Reducing Your Risk for Breast Cancer

By RONI CARYN RABIN, NEW YORK TIMES.COM

GO for regular checkups, do breast self-exams and get your mammograms on time, and chances are you'll detect breast cancer early on, when it is most treatable. But what about prevention? Short of radical surgery, are there steps you can take to reduce the risk?

Turns out there are.

True, immutable factors like genetics, a family's medical baggage and just being born female determine much of the risk of breast cancer. And, as with all cancers, that risk increases with age: a 30-year-old woman's chances of developing breast cancer over a 10-year period are less than half of 1 percent, or 1 in 234, while a 60-year-old has a 3.5 percent risk, or 1 in 28. (The often-heard "one in eight" figure refers to the lifetime risk that women face.)

But there is now solid evidence that lifestyle can play a role as well. Choices that have an effect include how much alcohol a woman drinks (none is best), the amount of physical activity she gets (the more the better) and whether she takes hormones (the less the better). Doctors also urge women to keep their weight down, as obesity increases the risk of developing breast cancer during the postmenopausal years.

"Breast cancer is a disease of how much estrogen you have in your body," said Heather Spencer Feigelson, strategic director of genetic epidemiology for the American Cancer Society, and these seemingly disparate factors - alcohol, physical activity and hormone pills - affect levels of estrogen and other hormones.

?There are things you can?t change, like when you got your first period, or your family history,? said Dr. Carolyn D. Runowicz, director of the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Conn., referring to two well-known risk factors, early menstruation and having a close relative with breast cancer. ?But you can change a lot about you. Empower yourself with knowledge and information.?

Know your family's medical history ? but even if there is no history of breast cancer, don't be complacent. Consult a genetic counselor if you are concerned about your family history, and inquire about being tested for the genetic mutations that increase breast cancer risk (more common among Ashkenazi Jews). Do not forget that breast cancer genes come from both sides of the family, not just your mother's.

Among relatives, ?the special red flags? are premenopausal breast cancer, bilateral breast cancer (cancer that appears in both breasts) and ovarian cancer, said Dr. Larry Norton, deputy physician in chief of breast cancer programs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. But even if no one in the family had breast cancer, that is no guarantee that you are safe, said Dr. Runowicz; in fact, only 10 percent of breast cancer patients have a family history.

Cut down on alcohol, or avoid it altogether. When it comes to breast cancer, studies have been pretty consistent: there is no safe amount of alcohol. Even one glass of wine a day can increase your risk slightly, and the risk climbs with each additional drink. "This is something you can control," said Jasmine Q. Lew, a student at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago who recently completed a National Institutes of Health study that is one of the largest on the subject. "Women can choose not to drink."

Exercise, exercise, exercise. Obesity after menopause increases the risk of breast cancer, so try to keep your weight down. But exercise is beneficial regardless of weight, and even a small amount of physical activity may be helpful. ?Women who are overweight and exercising are at lower risk than those who are overweight and not exercising; women who are lean and exercising are at lower risk than women who are lean but not exercising,? Dr. Feigelson said. Risk drops with increased hours and strenuousness of exercise, and studies have found that women who do an average of three hours of strenuous exercise a week reduce their risk of breast cancer by 20 percent.

Breast-feed if you can. Early menstruation, late menopause, postponing pregnancy and never having gone through a full-term pregnancy increase the risk of breast cancer, but those factors cannot be changed easily. If you do have a baby, however, you may want to breast-feed, and the longer the better; studies have found that breast-feeding reduces the risk of breast cancer.

Try not to take combined hormone therapy. The recommendation for all hormone therapy is to take the lowest dose for the shortest period necessary. A Women's Health Initiative study found a slightly higher risk for breast cancer among women who took estrogen with progestin after menopause, and a drop in breast cancer diagnoses since then has been attributed to the fact that many women quit using hormones. (In the same study, women on estrogen-only therapy, which is used by those who have had hysterectomies, did not have a higher breast-cancer risk.) A woman who has recently used birth control pills is also at greater risk; Dr. Norton urges women to find alternative contraceptive methods and avoid so-called natural or herbal hormones as well.

Have regular mammograms, but if you have very dense breast tissue or are at high risk of breast cancer for other reasons, insist on an M.R.I. as well. Having high breast-tissue density can drastically raise your risk of developing breast cancer, as does finding atypical hyperplasia, or abnormal cell growth, which is confirmed by a biopsy. After a mammogram, discuss the results with your physician. "Everyone just wants to hear that it?s negative," Dr. Runowicz said. But important information can be gleaned even from a negative screening, she said. ?Learn about your breast density. If a biopsy shows hyperplasia, your doctor can put you on a chemoprevention program."

