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LONDON, March 22 — Britain’s Department of Health warned that women who drink above the recommended limit are 50 percent more likely to develop breast cancer.

The government has launched a 10-million-pound (about 20 million U.S. dollars) advertising campaign targeting middle-aged women who might underestimate the harm of their drinking habit, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on Saturday.

A health department report to be published says women who drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week are at increased risk of breast cancer.

Dawn Primarolo, minister of public health, said: “Women who regularly drink too much are 50 percent more likely to develop breast cancer. And many drink too much simply because they have no idea how many alcohol units they are consuming.”

Charity organization Cancer Research also says alcohol causes about 2,000 breast cancer cases in Britain a year.

Other health risks for women who binge on drink include liver disease, unplanned pregnancies and ruptured bladders.

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BALTIMORE – When it came time for Brooke Mowry and Cristina Orndorff to pick a team name to walk in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, there was no contest.”The Jugg-ernaughts. We felt it exemplifies the courage and determination that men and women show in order to beat the disease,” Mowry said. “At first, we got some skeptical looks, but it’s all about positivity. What better way to encapsulate what survivors go through than that name?”

Mowry, 24 and Orndorff, 25, first became interested in charity work while attending Virginia Tech. “We were sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha, whose philanthropy is the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation,” Mowry said. “It was only natural that we wanted to participate in Avon’s cause.”

But in order to walk the 39.2 miles of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, participants are required to raise at least $1,800. Mowry, who participates in several other fundraising walks, wanted to join the race but worried about how to raise the money.

“I had done the Alzheimer’s walk not too long ago, so I had already pulled my resources with friends and family,” Mowry said. “I knew I would have to hold some kind of benefit.”

That’s when Jessica Newman stepped in. Friends with Mowry since high school, she decided to help the girls raise the money.

Things came together perfectly. All three girls liked the idea of a concert to raise money. “I’ve always thought about how cool it would be if I could make something like a benefit concert happen, but I never had a good cause,” Newman said. “When Brooke came to me, freaking out about how to raise the money, that’s when I got my cause.”

Regulars at the 8×10 in Federal Hill, the girls decided that would be the place to hold the concert. They contacted local bands Can’t Hang, The Jon Bailey Band and Shook, which all agreed to play the concert for free. They named it “Boobs, Bands and Beers,” and using grassroots marketing techniques — posting on MySpace, handing out flyers, writing e-mail blasts — the girls are hoping for the best on March 31.

Mowry and Orndorff are adamant about supporting breast cancer research, even though neither has been personally affected by cancer. “We’re lucky. But we’ve seen family members of friends affected by it,” Mowry said. “We’ve walked before in the Susan G. Komen race, and just seeing the community of survivors and supporters is amazing. We just want to be tied to the cause.”

IF YOU GO

Boobs, Bands and Beers: Concert for a Cure

WHERE: The 8×10, 10 E. Cross St., Baltimore

WHEN: 6 p.m. Monday, March 31

TICKETS: $12*

INFO: 410-625-2000

*All proceeds benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

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Two time world champion Robert “THE GHOST” Guerrero teams up with undefeated UFC champion Frank Shamrock, Shonie “Mr. International” Carter from The Ultimate Fighter season 4 on Spike TV, Mike Cook from Iron Ring on BET, and UFC Heavyweight Champion Maurice Smith to Fund Womens Battle with Breast Cancer Charity event.

Womens Battle with Breast Cancer Charity event [Via the Sweetscience]

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SHERIDAN — The town of Sheridan was draped in pink this week as residents decorated Main Street with ribbons and carnations in support of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.In January, Noblesville resident Susan Gillim started an effort asking Sheridan residents to join a team for the race and raise money and awareness to fight breast cancer. Her husband owns MAIN Architects on Main Street in Sheridan, and the couple are building a home there.

Her goal is to motivate Sheridan residents and businesses to raise $5,000 for Race for the Cure. The 5K run/walk is April 19 in Indianapolis.

According to the Indianapolis affiliate of Race for the Cure, the town’s team has raised $1,715, or 34 percent of its goal.

Here are two upcoming events in Sheridan to raise more money, plus an important deadline to sign up for the race:

The Sheridan team will host a Rummage for the Cure sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Community Center, 300 E. Sixth St. All proceeds will go toward the team’s $5,000 goal. Donations are collected at Town Hall. For more information about donation times, call (317) 758-5293.

