Here, they find intermediate breast cancer rates. Breast cancer incidence in other parts of the world was also presented relative to their mouse populations. The results were shown to agree somewhat with the area's mouse distributions. The authors attribute these differences to the presence or absence of MMTV infected mice but other well established explanations exist. The dissimilarity, between these regions, which is accepted by most epidemiologists, is that of affluence.
Women living in Western Europe have a much higher standard of living than women in Eastern Europe.
Breast cancer has been associated with affluence through the independent development of a number of risk factors. Affluence impacts all of these factors. It should, nonetheless, be kept in mind that these risk factors and other risk factors could explain at best half the cases of breast cancer. Hypotheses, such as this one, serve the important functions of pointing to areas where knowledge is incomplete and stimulating thought and discussion. Presentation of this paper in the popular press gave the impression that mice had been demonstrated to be possible carriers of breast cancer.