Become familiar with your personal risk factors. Your breast cancer risk could be higher than normal if you are above average height, upper middle class (probably related to the tendency to postpone childbearing and having fewer children), never had a full-term pregnancy or you had children after age 30, or if you ever had endometrial, ovarian or colon cancer or ever had high-dose radiation to the chest, your risk for breast cancer could be higher than average.

Media's Critical Role in Fighting HIV/Aids

By Issa Sikiti Da Silva, allafrica.com

Various speakers and panellists, including Nelson Mandela's wife Graca Machel, who addressed delegates at the 2008 International Public Television (Input) Conference in Johannesburg, have launched a persuasive call to the media worldwide to play a critical role in combating HIV/Aids, which continues to wipe entire communities. "It is clear that with the digital developments the media can help spread a powerful message out there to make a difference," Dali Mpofu, SABC CEO and chairperson of Global Media Aids Initiative (GMAI), said.

"Broadcasters and other media organisations should make HIV/Aids part of their core business and use whatever resources they have, including airtime, to ensure that people take their future into their own hands," Mpofu said.

"Media can help change society by connecting their audiences with Aids-related services like how to prevent the disease, get VCT (voluntary counselling and testing) and treatment. If we are to be part of the solution, then we should busy ourselves to be creative and provide accurate and reliable information on the disease that can save lives."

Input 2008, which kicked off at the Sandton Convention Centre on Sunday 4 May 2008 and ends on Saturday 10 May, is being attended by over 1000 people, including broadcasters, senior business leaders and filmmakers, from more than 100 countries across the globe.

Centre of GMAI's mission

As HIV/Aids continues to tear society apart and feature prominently at the centre of GMAI's mission, the organisers thought it should be part of a lengthy discussion at the conference.

According to UNAIDS statistics, the number of people living with HIV/Aids globally rose from 29 million in 2001 to 33.2 million in 2007 (68% in southern Africa), primarily due to continuing new infections - something Mark Stirling, UNAIDS director of Eastern and Southern Africa, said could be reduced if the media can play a central role in the fight against the disease.

"As a gatekeeper, media must lead this fight and use its enormous power and influence to challenge certain social and cultural values and norms that make us vulnerable. Provoke the Aids debate and get the nation talking. So far you have done an amazing job, but I implore you to redouble efforts in order to change the face of this disease," Stirling pleaded.

Called on the media

Machel called on the media to segment their messages to reach specific audiences and shame and denounce governments and Western leaders if they fail to fulfill their promises on HIV/Aids.

"We cannot afford to talk only about global village when it comes to business but not talk about global village when it comes to human lives," she said.

"Our social intervention on HIV/Aids has been ineffective and prevention is not working, partly due to poverty and lack of resources, which mostly were promised but are yet to be fulfilled.

"Media must help us and invent new ways to spread their messages, perhaps be specific for each specific age group to enforce self-respect, good citizenship and sense of responsibility in these challenging times."

Rare and wonderful platform

Monicah Waceke, Ugandan Broadcasting Corporation programme manager, told Bizcommunity.com that the fact that global broadcasters and public media meet to discuss global issues affecting their respective societies and share ideas so how to solve them, makes Input a rare and wonderful platform.

GMAI, a worldwide coalition of over 300 broadcasting companies, was launched in 2004 by former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Anan, to leverage the communication power of mass media to get out the information about HIV and challenge the stigma related to the disease.

GMAI's regional branches include the Africa Broadcast Media Partnership against HIV/Aids (ABMP). Partners include the Kaiser Family Foundation, Bill & Melinda Foundation, Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, MTN SA Foundation and Nelson Mandela Foundation.

GMAI's next board meeting will take place in June in New York, US, Mpofu told Bizcommunty.com on the sidelines of the gathering.

Pledge to protection

Trojan makes education tour

By: Drew Garver, dailytexanonline.com

Representatives from Trojan Condoms addressed both the sexually active and abstinent UT community on Thursday as part of its nationwide college tour.

"We are trying to get people to evolve past piggish behavior to being aware of the need for sexual safety," said Kari Kuka, spokeswoman and sexual health educator for the tour.

About 65 million Americans live with incurable sexually transmitted diseases, and another 19 million are diagnosed every year, Kuka said, adding that America has the highest rate of STD infections of any industrialized nation. This is made worse by the fact that only one in four sexual acts among singles involves the use of a condom, she said.

