Dispelling myths surrounding breast cancer

Oct 9 2008 by Hilarie Stelfox, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

BREAST Cancer Awareness Month, which began last week, is now a well-established fund-raiser for charities.

The famous pink ribbon campaign, recognised world-wide, was started 16 years ago by Mrs Evelyn Lauder of the Estée Lauder cosmetics company, who also founded the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in 1993.

The pink ribbon has become a universal symbol of the fight against a disease that claims the life of more than 12,500 people in the UK every year.

Although there is now a much greater awareness of breast cancer, the statistics remain no less shocking. Breast cancer is the second biggest cause of death among women - lung cancer is number one - and 44,600 people are diagnosed every year. (A small number of men are included in the figures).

There are a number of widely-held myths about breast cancer, which the charity Breast Cancer Care wants to dispel.

They are:

Breast cancer is mainly hereditary. In fact, only 10% of cases are the result of family history.

Pregnancy increases the risk of breast cancer. In fact, the more children a woman has the lower her risk of getting breast cancer.

Deodorants cause cancer. There is no hard evidence to prove this.

However, it is true that breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women under 35 but the biggest risk factor of all is age - 80% of all cases occur in women over the age of 50.

The good news is that survival rates are improving, probably due to earlier detection and better treatment.