by Myara Sherwood

This time of year millions of people across North America are busy “racing for the cure” for breast cancer, a race we are losing. New cases are up by 33 percent worldwide in the past 10 years. In Canadian hot spots such as Sydney, Nova Scotia, famous for its steel mills and tar ponds, women have a breast cancer rate 57 percent higher than the rest of the province.
Unfortunately, more than 95 percent of the money raised by millions of well-meaning participants is spent on treatment, thereby guaranteeing continued high rates of breast and other cancers. Various cancer control agencies would like us to believe that early detection and treatment equals breast cancer prevention. The same agencies also say that the toxins in breast tissue do not cause cancer, which is odd given that mothers are being warned that their milk contains so many bioaccumulated poisons that breastfeeding gives babies immune system boosters but also exposes them to high levels of toxins.
Professionals like Richard Gallagher, head of cancer control research at the BC Cancer Control Agency, says breast cancer is caused by genetics, smoking, alcohol and lack of exercise. However, this accounts only for about half the cases. Breast Cancer Action Montreal, an activist group, points at pesticides and pollutants as the probable cause of not only the unexplained cases but also the increase in breast cancer.
There are large corporations such as General Electric and the UK-based Zeneca Group which profit from the misfortune of others. GE, on the one hand, sells mammogram machines, yet it is also a major polluter. Its factories spew out the poisons which cause cancer. Zeneca is a primary corporate sponsor for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the US. It also markets half a billion dollars worth of tamoxifen citrate annually, a synthetic anti-estrogen used to treat breast cancer. Shockingly, there is now research showing that this product can cause endometrial cancer, liver damage and other health problems. Zeneca also sells $300 million worth of acetochlor per year, a carcinogenic herbicide that saturates some produce.
Many of the most dangerous environmental poisons are organochlorines which mimic estrogen and are implicated in breast cancer. Man-made organochlorines are found everywhere on Earth. Many pour out of incinerators where PVC and other plastics are burned. The agricultural and pulp and paper industries are big producers and cause much of the bioaccumulated organochlorines found in seafood. Almost all industries add to the toxic burden, directly or indirectly.
Unfortunately, most medical authorities and drug and chemical companies are completely unreceptive to those studies connecting breast cancer with environmental toxins. Only when the public demands changes and governments become responsive to these environmental problems will the situation with cancer get better.
Breast Cancer Action Montreal www.bcam.qc.ca/bcamhome.htm; Canadian Cancer Society, www.cancer.ca
Myara Sherwood writes about health issues. myararenee@hotmail.com