"It's important that we educate so that we can prevent these trends from continuing," Kuka said.

The Evolve Tour, which will stop at 65 college campuses nationwide, provides sexual education in the form of short videos and a lounge where

students can talk with sexual health educators. Students can also sign a pledge promising to use protection when engaging in any sexual acts, and students gave shout-outs to the UT community challenging members to live sexually healthy lives.

"It's pretty dang important to use protection so disease doesn't spread," said audiology graduate student Amanda Harris. "You have to contain the nasties."

Also central to the tour is a petition that asks people to commit to sexual education beyond the tour. Part of the petition calls for increased contraceptive advertising during prime time hours on basic television channels.

There are no laws restricting contraceptive advertising during prime time hours, but as a general rule, many of the biggest television stations decline to air ads during their prime time viewing hours, leaving contraceptive commercials to run late at night or on cable channels.

The other part of the petition seeks to make comprehensive sexual education in schools a standard, instead of abstinence-only classes.

"We support abstinence 100 percent. It's the only sure way to prevent STD transmission," Kuka said. "But some of these people are telling their students that condoms don't work. People need to make their voices heard. They need to say that they want the real information."

Condoms are not 100-percent effective in preventing STDs, especially those that are transmitted by skin contact, such as herpes and syphilis, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, they greatly reduce the risk of infection and are essentially impermeable to particles the size of STD pathogens.

Those who missed the tour and want information or to sign the petition can visit www.trojancondoms.com.

Export More Female Condoms, Not Abstinence Programs, Report Says

Penny Starr

Senior Staff Writer, crosswalk.com

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. government must provide more funding for the worldwide distribution of female condoms while reducing the amount of money it spends on abstinence-until-marriage programs, according to Serra Sippel, executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, or CHANGE.

"The Congressional earmark in PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) -- which we are in the process of trying to remove the earmark that (gives) money for abstinence and fidelity - what we've found from people we interviewed and from various studies is that the result of that is the stigmatization of condom use," Sippel said Tuesday at a briefing of the Global Health Council in Washington, D.C.

Sippel added that the goal of her advocacy group is to "really push the U.S. government to promote sexual and reproductive condom rights within U.S. foreign policy."

According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the federally funded agency that distributes international aid, $457 million of its budget for FY 2008 is dedicated to family planning programs, including condom distribution.

The CHANGE briefing also marked the release of its "Saving Lives Now: Female Condoms and the Role of U.S. Foreign Aid" report. In it, the center states that the U.S. government supplied nearly 1.9 billion condoms worldwide between 2004 and 2007.

It also reports that the "the United States government plays an important role in shaping global trends in reproductive and sexual health supplies," with America providing 42 percent of "global donor support" for family planning, including the female condom.

But other advocacy groups say that U.S. foreign aid that promotes sexual activity is doing more harm than good around the world.

"Social radicals ... believe they must liberate Third World children from their benighted traditions and religions and to enlighten them in the way of the American teenager," Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic and Family Rights Institute, told Cybercast News Service. "That is, to be sophisticated about sex and riddled with STDs.

"These social radicals believe that young people not only can't, but shouldn't control themselves sexually," Ruse added. "They seek to tear down, rather than build up the human person."

The center's report also detailed strategies used to successfully distribute female condoms, including in Zimbabwe, where it credits Population Services International, another non-profit health advocacy group, for helping with the distribution of female condoms in that AIDS-stricken country.

"Because approximately 97 percent of Zimbabwean women visit a hair salon at least once a month, PSI also promoted female condoms to women in Zimbabwe using hair salons in low-income, urban areas," the report reads.

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, cited another report to argue that abstinence programs, not condom distribution, can really help women at high risk for contracting AIDS.

A Feb. 2 article in National Geographic online, said a decline in AIDS rates in Zimbabwe was linked to "behavior changes," as first reported in the journal Science.

"Most important, researchers say, is the substantial decrease in casual sex partners reported by Manicaland residents," the National Geographic online article reported. "This, combined with increased abstinence by teenagers, may be contributing to the HIV decline."

"Our biggest problem is relying on methods that have had terrible failure rates," Wright told Cybercast News Service, "while denying them access to programs that have been proven effective."

Wright said groups with agendas like CHANGE are "trying to wipe out the competition by giving no federal funding for abstinence, even though the evidence shows that abstinence programs are effective in delaying sexual initiative and reducing HIV and AIDS rates."

Make media inquiries or request an interview about this article.

