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BREAST CANCER UNAWARENESS MONTH
Press Release, October 14, 1996-- Commenting on the anniversary
of National Breast Cancer Awareness month (NBCAM), Dr. Samuel
Epstein, Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition (CPC) stated, "A
decade-old multi-million dollar deal between National Breast
Cancer Awareness Month sponsors and Imperial Chemical Industries
(ICI) has produced reckless misinformation on breast cancer." Dr.
Epstein, a leading international authority on cancer causing
effects of environmental pollutants, will be speaking on breast
cancer prevention at a conference, "Women, Health, & the
Environment" in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 14-15.
It is sponsored by CPC, in conjunction with Greenpeace and Women’s
Environmental and Development Organization (WEDO).
Zeneca Pharmaceutical, a
U.S. subsidiary and recent spinoff of Imperial Chemical Industries
(ICI), has been the sole funder of
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month since 1984. ICI is one of
the largest manufacturers of petrochemical and chlorinated organic
products, such as acetochlor and vinyl chloride, and the sole manufacturer
of Tamoxifen, the world’s top-selling cancer drug used for
breast cancer. Financial sponsorship by Zeneca/ICI gives them editorial
control over every leaflet, poster, publication, and commercial
produced by NBCAM. NBCAM is promoted by the cancer establishment,
the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society
(ACS) with their corporate sponsors.
ICI has supported the NCI/ACS blame-the-victim theory of the
causes of breast and other cancers. This theory attributes escalating
cancer rates to heredity and faulty lifestyle, rather than avoidable
exposures to industrial carcinogens contaminating air, water, food,
consumer products, and the workplace.
Dr. Epstein will summarize the evidence on avoidable environmental
and other causes of breast cancer ignored in NBCAM promotional
materials:
- Since the 1950’s scientific
evidence has incriminated chlorinated organic pesticides
as breast cancer risk factors
because of their
carcinogenicity, estrogenic effects, and accumulation in body
fat, particularly the breast.
- The unregulated use of growth promoting
hormonal cattle feed additives has resulted in near universal
contamination of meat products. This results in life-long exposure to carcinogenic estrogens,
and poses a major avoidable risk of breast cancer.
- Where you
work increases your breast cancer risks. Excess breast
cancers were found in the 1970’s in women working with
vinyl chloride. There is similar evidence among petrochemical
and electrical
workers. In spite of more women working in such industries, NCI
recently admitted that it has still not investigated these risks
among working women.
- Where you live increases risks of breast
cancer. Based on a review of 21 New Jersey counties, and more
recently 339 nationwide counties,
statistically significant associations were found between excess
breast cancer mortality and residence in counties where hazardous
waste sites are located.
- Living near a nuclear
facility increases your chances of dying from breast cancer. Based
on a nationwide survey of 268 counties within 50 miles of 51
military and civilian nuclear reactors,
CPC member Dr. Jay Gould, showed that breast cancer mortality
in these "nuclear
counties" has increased at 10 times the national rate from
1950 to 1989. Counties near military reactors, such as Hanford,
Oak Ridge and Savannah River, have registered the greatest increases,
ranging from 27 to 200%. Dr. Gould charged NCI with "misrepresentation
of such findings."
- Premenopausal mammography increases
your risk of breast cancer. Increases in breast cancer mortality
have been consistently reported
following repeated mammograms in younger women in six randomized
controlled clinical trials over the last decade. Based on this
evidence, NCI has recently withdrawn recommendations for pre-menopausal
mammography. ACS, with financial support from Dupont and General
Electric (both heavily invested in mammography equipment), and
self-interested radiologists are still promoting this dangerous
practice.
- Participation in the 1972 NCI/ACS reckless,
high dose mammography experiments has increased breast cancer risks
for
the 400,000
women involved.
- Breast implants, particularly polyurethane foam,
pose serious risks of breast cancer. Evidence on the
carcinogenicity of polyurethane
foam dates back to the early 1960’s. One breakdown product
of polyurethane is 2,4-toluenediamine which was removed from
hair dyes in 1971 following discovery of its carcinogenicity.
Frank
admission of these risks are found in internal NCI, FDA and industry
documents.
- The Tamoxifen "chemoprevention" trial
is a travesty! Since 1992, the cancer establishment
recruited 16,000 healthy women
in a Tamoxifen "chemoprevention" trial. NCI and ACS
claimed in their patient consent forms that Tamoxifen could substantially
reduce breast cancer risks, while trivializing risks of drug
complications.
There is strong evidence of Tamoxifen’s toxicity, including
high risks of uterine, gastrointestinal and fatal liver cancer. "This
trial is scientifically and ethically reckless, and participating
institutions and clinicians are at serious risk of future malpractice
claims," warned Dr. Epstein.
"
The ICI/NBCAM public relations campaign has prevented women from
knowing of avoidable causes of breast cancer," concluded
Dr. Epstein.
CONTACT:
Cancer Prevention Coalition
University of Illinois at Chicago
School of Public Health
2121 W. Taylor St., MC 922
Chicago, IL 60612
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