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Startling Findings Should Encourage Researchers to Focus on Why
EPHRATA, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition is hailing the news that United States breast cancer rates dropped drastically in 2003, as first reported by the Associated Press in a 12/14/2006 article. The report indicates a 7.2 percent decline in breast cancer diagnosis in 2003. The decline is attributed the fact that fewer women are taking hormone pills following the federal study that revealed that menopause hormones often put women at higher risk for breast cancer, heart disease, and other health issues. The study caused millions of women to stop taking the pills.
“It is startlingly good news to know that breast cancer rates decreased so dramatically in 2003,” said PBCC President & Founder Pat Halpin-Murphy. “Our goal now must be to build upon these findings and uncover exactly why such a decrease occurred, and how we can use these findings in our search toward a cure for breast cancer.”
Recent trends suggested that approximately 200,000 cases of breast cancer would be diagnosed in 2003. The seven percent drop indicates that about 14,000 fewer cases were diagnosed.
The Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition, founded in 1993, is a non-profit organization and the only statewide grassroots organization that speaks to and for breast cancer survivors. This year, more than 12,000 Pennsylvania women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. More than 2,300 will lose their lives to the disease. The PBCC’s mission is to help find a cure for breast cancer and to improve the quality of breast cancer education, research and outreach in the state.
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