Breast Cancer Facts and Figures

* Seventy-seven percent of women with breast cancer are over 50.

* Breast cancer is a major health problem in the United States of America and other countries around the world.

* Excluding skin cancers, breast cancer is the most regularly detected cancer among women.

* More than 70% of the women suffered from breast cancer didn’t have any other person in the family suffering from this disease.

* Breast cancer may appear at any age, but it is more possible if you are older.

* Breast cancer, in its early stages hardly shows any sign at all. It does not cause any pain in most instances.

* Approximately 1400 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in 2000 and 400 of those men will die.

* More than 1.7 million women who have had breast cancer are still alive in the United States.

* Having more children, and then breast feeding them for longer than 9 months reduces risk.

* The first sign of breast cancer usually shows up on a woman's mammogram before it can be felt or any other symptoms are present.

* This year 211,000 fresh cases of breast cancer are anticipated in the United States of America.

* Over eighty percent of breast lumps are not cancerous, but benign such as fibrocystic breast disease.

* The exact origin of this cancer is still unidentified. Many women believe the ailment will by no means envelope them since it doesn't run in their families.

* The good news is that each year takes us nearer to a cure. Breast cancer treatment has enhanced radically in the past 5 to 10 years.

* Pesticides such as DDT and Lindane increase breast cancer risk. In Israel the increase was 400 per cent.