How much have breast cancer rates risen over the years?
Breast cancer rates have been climbing since the 1940s, when a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer was estimated to be one in 22. Now it is one in 9 in this country and one in 7 in the U.S. The incidence of breast cancer rose steadily for nearly 50 years and then stabilized somewhat since 1992, although the Canadian Cancer Society reported a 10% increase in 2003 over 2002. The known risk factors early menarche (first menstrual period), late menopause, few or no pregnancies, no breastfeeding cannot account for the vast majority of cases. Nor is there any way that diet, exercise (or the lack of it), and alcohol consumption can account for this steep rise. BCAM is only one of many organizations concerned about the correlation between the proliferation of synthetic chemicals many carcinogenic, most untested that flood our environment and the growing incidence of breast cancer.
