a study based on chemoprevention, rather than focusing on determining the source of the problem, pollution prevention, or creation of less-harmful alternatives.

At this time, it should be noted that the reason the cancer-treatment drug Tamoxifen is shrouded in controversy is due to the fact that the drug itself is a potential carcinogen, and may cause uterine cancer, liver cancer and gastrointestinal cancer. After two years of use, tamoxifen has been shown to increase uterine cancer risk by two to three times.

The main site to visit is Breast Cancer Action.

A useful flyer (pdf)

google on BCI

Added by colin #442 on 2004-10-06. Last modified 2004-10-06 23:35. F0 License: Attribution
Location: World, United States
Topics: activism, toxicology