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