Export More Female Condoms, Not Abstinence Programs, Report Say

By: Penny Starr

Senior Staff Writer, crosswalk.com

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. government must provide more funding for the worldwide distribution of female condoms while reducing the amount of money it spends on abstinence-until-marriage programs, according to Serra Sippel, executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, or CHANGE.

"The Congressional earmark in PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) -- which we are in the process of trying to remove the earmark that (gives) money for abstinence and fidelity - what we've found from people we interviewed and from various studies is that the result of that is the stigmatization of condom use," Sippel said Tuesday at a briefing of the Global Health Council in Washington, D.C.

Sippel added that the goal of her advocacy group is to "really push the U.S. government to promote sexual and reproductive condom rights within U.S. foreign policy."

According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the federally funded agency that distributes international aid, $457 million of its budget for FY 2008 is dedicated to family planning programs, including condom distribution.

The CHANGE briefing also marked the release of its "Saving Lives Now: Female Condoms and the Role of U.S. Foreign Aid" report. In it, the center states that the U.S. government supplied nearly 1.9 billion condoms worldwide between 2004 and 2007.

It also reports that the "the United States government plays an important role in shaping global trends in reproductive and sexual health supplies," with America providing 42 percent of "global donor support" for family planning, including the female condom.

But other advocacy groups say that U.S. foreign aid that promotes sexual activity is doing more harm than good around the world.

"Social radicals ... believe they must liberate Third World children from their benighted traditions and religions and to enlighten them in the way of the American teenager," Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic and Family Rights Institute, told Cybercast News Service. "That is, to be sophisticated about sex and riddled with STDs.

"These social radicals believe that young people not only can't, but shouldn't control themselves sexually," Ruse added. "They seek to tear down, rather than build up the human person."

The center's report also detailed strategies used to successfully distribute female condoms, including in Zimbabwe, where it credits Population Services International, another non-profit health advocacy group, for helping with the distribution of female condoms in that AIDS-stricken country.

"Because approximately 97 percent of Zimbabwean women visit a hair salon at least once a month, PSI also promoted female condoms to women in Zimbabwe using hair salons in low-income, urban areas," the report reads.

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, cited another report to argue that abstinence programs, not condom distribution, can really help women at high risk for contracting AIDS.

A Feb. 2 article in National Geographic online, said a decline in AIDS rates in Zimbabwe was linked to "behavior changes," as first reported in the journal Science.

"Most important, researchers say, is the substantial decrease in casual sex partners reported by Manicaland residents," the National Geographic online article reported. "This, combined with increased abstinence by teenagers, may be contributing to the HIV decline."

"Our biggest problem is relying on methods that have had terrible failure rates," Wright told Cybercast News Service, "while denying them access to programs that have been proven effective."

Wright said groups with agendas like CHANGE are "trying to wipe out the competition by giving no federal funding for abstinence, even though the evidence shows that abstinence programs are effective in delaying sexual initiative and reducing HIV and AIDS rates."

Export More Female Condoms, Not Abstinence Programs, Report Says

By: Penny Starr

Senior Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. government must provide more funding for the worldwide distribution of female condoms while reducing the amount of money it spends on abstinence-until-marriage programs, according to Serra Sippel, executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, or CHANGE.

"The Congressional earmark in PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) -- which we are in the process of trying to remove the earmark that (gives) money for abstinence and fidelity - what we've found from people we interviewed and from various studies is that the result of that is the stigmatization of condom use," Sippel said Tuesday at a briefing of the Global Health Council in Washington, D.C.

Sippel added that the goal of her advocacy group is to "really push the U.S. government to promote sexual and reproductive condom rights within U.S. foreign policy."

According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the federally funded agency that distributes international aid, $457 million of its budget for FY 2008 is dedicated to family planning programs, including condom distribution.

The CHANGE briefing also marked the release of its "Saving Lives Now: Female Condoms and the Role of U.S. Foreign Aid" report. In it, the center states that the U.S. government supplied nearly 1.9 billion condoms worldwide between 2004 and 2007.

It also reports that the "the United States government plays an important role in shaping global trends in reproductive and sexual health supplies," with America providing 42 percent of "global donor support" for family planning, including the female condom.

But other advocacy groups say that U.S. foreign aid that promotes sexual activity is doing more harm than good around the world.

"Social radicals ... believe they must liberate Third World children from their benighted traditions and religions and to enlighten them in the way of the American teenager," Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic and Family Rights Institute, told Cybercast News Service. "That is, to be sophisticated about sex and riddled with STDs.

