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A call to arms in the fight against breast cancer
November 1, 1997
Web posted at: 11:39 p.m. EST (0439 GMT)WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Army is going to war against an enemy that is ruthlessly marching through the heartland of America.
The deadly foe is breast cancer.
Forced by Congress to spend some of its wealth on breast cancer research, the Defense Department has pioneered an innovative attack against the disease. It is funding exploratory research leading to unexpected findings, like a possible link between Vitamin D, sunlight and cancer prevention.
It's welcome news, since one person dies every 12 minutes from the disease.
"I think we are part of a war," said Connie Rufenbarger, a breast cancer survivor from Indiana. "My chances of dying of breast cancer are probably far greater than from an attack on the United States."
A call to arms
The Defense Department this weekend began hosting a five-day international conference in Washington bringing together scientists, breast cancer survivors, physicians and policy makers.
Participants are reporting and discussing the latest breast cancer research funded by the department.
The breast cancer research program has made the Defense Department into one of the largest sources of funding into the disease.
Since its inception in 1992, the program has spent approximately $600 million from Congress. The program has taken an innovative approach to fighting breast cancer by selecting breast cancer survivors as active participants on voting panels, which decide what studies are funded and the general direction of the program. More than 1,000 grants are now being funded.
"It is my personal passion that we are able to go to war with breast cancer," said Col. Irene Rich, director of congressionally directed medical research for the Army.
Epidemiologist Esther John said the funding needs the support of more studies, but is encouraged by the findings.
"We did find that women who lived in the South and areas of high solar radiation have reduced risk of breast cancer," said John, who is based at the Northern California Cancer Center in Union City, California.
Fish oils were found by another study to help prevent cancer. But this research linked other oils -- like those found in margarine, fried and baked goods and salty snacks that contain so-called trans-fatty acids -- to a higher incidence of breast cancer.
"We did this by taking a sample of fat from the buttocks of women who had breast cancer. Women with breast cancer had a higher level of trans-fatty acids," said Lenore Kohlmeier, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Fran Visco, who is president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, said researchers still don't have the answers, but at least they finally know the right questions. Those who have survived breast cancer feel more research can't come soon enough, she said.
"We have a very clear mission and goal and that is to make certain that breast cancer is no longer an issue for our daughters for the next generation," Visco said.
Correspondent Louise Schiavone contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Study: No link between breast cancer, banned chemicals - October 29, 1997
- Breast cancer studies find radiation reduces deaths - October 1, 1997
- Study: Breast self-exams don't reduce cancer deaths - March 4, 1997
- Tall women at higher risk for breast cancer - June 19, 1996
- Timing may improve results in breast cancer surgeries - May 1, 1996
Related sites:
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- New England Journal of Medicine
- Harvard School of Public Health
- Brigham and Women's Hospital
- The Breast Cancer Network
- BreastCancerInfo.com
- National Institutes of Health
- American Cancer Society
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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