Turn on an NFL game this month and you're likely to see linebackers sporting pink cleats and gloves. Buy groceries and you'll have your choice of products -- from yogurt to mushrooms -- in pink packaging. As the Connecticut Mirror and WNPR's Jeff Cohen report, "Pinktober" and breast cancer awareness month have people's attention.
Breast cancer is among the most common forms of cancer and kills about 40,000 people a year in the U.S. But it's not the leading cause of death for men and women -- that's heart disease. And lung cancer is the deadliest cancer of all.
So why does breast cancer get so much attention? Arielle Levin Becker covers health for the Connecticut Mirror. In a story published this week, she says that one reason is because almost everyone knows somebody touched by the disease. Then there's this:
"If you look at the number of people who have been diagnosed with cancer and are still alive, the most -- about 22 percent of all cancer survivors -- have had breast cancer. Which means you have more people who have a connection to that cancer who are around to advocate for it."
Another reason you might be seeing so much attention on breast cancer now is the fact that it's finally okay to talk about. Again, Arielle Levin Becker.
"Thirty years ago breast cancer was something people didn't talk about. You didn't talk about breasts, you didn't talk about breast cancer. So I think some of the attention it gets now is a reaction to the sense that it was kept quiet and that was a problem."
There's another view, too -- some critics of the heightened breast cancer awareness say it has more to do with marketing merchandise than with selling the right message. Laura Nikolaides is director of research for the National Breast Cancer Coalition. She says that some of the messages associated with the campaigns are driven by industries that benefit from breast cancer screenings.
"We're fighting against a lot of financial stakes that people have in the status quo. It's not that we're just trying to change the conversation. It's almost like we have to go in and tear down this narrative that we all have about breast cancer."
That new narrative would talk about prevention, as well as screening.
You can read Arielle Levin Becker's entire story at ctmirror.org.
For WNPR, I'm Jeff Cohen.
Cancer Answers is hosted by Dr. Anees Chagpar, Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology and Director of The Breast Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Dr. Francine Foss, Professor of Medical Oncology. The show features a guest cancer specialist who will share the most recent advances in cancer therapy and respond to listeners questions. Myths, facts and advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment are discussed, with a different focus eachweek. Nationally acclaimed specialists in various types of cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment discuss common misconceptions about the disease and respond to questions from the community.Listeners can submit questions to be answered on the program at canceranswers@yale.edu or by leaving a message at (888) 234-4YCC. As a resource, archived programs from 2006 through the present are available in both audio and written versions on the Yale Cancer Center website.