Team members and volunteers, dressed in pink, will be posted at the intersection of Ind. 38 and Ind. 47 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 5 collecting drive-by donations for Race for the Cure.

Donations of cash or checks, made out to Komen Race for the Cure, also can be dropped off at Sheridan Town Hall or MAIN Architects on Main Street.

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the 5K run/walk, is April 19 in Indianapolis. Individuals can register by mail until March 31 and online at www.komenindy.org until April 14. Entries are $25. Teams need to register online or by mail by Friday.

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San Francisco, CA – The Breast Cancer Fund today released “State of the Evidence,” a comprehensive report that catalogs and explores the many links between exposures to toxic chemicals and radiation and increased breast cancer risk.

“The picture of breast cancer causation is maddeningly complex – there is no smoking gun, no one chemical or product or even gene that by itself causes breast cancer,” said Jeanne Rizzo, R.N., Executive Director of the Breast Cancer Fund. “But the trends that have emerged lead us to stop asking IF there is a link between breast cancer and the environment, but to ask how to move forward with the strong and compelling evidence we have now.”

The report comes after the U.S. Senate passed legislation on March 6 to strengthen the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The bill included an amendment sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that will require all child care products and children’s toys sold throughout the United States to be free of phthalates, a chemical found in many flexible plastics.

“Because phthalates can disrupt the hormones in a child’s developing body, they may trigger early puberty or cause reproductive harm,” said Rizzo. “The U.S. Senate is now on record that parents shouldn’t have to worry that their children’s toys might be harmful.”

Phthalates and a host of other chemicals have been shown to mimic or alter the activities of the natural hormones and potentially increase breast cancer risk. Endocrine disruptors may be found in pesticides, plastics, detergents, industrial solvents, tobacco smoke, prescription drugs, food additives and personal care products.

In the new report, the Breast Cancer Fund provides the most comprehensive listing to-date of chemicals linked to breast cancer, including natural and synthetic estrogens; xenoestrogens and other endocrine-disrupting compounds; carcinogenic chemicals and radiation. This exhaustive catalog provides a much more complex picture of breast cancer causation than traditionally accepted, one in which timing, mixtures and dose of environmental exposures interact with genes and lifestyle factors.

A major trend arising from the report is that early-life exposures to endocrine disruptors–particularly during gestation and childhood, but also continuing through first childbirth and breastfeeding–are critical to later-life breast cancer risk. These compounds have yet to be classified as carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) or the National Toxicology Program (NTP), event though recent studies show an explicit health risk.

Among the risks discussed in State of the Evidence 2008 are bisphenol A, a component of hard plastic found in some popular water bottles and baby bottles that was originally developed as a synthetic estrogen; the pesticides DDT and atrazine; air pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; hormone replacement therapy; and ionizing radiation. The report also highlights that early puberty, influenced by a variety of factors including phthalates, is itself a risk factor for later-life breast cancer.

“The mass of data on timing of exposure is extraordinary from a scientist’s perspective, and scary from a personal perspective,” said Janet Gray, Ph.D., editor of State of the Evidence 2008. “We have a responsibility to our children and grandchildren to take action now that may prevent them from a breast cancer diagnosis in 10, 20 or 50 years. The science is there to support change, and lawmakers, researchers and industries are beginning to recognize this.”

This report, which cites more than 400 epidemiological and experimental studies, was edited by Janet Gray, Ph.D., of Vassar College and reviewed by experts in medicine and science, including Kristan Aronson, Ph.D., Queen’s University, Canada; Devra Lee Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H., University of Pittsburgh; Suzanne E. Fenton, Ph.D., NHEERL, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Annie J. Sasco, M.D., Dr.P.H., Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, France; and Ana Soto, M.D., Tufts University School of Medicine.

The Breast Cancer Fund is the leading national organization working exclusively to identify and eliminate the environmental causes of breast cancer. Visit www.breastcancerfund.org/evidence to download State of the Evidence 2008, order printed copies, read policy and research recommendations and find information for consumers, including downloadable tables that synthesize information about chemicals found in pesticides, air pollution, plastics, household cleaning products and cosmetics.

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