Breast cancer rates among women have increased 2% a year since 1980. In 15 years the accumulative rate of increase has been 30%. In the year 2000 we will welcome the millennium and add another sobering 10% to the escalating trend.

More people are surviving breast cancer. But more people are getting the disease, and the increase is occurring at younger ages. The numbers are steadily rising despite the best modern medicine has to offer.

What causes breast cancer is still debatable. 80% of diagnosed breast cancer occurs in people without a family history of the disease. Whether cancer is genetically linked, hormonally induced, externally triggered, or a combination of the above remains the big question. One thing is certain, few other diseases prompt more fear and horror than breast cancer.