"These social radicals believe that young people not only can't, but shouldn't control themselves sexually," Ruse added. "They seek to tear down, rather than build up the human person."

The center's report also detailed strategies used to successfully distribute female condoms, including in Zimbabwe, where it credits Population Services International, another non-profit health advocacy group, for helping with the distribution of female condoms in that AIDS-stricken country.

"Because approximately 97 percent of Zimbabwean women visit a hair salon at least once a month, PSI also promoted female condoms to women in Zimbabwe using hair salons in low-income, urban areas," the report reads.

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, cited another report to argue that abstinence programs, not condom distribution, can really help women at high risk for contracting AIDS.

A Feb. 2 article in National Geographic online, said a decline in AIDS rates in Zimbabwe was linked to "behavior changes," as first reported in the journal Science.

"Most important, researchers say, is the substantial decrease in casual sex partners reported by Manicaland residents," the National Geographic online article reported. "This, combined with increased abstinence by teenagers, may be contributing to the HIV decline."

"Our biggest problem is relying on methods that have had terrible failure rates," Wright told Cybercast News Service, "while denying them access to programs that have been proven effective."

Wright said groups with agendas like CHANGE are "trying to wipe out the competition by giving no federal funding for abstinence, even though the evidence shows that abstinence programs are effective in delaying sexual initiative and reducing HIV and AIDS rates."

House Panel Examining Federal Abstinence Programs

By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
April 23, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) has introduced a bill urging the House of Representatives to spend more taxpayer money on the prevention, screening and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.

"We can no longer be silent about this issue, Tubbs Jones said. "The abstinence-only education touted by the Bush Administration is simply not enough."

But a conservative group says a new study by the Heritage Foundation shows that abstinence programs work. Fifteen of the 21 programs reviewed by Heritage analysts showed positive behavioral results, including delay or reduction of sexual activity, said the Family Research Council.

On Wednesday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) was holding a hearing on abstinence programs.

Federally funded abstinence-only programs require the exclusive teaching of abstinence until marriage and prohibit teaching about condoms or other contraceptives -- other than to discuss failure rates. These programs have received over $1.3 billion in federal funding over the past decade, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee says on its Web site.

On Wednesday, medical and scientific experts, as well as youth educators, will testify before the committee on evidence of the effectiveness of abstinence-only programs and of "more comprehensive" programs -- those that include mentions of birth control.

The problem

Tubbs Jones says the United States has the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections in the industrialized world. Almost half occur in young people.

"The issue of sexually transmitted diseases has grown to epic proportions in this country," Tubbs Jones said in a news release. "What is most devastating is the toll that STD's are taking on our young women, particularly African American young women."

Pointing to numbers from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tubbs Jones noted that 48 percent of young African American women are infected with an STD compared to 20 percent of young white women.

That 2008 report from the CDC estimated that 1 in 4 young women between the ages of 14 and 19 in the United States, or 3.2 million teenage girls, are infected with at least one of the of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, including human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes simplex virus, and trichomoniasis. These infections can lead to long-term health risks including infertility and cervical cancer.

Tubbs Jones said direct medical costs associated with STDs are as high as $15.3 billion a year.

Studies show abstinence works

The Family Research Council is hailing The Heritage Foundation for its "careful" review of 21 abstinence education programs.

"The research by Christine C. Kim and Robert Rector provides valuable data about the benefits of abstinence education programs and, most importantly, that it is the teens who benefit most," said FRC President Tony Perkins. "This paper also shows that none of the programs had a negative impact, despite what opponents of abstinence claim."

The Heritage researchers said they reviewed at 21 studies of abstinence education. Fifteen of the studies examined programs that were primarily intended to teach abstinence. Of those 15 studies, 11 reported positive findings.

The other six studies analyzed virginity pledges, and of those six studies, five reported positive findings.

"Overall, 16 of the 21 studies reported statistically significant positive results, such as delayed sexual initiation and reduced levels of early sexual activity, among youths who have received abstinence education. Five studies did not report any significant positive results," the Heritage Foundation said on its Web site.

"All of the evidence shows that sexual abstinence is the healthiest behavior for youth," the FRC's Perkins said. "Teaching and equipping youth with the skills to practice this behavior is the goal of genuine abstinence education."

The FRC says the federal government should support "effective" abstinence education programs like those the Heritage Foundation has reviewed, and not promote programs that encourage teens to engage in physically and emotionally risky sexual behavior.

"The government does not promote drug use or underage drinking, and it should not promote risky sexual behavior either," Perkins said.