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 here; we are dealing with people's lives.
Stefan N. Miller, BALTIMORE

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, ALA., U.S.

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: An International Journal, NORTHAMPTON, MASS., U.S.

Cancer spreads throughout the world because we release chemicals into the water, air and soil. The chemicals we spray on our crops contaminate our ground — water, 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, COLO., U.S.

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, ORE., U.S.

Overlaying a female torso with a world map made for a most intriguing cover image. My teenage son and adult husband were particularly taken with the latitudes around Nepal. Pun intended? An eye-opening story, in more ways than one. As a wife and mother, I appreciate the coverage.
Melissa Noebes, CANTON, GA., U.S.

Invitation for an Intervention
The Oct. 8 cover stated, "The World is Watching" the Burmese regime's crackdown on demonstrators. Was that phrasing a warning or a comfort? How often has the world watched conflicts begin, unfold and end without lifting a finger? It seems there are repeatedly much reporting, much hand-wringing and many U.N. speeches, fact-finding visits and economic sanctions but very little effective humanitarian action — preventive or corrective. People are still dying in Darfur despite much of the above activity, including world surveillance. There are so many other arenas in which effective action is needed but very little is done. Here's hoping Burma does not become another one.
Peter Cole, CONDÉ STE. LIBIAIRE, FRANCE