Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a U.S. phenomenon. Not coincidentally, I.C.I. makes far more profit from its U.S. customers than it does from those in Britain. And generic tamoxifen costs as little as 15 cents per tablet in Britain. I.C.I.'s sponsorship of BCAM has also brought favors from the event's co-sponsors. By the National Cancer Institute's own estimates, tamoxifen will prevent breast cancer in only sixty-two of the women scheduled to take it.
Chlorine is used to make many products, including paper, plastic, paint and pesticides.
This evidence suggests a relationship between breast cancer and these chemicals, though a direct link has yet to be proved. One recent study of 229 New York City women, for example, found that women with breast cancer had substantially higher levels of two such chemicals in their blood. The study's author, Dr. Mary Wolff, estimated that women with higher levels of these chemicals in their bodies were as much as four times more likely to develop breast cancer than those with lower levels. The health hazard posed by these chlorine-based chemicals is unnecessary because clean, safe alternatives have been available for years. But these facts about breast cancer are not promoted during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.