It has also called public attention to the fact that the pharmaceutical company most likely to profit from women’s fear of developing breast cancer is the largest sponsor of “public education” programs on breast cancer awareness.

In a statement issued recently with the Boston chapter of the international environmental organization, Greenpeace, the Women’s Community Cancer Project announced:

“October has traditionally been Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We want October to be declared National Cancer Industry Awareness Month to expose the links between environmental pollution and skyrocketing cancer rates. The same companies that manufacture cancer-causing toxins profit from breast cancer treatment. The United Kingdom-based Zeneca Group, the largest sponsor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month to date, has been sued by federal and state governments for dumping DDT and PCBs in California harbors. Zeneca is the manufacturer of tamoxifen, the most widely used breast cancer drug!”

Tamoxifen has been shown in numerous studies to reduce the rate of recurrence in older women with breast cancer. It is now the subject of an ongoing clinical trial involving healthy women at high risk for breast cancer to see if this drug will prevent the disease. There are anecdotal reports that many women are not waiting for the results of the trial but requesting the drug out of fear of developing breast cancer. Some consumer advocates are worried about the current trend toward lifelong drug therapy as prevention rather than investing in research to determine why breast cancer shows a steady increase in most industrialized countries (see HealthFacts, April 1994).

For more information about the Women’s Community Cancer Project, visit Cancer Articles – CancerArticles.org

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