I believe breast cancer in India is rising at *alarming* pace. And there is bound to be an environmental reason (food, water, air) for this. I have lost my mother and two aunts and I know of atleast 4 more women who have it.

How can we stop this? We all need to do *something*

Gita, family history is not the only factor that increases a person's risk for breast cancer. Most women diagnosed with breast cancer have had no known risk factor other than the fact that they were women.

Therefore, it is important that each woman above the age of 20 years should conduct a monthly breast self examination and talk to a doctor as soon as she notices any abnormality. If breast cancer is detected at its earliest stage, the 5 year survival can be expected to be almost 100%.

Based on National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR), report of (2001-03), about 25% of the total cancer cases among Indian women constitutes of Breast cancer. The crude incidence rate of Breast cancer at India level is about 85 per 100,000 women per year. It is estimated that about 85000 new cases of Breast cancer are occurring in India, every year. The mortality rate is around 7 per 100,000 cases per year.

The incidence (crude rate) of Breast cancer in Urban India is about 25 per 100,000 women but not 85 per 100,000 women, as stated in my earlier comment posted on 7/8/2008. I regret the mistake.