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Every Nation's Race for a Cure
Thank you for the articles on breast cancer [Oct. 15]. My wife succumbed to the disease after a 10-year fight. During that time, I learned much about its diagnosis, treatment and funding. Advancements in diagnosis and the array of treatments that are available to women with certain characteristics of the disease are heartening. However, there is a paucity of funding. We need to better understand priorities and must demand that our representatives do too. Members of Congress can work to more effectively define funding priorities while realizing that their efforts affect more than just government agencies, corporations and re-election opportunities. We are not dealing with numbers; we are dealing with people's lives. Stefan N. Miller,
Baltimore

The rapidly rising rates of breast cancer in developing nations are closely correlated with the movement away from traditional diets and lifestyles and toward those found in the more affluent Western countries. If the goal is to prevent the spread of breast cancer around the world, perhaps more attention should be paid to these global changes rather than to the development of more expensive — and often unattainable — medical devices and drugs. Leonard A. Cohen, Ph.D., Editor
Nutrition and Cancer
Northampton, Massachusetts

Kathleen Kingsbury mentioned that women who have more children have a lower risk of developing breast cancer. Might part of the problem in the industrialized world be that women breast-feed for a relatively short duration? The vast majority of mothers in the U.S. wean a baby by six months. In contrast, most mothers in developing countries still practice the age-old custom of nursing a child for two to four years. A woman need not birth a baker's dozen to lessen her risk for breast cancer; breast-feeding beyond one year might very well benefit both her and her child. Lisa Wheeler,
Birmingham, Alabama

Cancer spreads throughout the world because we release chemicals into the water, air and soil. The chemicals we spray on our crops contaminate our groundwater, while acid rain pollutes our freshwater supplies. Worse, First World countries use dyes, preservatives and other chemical additives in every facet of food production. We cause our own deaths with the poisons we inject into our food. Frosty Wooldridge,
Louisville, Colorado

When I was a medical student in the 1960s, the incidence of breast cancer was about 1 in 200 women and was rare in men. The incidence of breast cancer where I live is now about 1 in 6 women, and I have known two men who had breast cancer. Your articles would have us blame the victims for their disease — self-induced by unhealthy lifestyles and obesity. The alarming increase in cancers is the result of a toxic environment. As the breast-cancer advocacy group Rachel's Friends says, "You can race for the cure, but you can't run from the cause." If a cure for cancer is found, it will be the result of a grass-roots campaign to stop polluting the environment. Cancer science is working on the wrong end of the problem. Thomas L. Gritzka, M.D.
Portland, Oregon

Nearly six years ago, in my late 40s, I learned I had calcification deposits in my breast that turned out to be cancerous, as they sometimes can be. I was stunned, and so was my family. None of the women in our family had ever had to battle the disease. Since immigrating to the U.S. as a teenager, I have enjoyed more opportunity and freedom of choice than either my mother or grandmother. But I now see that I am paying the price for multitasking and the pursuit of the American Dream, with the accompanying stress and ceaseless consumerism. Focusing on the treatments is necessary, but I feel you should have given more emphasis to prevention in your article. Frederica Sagiani,
New York City

Your story focused mainly on the treatment of breast cancer and said little about prevention. Recent scientific studies suggest that pesticides — particularly the notorious endosulfan, which mimics estrogen in its effects on the body — have helped boost breast cancer rates worldwide. Countries that make liberal use of pesticides are now paying the price in rising rates of breast cancer. We need insight into the causes of this insidious disease so we can pressure farmers and governments to mend their ways. Bill Murray,
Wellington

Gain with No Pain?
Yoga in its original form is a multifaceted, millenniums-old discipline that spans physical, ethical, psychological and spiritual dimensions [Oct. 15]. In our mass-market Western world, those aspects of yoga have largely been jettisoned, and the physical is marketed as a hot new form of calisthenics. Used skillfully, the physical elements offer benefits such as enhanced flexibility, agility and body awareness. Used unskillfully, they can damage muscles and ligaments. Wise practitioners will proceed gently and carefully under a good teacher and eventually look beyond the physical to yoga's deeper potentials. Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Psychiatry Department
University of California College of Medicine
Irvine, California

Last January I entered a beginner's yoga class with expert teachers to cure annual spasms of back pain. During a series of downward dogs, my back seized up as it never had before. I had to crawl out of the studio and have other people put my shoes back on for me while I stood there crying. I am still recovering. One physical therapist told me that many of the bending poses are murder on the disks. No more yoga for me. I'll stick to Pilates. Connie McDougall,
Seattle

It's difficult for a yoga teacher today to withstand student pressure to shorten or skip the warm-up sequence. Often students just want to "get on with it." Your article validates the pace of a traditional class that prepares properly for practice. Abby Lentz, Certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher
Austin, Texas

I was a gym rat for more than 12 years, lifting weights, running on a treadmill and doing aerobics. I was always getting injured. Now that I do yoga, my pain has subsided, and I don't need a chiropractor. Kiana Martinez,
Los Angeles

With so many people overweight or obese, the last thing we need is an anti-yoga article. Any form of exercise is better than nothing at all. Many people have found that not only does yoga offer great benefit to their health, it's one of the few forms of exercise they can enjoy and stick to. Running, weight-lifting and calisthenics are not for everyone. And while it's true that yoga alone does not improve cardiovascular health, many practitioners are trim and have increased strength, flexibility and reduced stress. It requires great strength and a little sweat to hold those asanas (poses). Rhonea Williams-Dillard,
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania