Many carcinogens are "lipophilic", that is, they are attracted to fatty tissue. The breast tends to concentrate many of the chemicals we ingest and so becomes like an early warning system or canary in a coalmine. Women should be up at the ramparts over the epidemic of breast cancer and I am sure it is because we are using air, water and soil as a dump for our toxic effluents. It is a dream to think we will find some magic bullet to eliminate breast cancer when we have so polluted the biosphere.
Dr. David Suzuki
BCAM isn’t pretty in pink—it’s a tough, courageous, clear-eyed group of activists who know that preventing cancer (and saving Planet Earth) is the most urgent challenge we face. It isn’t easy and popular to confront the big polluters and the indifferent politicians who together create the conditions for cancer to metastasize through our environment. It’s not easy, but it’s critically necessary. Thank the spirit of Rachel Carson for BCAM!
Michele Landsberg
I was aware of BCAM's mission before I was diagnosed with breast cancer. After I, too, became a statistic, I was even more militant.
We are encouraged to think that screening techniques, like breast self-examination and mammograms, constitute prevention rather than detection. It is to industry's benefit to keep women preoccupied with the detection and treatment of breast cancer and to divert us from the larger question: What has changed in our environment that is putting us all at risk?
I am happy to join hands with BCAM to seek answers to this biggest question of all.
Janine Cobb O'Leary
I first got involved in women's issues 30 years ago, in a group called the Montreal Women's Self-Help Center. Our objective was to help women tackle the myriad of health issues they are faced with at one time or another.
BCAM, for me, is in direct line with this kind of work: raising concerns as well as awareness, advocating for women's health and helping us all lead better lives.
Francine Pelletier