This new report is the latest among many to point to the fact that western-style motherhood increases a woman's risk for breast cancer.
Sadly, no mention is made of the fact that a growing body of hard evidence indicates that the more months a woman breastfeeds during her lifetime, the lower her risk for cancer becomes. Instead the report only mentions another important factor: delayed childbearing also raises the risk.
I look forward to a day when women get the straight story here -a day when major breast cancer awareness groups like Susan Love's and the Komen Foundation tell women clearly and without apology that, along with eating right, exercising, and avoiding overweight, breastfeeding very clearly lowers a woman's risk for this terrible disease. Significantly, this is true even of women who carry the identified genes for breast cancer.
The reason this isn't happening is that the same pharmaceutical companies that underwrite breast cancer research, sell the expensive drugs that fight breast cancer, and donate millions to these awareness groups ALSO manufacture and sell infant formula. Every woman who breastfeeds represents a loss of at least $1000 (cost of infant formula for one year) to these companies like Abbott Labs.
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2 comments:
In 1999, Martek reps contacted me, asking if Iw ould consider doing some kind of PR thing for them. I wasn't too clear on what they were proposing, but I said no.
Dr. William Sears said yes. Here's an article I wrote about it: http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2001/01/25/formula/print.html
oh please...its all just a conspiracy isnt it??? everything is a conspiracy....
you also dont see them telling people to go out and start reproducing at eighteen just to cut their cancer risk now do you? or to have as many kids as they can to cut the risk either???
there is also the abortion angle although I imagine that the two in here squacking about breastfeeding would say that ones just a bunch of bunk. I have mixed feelings about using the cancer link to discourage abortion because abortion is wrong because its murder not because its "bad" for your health. it reduces moral choices to simply what is best for numero uno. birth control pills apparently slash your risk too but a lot of people oppose them on moral grounds.
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