Information on this webpage is drawn from our 2005 report: Breast cancer - an environmental disease: the case for primary prevention, available free as a pdf, see Downloads. For current statistics and data, see our homepage.
This graph shows the estimated incidence and mortality rates per 100,000 of the population using age-standardised rates (ASRs). ASR allows the comparison of rates in populations that have different age structures and over different periods of time.
(Source: European Network of Cancer Registries fact sheet, December 2002)
Within the European Union, every 2.5 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. Every 7.5 minutes a woman dies from the disease.
Stella Kyriakides, President of Europa Donna, the European Breast Cancer Coalition. Sue Claridge, in 'The Beacon' (Breast Cancer Network Australia's magazine) Issue 29, Summer 2004 p10
We have strong scientific evidence about toxic chemicals in the environment that mimic female sex hormones and overload a woman's hormonal system, a known cause of breast cancer. We know how pesticides, industrial pollutants, radiation and other factors are linked - part of the social context of breast cancer. Yet, neither government agencies nor societies responsible for dealing with breast cancer acknowledge this context. WHY?
Professor Ross Hume Hall 'Female Biology, Toxic Chemicals and Preventing Breast Cancer: A Path Not Taken' International Conference on Breast Cancer and the Environment Ontario Canada November 1995
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