Breast Cancer Awareness Scam

For years, breast cancer research (centered at the National Cancer Institute [NCI] in Bethesda, Maryland) has focused not on prevention but on therapy and treatment -- earlier detection, better chemotherapy, better radiation and better surgery.

This non-preventive approach has been promoted aggressively by "Breast Cancer Awareness Month," an annual campaign that surfaces each year in October, sponsored by 17 governmental, professional and medical organizations including the National Cancer Institute. Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) was initiated in 1985 by a British chemical conglomerate called Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), now known as Zeneca Pharmaceuticals.

BCAM is "focused on educating women about early detection of breast cancer," and promotes the slogan, "Early Detection is Your Best Prevention." But this is nonsense - if your cancer can be detected, it's too late to prevent it.

BCAM - with all the authority of those 17 sponsoring organizations - consistently diverts attention away from real prevention.

According to an investigative report on BCAM by Monte Paulsen in the Detroit Metro Times, "ICI has been the sole financial sponsor of BCAM since the event's inception. Altogether, the company has spent "several million dollars on the project," according to a spokeswoman. In return, ICI has been allowed to approve - or veto - every poster, pamphlet and advertisement BCAM uses.

ICI, with revenues of $14 billion, is among the world's largest manufacturers of pesticides, plastics, pharmaceuticals and paper. ICI is also a major polluter. One of its Canadian paint subsidiaries has been held responsible for 30 percent of all the toxic chemicals dumped into the heavily-polluted St. Lawrence River which separates the US from Canada.

-- Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly, No. 571