Report Finds Half of Breast Cancer Causes May Be Environmental

Okay, can we all be crazy? While no one seems to be willing to consider a cause or catalyst for autism other than the safely murky "it's got to be genetic," our friends at the Breast Cancer Fund have released a State of the Evidence 2006 report that draws on nearly 350 studies linking breast cancer to synthetic chemicals and radiation exposure.

The report is very thorough and therefore rather large, but this paragraph stuck out at me:

Patterns of breast cancer incidence indicate the importance of environmental exposures. Women who move from countries with low breast cancer rates to industrialized countries soon acquire the higher risk of their new country. The largest study ever conducted among twins found that environmental exposures unique to those with breast cancer made the most significant contribution to the development of the disease.

The statistics in this report indicate that breast cancer rates have been climbing steadily since the 1940s, which coincides perfectly with the post WWII chemical-pesticide-pharma age. It's striking to me (getting back to my "favorite" subject) that in a series of well-researched investigative reports, UPI reporter Dan Olmsted was unable to find the 130 autistics that should (according to epidemiological statistics) be residing in Lancaster County among that genetic-malformation hotbed that is the Amish, who,incidentally are allowed a religious exemption to not vaccinate and also don't traditionally use a lot of chemically cosmetics. The first time, he didn't find a single case. After some dogged digging, he unearthed a measely three autistic kids: a fully vaccinated Chinese adoptee (China is moving at hyperspeed to mass-vaccinate, and using vaccines preserved with mercury), a child who had a documented vaccine reaction, and a nonspecific third. All the children were under ten--could it be just a coincidence that while the older generation did not traditionally vaccinate (hence, the exemption), that because of pressure public health officials, some of the younger Amish parents are beginning to vaccinate their babies? Hmmmmmm?

Ooops, sorry I got a little off topic. Back to breasts. FertiltyBitch also finds common ground with her BCF sisters in their cautions about plastics, crap (particularly phthalates) in cosmetics, mercury...and SUNSCREEN, which may contain some estrogenic and lipid-loving substances on top of the mysterious ways it also alters thyroid function (see previous post, How Suncreen Screws Up Your Thyroid).

When you read this report, please don't try to suffocate yourself in a bag of marshmallows in despair--which was my initial impulse. Obviously you can't protect yourself from everything, but by keeping yourself informed, you can start eliminating some of the big things.