5-17-97

Fox Chase Cancer Center
Memorial Hospital of Burlington County
175 Madison Ave.
Mt. Holly, NJ  08060-2099

To Whom it may Concern:

I am writing about your "Woman's Health Alert - Breast Cancer Myths and
Mysteries," in which
you write "How does breast-feeding affect cancer risk?  A study of nearly
90,000 middle-aged
women showed that those who had never breast-fed were neither more nor less
likely to get
breast cancer than women who did breast-feed their babies, the Harvard School
of Public
Health reported in 1996."

Was manner of breastfeeding considered, especially duration and exclusivity
of breastfeeding?
This can make a vast difference in the study results.  Many women counted as
breastfeeding
mothers only practice "token" breastfeeding, and are really using formula for
the most part.

I was disappointed that you did not discuss the differing conclusions of some
other studies that
looked at breastfeeding and breast cancer risk,  but you did do so when
discussing hormone
replacement therapy (HRT) and breast cancer risk on the front page.

The public needs more articles informing them of the superiority of
breastmilk and breastfeeding
and of the numerous serious health hazards caused by artificial feeding.
 Please consider doing
more research and printing more on this subject.

Sincerely,
Laurie Wheeler, RNC, MN, IBCLC
LA Breastfeeding MediaWatch Coordinator