Largest Funder of Breast Cancer Research Issues Challenge to Fund Meaningful Studies into Environmental Causes of the Disease
SAN ANTONIO – December 7, 2011 – Susan G. Komen for the Cure® President Elizabeth Thompson issued the following statement today regarding the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report “Breast Cancer and the Environment, a Life Course Approach,” regarding environmental links to the disease. The report was released today at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
“Understanding the role that environmental factors play in the development of breast cancer is hugely complex and the IOM has done a good job laying out the challenges. We intend to use these findings to guide our decisions about research to fund, so that women and their families have the best science to guide them in making important lifestyle choices. We believe our efforts going forward will be made even more effective through the guidance provided by this study.”
“As the IOM makes clear, significantly more research is needed to gain a full understanding of what substances can be definitively linked to breast cancer.”
“In our ongoing commitment to uncovering the causes of breast cancer, we are issuing a challenge to other agencies working in the environmental area to join with Susan G. Komen to create a fund to begin work on these very important initiatives.”
To view Komen’s current research programs visit http://ww5.komen.org/2011researchgrants.html.
The IOM full report can be viewed at www.iom.edu/breastcancerenvironment
