At a recent international conference on breast cancer, researchers claimed they were baffled as to the cause of the increasing rate of breast cancer in poor nations. However, as a medical anthropologist examining how cultural practices lead to disease, the cause is easy to understand: Western fashion.

Women in developing nations are increasingly wearing bras, as Western culture redefines the attire for working and professional women in these previously bra-free cultures. The result is an alarming increase in breast cancer incidence in these cultures, which were previously free of this disease.

Breast cancer is a problem only in cultures where bras are worn. Around the world, where there are no bras, there is virtually no breast disease.

The 1991-93 Bra and Breast Cancer Study, published in the book, Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, showed that bra-free women had about the same incidence of this disease as men. On the other hand, wearing a bra 24/7 saw about a 3 in 4 chance of developing breast cancer.

Additional research in Fiji, where about half the women are bra-free, found that, given women from the same village, with the same genetics and diet, the women who are getting cancer are the ones wearing bras.

Developing nations look to the West as a model for their development. As they copy Western culture, they develop Western diseases.

The increase in incidence in developing cultures is mostly in young women, probably because many are now wearing tight bras 24/7.

Supporting the bra/cancer theory is a recent study from China, published in July, 2009, that shows wearing a bra to sleep increases cancer incidence. And a Harvard study in 1991 also found that bra-free women had half the rate of developing cancer as bra wearers.

Bras are constrictive garments designed to alter breast shape, which is accomplished by applying constant pressure to the delicate breast tissue. This constriction can impair the drainage of lymph fluid from the tissue, as the bra squeezes down on easily compressed lymphatic vessels. A healthy, unrestricted lymphatic system is essential for removing fluid and toxins from the breast tissue, and is the circulatory pathway of the immune system. Chronic compression and constriction of the breast lymphatic system by bras can result in fluid accumulation (lymphedema), breast pain, cyst formation, fibrocystic breast disease, and may lead to cancer. Signs of constriction are red marks and indentations in the skin left by the bra.

Women throughout the world need to be warned about the bra/cancer link. But don't expect the West to help. The lingerie industry is a multi-billion dollar a year business, as is breast cancer detection and treatment. It's the poor women of the world versus the business interests of the West.



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