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7-Point Prevention Plan:Pre-Menopausal Women1. Avoid using contraceptive drugs until you have read the existing research. Twelve million U.S. teens and young women currently used birth control pills and patches. We find it alarming that there is little to no published research available that looks at the rising national rate of breast cancer in women under 50 and possible links to the birth control drugs now being used by these individuals. The vast majority of published research on existing links between breast cancer in younger women and contraceptive drugs were all conducted with earlier generations of drugs used between 1970 and 1995. A statistical compilation of these individual research studies, published in the October 2006 Mayo Clinic Proceedings, showed that women using the older generations of the Pill had a 44% increased risk factor for developing breast cancer, compared with women who had never used the Pill. Women who used the Pill for more than four years before their first pregnancy, had an even higher risk factor (52%), than women who did not use the Pill prior to their first pregnancy. A single study, conducted in Norway and Sweden in 1989, showed that long-time current users of the Pill, who were under 45 years of age, had a 144% increased risk factor of developing breast cancer compared with their peers who had never used the Pill.
2. Avoid all milk and dairy products containing rBGH (Monsanto’s Posilac)
Milk and dairy products that are labeled organic do not contain rBGH. Other products, although not certified organic, usually are proud to print on their label if their milk is rBGH free. The European Union banned the sale of all rBGH milk and dairy products in 1989. Hence all imported dairy products from Europe should be rBGH-free. Starbucks recently agreed to stop using rBGH milk in all of their stores; Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is also rBGH-free. Check labels before purchasing milk and other dairy products. 3. Consider not having any screening mammograms until you have passed through menopause. In April, 2007, the American College of Physicians stopped recommending screening mammograms for all women 40-49 years of age saying, the risks associated with screening mammograms include false-positive results, possible treatment for lesions that would not have become clinically significant and radiation exposure. Some research comparing post-menopausal women who have an annual mammogram, with women who instead choose to do a monthly breast self exam, and have an annual clinical breast exam (with no annual mammogram), shows no difference between the two groups in mortality rates from breast cancer. Post-Menopausal Women4. Avoid HRT (hormone replacement therapy); Research from the National Institutes of Health’s, Women’s Health Initiative, published in 2002, indicated that taking HRT drugs on a long-term basis increases a woman’s risk of a heart attack by 29% and breast cancer incidence by 26%. By the end of 2003, after 60% of US women using HRT subsequently stopped filling their prescriptions, the national breast cancer rate for estrogen positive tumors in post menopausal women decreased by almost 15%. Thankfully, the annual breast cancer rate for this age group has not increased since this drop in 2003. This is a huge change from the past thirty years, which had seen breast cancer incidence for this age group rise by at least 1% a year. This success story also illustrates how individual women, once informed, can take personal action and significantly decrease national breast cancer rates. 5. Keep excess body fat to a minimum, through strenuous exercise and with a low sugar/low glycemic/low MSG/low animal hormone diet. Recent research shows that a post menopausal woman has an 18-33% increased risk of developing breast cancer if she is more than 15 pounds overweight; A post menopausal woman’s fat cells become her main source of estrogen production, increasing her level of free estrogen that can cause cell changes and/or tumor growth. Eating low glycemic (brown) food instead of high glycemic (white) food will keep the body’s insulin levels low. Avoiding foods prepared with artificial sweeteners or food additives, including aspartame or MSG (also called hydrolyzed vegetable protein, flavoring, or natural flavoring) helps keep insulin at safe levels; The lower your insulin levels, the less your body craves white flour, sugar and other white carbohydrates. All recent research studies also indicate that strenuous exercise, five hours a week (5 days for 1 hour) reduces everyone’s breast cancer risk factor. Also, doing moderate exercise five days a week is better than doing light exercise and doing light exercise is better than dong no exercise. Exercise keeps the immune system stronger and helps the body burn excess body fat. Public Steps: Speak Out! Stop Breast Cancer Before it Starts6. Urge Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, the American Cancer Society (ACS), and other breast cancer awareness groups to also become pro-prevention groups by spending at least 50% of their budgets on non-toxic ways to help stop cancer before it starts. Remember...mammography programs are not prevention programs, they merely screen for existing tumors that may have been growing for more than a decade.
7. Support existing national and state non-profit pro-prevention groups that are already advocating for non-toxic breast cancer prevention research and for breast cancer prevention laws, similar to those currently enjoyed in the European Union. eg safe cosmetics & safer chemicals legislation and a ban on rBGH dairy products. These groups include:
See Resources for a full list of pro-prevention groups. We urge you to support each of these organizations.
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