(
http://www.killerculture.com)
No fewer than five research studies have shown that wearing constrictive bras for long periods of time contributes to breast cancer, an association that is acknowledged by many healthcare providers, including medical doctors and oncologists. Even some lingerie manufacturers have responded to this fact by developing new bras designed to minimize lymphatic constriction, thus minimizing the cancer risk. But not everyone has been as accepting of such research.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, two organizations that at least
seem to care about cancer patients, are denying the bra-cancer link. What many people don't realize about these organizations is that they don't care about preventing cancer; instead, they are obsessed with raising funds for cancer "research" and the ever-elusive "cure." In a flat-out denial of scientific evidence, the ACS and Komen Foundation consider the link between breast cancer and bras to be absurd and not worth taking seriously.
Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer, a married couple of medical anthropologists, led research on bra wearing habits of U.S. women with and without breast cancer which showed "that the tighter and longer a bra is worn the higher the [breast cancer] incidence rose, up to 100 times greater for 24/7 bra wearers," Singer wrote in a recent article.
She continued, writing that when her and her husband "first notified cancer organizations about their discovery, they were completely ignored or ridiculed. Now, 20 years later, the American Cancer Society and the Susan G. Komen Foundation still ridicule the information out of hand, and try to explain away the link as a ridiculous 'myth.'"
Over the past 20 years that these two organizations have stonewalled this important information, 2,000,000 women just in the U.S. were diagnosed with breast cancer, which might have been prevented simply by loosening their bra or wearing it for a shorter time each day. Even if the link weren't conclusive, it is unethical to ignore it, as it pertains to such a life-threatening condition and should at least undergo further scientific evaluation.
So why is it that the ACS and the Komen Foundation are continuing to downplay these important findings? Maybe it's because of the donations they receive from lingerie companies, or their reluctance to challenge the cultural norm of wearing a bra, or the perhaps fact that, if people focused on breast cancer
prevention rather than treatment and detection, these organizations would lose their importance and hence much of their funding.
This is speculation, of course, but why else would these two organizations, whose ostensible purpose is to help cancer patients, attempt to restrict information that could save lives? Whatever the reason, it is unscientific and immoral, and to protest their cover-up of the bra-cancer link, Singer and other scientists are calling for a boycott against the Komen Foundation and the ACS.
"Singer and Grismaijer suggest that whenever the ACS or Komen Foundation ask for a donation, send them your bra, instead! This will give them the message, and help you prevent breast cancer at the same time."
