Inbox

Every Nation’s Race for a Cure
Thank you for the articles on breast cancer [Oct. 15]. My wife succumbed to the disease after a 10-year fight. During that time, I learned much about its diagnosis, treatment and funding. Advancements in diagnosis and the array of treatments that are available to women with certain characteristics of the disease are heartening. However, there is a paucity of funding. We need to better understand priorities and must demand that our representatives do too. Members of Congress can work to more effectively define funding priorities while realizing that their efforts affect more than just government agencies, corporations and re-election opportunities. We are not dealing with numbers here; we are dealing with people’s lives. Stefan N. Miller,
Baltimore

Kathleen Kingsbury mentioned that women who have more children have a lower risk of developing breast cancer. Might part of the problem in the industrialized world be that women breast-feed for a relatively short duration? The vast majority of mothers in the U.S. wean a baby by six months. In contrast, most mothers in developing countries still practice the age-old custom of nursing a child for two to four years. A woman need not birth a baker’s dozen to lessen her risk for breast cancer; breast-feeding beyond one year might very well benefit both her and her child. Lisa Wheeler,
Birmingham, Ala., U.S.

The rapidly rising rates of breast cancer in developing nations are closely correlated with the movement away from traditional diets and lifestyles and toward those found in the more affluent Western countries. If the goal is to prevent the spread of breast cancer around the world, perhaps more attention should be paid to these global changes rather than to the development of more expensive — and often unattainable — medical devices and drugs. Leonard A. Cohen, Ph.D., Editor, Nutrition and Cancer: An International Journal,
Northampton, Mass., U.S.

Cancer spreads throughout the world because we release chemicals into the water, air and soil. The chemicals we spray on our crops contaminate our groundwater, while acid rain pollutes our freshwater supplies. Worse, First World countries use dyes, preservatives and other chemical additives in every facet of food production. We cause our own deaths with the poisons we inject into our food.
Frosty Wooldridge,
Louisville, Colo., U.S.

Nearly six years ago, in my late 40s, I learned I had calcification deposits in my breast that turned out to be cancerous, as they sometimes can be. I was stunned, and so was my family. Since immigrating to the U.S. as a teenager, I have enjoyed more opportunity and freedom of choice than either my mother or grandmother. But I now see that I am paying the price for multitasking and the pursuit of the American Dream, with the accompanying stress and ceaseless consumerism. Focusing on the treatments of breast cancer is necessary, but I feel more emphasis should be given to prevention, which received little attention in your article.
Frederica Sagiani,
New York City

When I was a medical student in the 1960s, the incidence of breast cancer was about 1 in 200 women and was rare in men. The incidence of breast cancer where I live is now about 1 in 6 women, and I have known two men who had breast cancer. Your articles would have us blame the victims for their disease — self-induced by unhealthy lifestyles and obesity. The alarming increase in cancers is the result of a toxic environment. As the breast-cancer advocacy group Rachel’s Friends says, “You can race for the cure, but you can’t run from the cause.” If a cure for cancer is found, it will be the result of a grass-roots campaign to stop polluting the environment. Cancer science is working on the wrong end of the problem.
Thomas L. Gritzka, M.D.,
Portland, Ore., U.S.

Overlaying a female torso with a world map made for a most intriguing cover image. My teenage son and adult husband were particularly taken with the latitudes around Nepal. Pun intended? An eye-opening story, in more ways than one. As a wife and mother, I appreciate the coverage.
Melissa Noebes,
Canton, Ga., U.S.

Invitation for an Intervention
The Oct. 8 cover stated, “The World is Watching” the Burmese regime’s crackdown on demonstrators. Was that phrasing a warning or a comfort? How often has the world watched conflicts begin, unfold and end without lifting a finger? It seems there are repeatedly much reporting, much hand-wringing and many U.N. speeches, fact-finding visits and economic sanctions but very little effective humanitarian action — preventive or corrective. People are still dying in Darfur despite much of the above activity, including world surveillance. There are so many other arenas in which effective action is needed but very little is done. Here’s hoping Burma does not become another one.
Peter Cole,
Condé Ste. Libiaire, France

If a man harms his family in a civilized country, the police are called in to stop him. If a gang of thugs terrorizes a neighborhood, the police mount an operation to shut them down. However, if you are audacious enough to organize an even bigger gang of thugs, you can take over a whole country. Call yourself some sort of political party, and the world’s media will obligingly use this title, thus helping legitimize your crimes, as most notoriously happened in Germany in the early 1930s. The governments and diplomats of the world will talk to you in the vain belief that because you claim to be a political organization, this somehow means you are reasonable people. Meanwhile, you can abuse, torture, murder and rob the nation’s people at will, as has happened on so many occasions in the past century. Is morality applicable only on a small scale? We get the politicians we deserve, goes the saying. But do the gentle, life-revering Buddhists of Burma and Tibet deserve the thugs who control them?
Peter Phillpotts,
Matlock, England

Thank you for reporting on Burma. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have a greater role to play. They should pressure the junta to free Aung San Suu Kyi and bring democracy to Burma. But ASEAN and China are instead protecting their business interests at the expense of the people of Burma.
Jeff Teh,
Bangkok

Dastardly Dynasts
Your essay, “Heirs Apparent” [Oct. 1], made me think deeply about the future of Japan and reminded me of the medieval past: in the Heian period, a warrior class descended from rural peasants diminished the power of rich ruling families. History shows that the privileged and protected can’t evade changing times forever.
Masaaki Otani,
Tadotsu, Japan

Gain with No Pain?
Yoga in its original form is a multifaceted, millenniums-old discipline that spans physical, ethical, psychological and spiritual dimensions [Oct. 15]. In our mass-market Western world, those aspects of yoga have largely been jettisoned, and the physical is marketed as a hot new form of calisthenics. Used skillfully, the physical elements offer benefits such as enhanced flexibility, agility and body awareness. Used unskillfully, they can — not surprisingly — damage muscles and ligaments. Wise practitioners will proceed gently and carefully under a good teacher and eventually look beyond the physical to yoga’s deeper potentials.
Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.,Professor, Psychiatry Department, University of California College of Medicine,
Irvine, Calif., U.S.

Last January I entered a beginner’s yoga class with expert teachers to cure annual spasms of back pain. During a series of downward dogs, my back seized up as it never had before. I had to crawl out of the studio and have other people put my shoes back on for me while I stood there crying. I am still recovering. One physical therapist told me that many of the bending poses are murder on the disks. No more yoga for me. I’ll stick with Pilates.
Connie McDougall,
Seattle

I was a gym rat for more than 12 years, lifting weights, running on the treadmill and doing high-impact aerobics. I was always getting injured and often had to go to a chiropractor. Now that I have been doing yoga, my pain has subsided, and I don’t need a chiropractor.
Kiana Martinez,
Los Angeles

Yoga done correctly and without an athletic competitive edge is for everyone. I am 76 years of age and began yoga four years ago. Following the Iyengar yoga method of correct alignment, I leave each session feeling at least 20 years younger — especially after standing on my head for five minutes.
De Vee Lange,
San Diego

Done correctly, yoga increases strength and might head off osteoporosis. And Ashtanga yoga sure fires up my cardio system. So I suppose a limited workout done by an infrequent weekend warrior would probably offer little benefit and may cause injury. But for those of us who practice consistently, the benefits are quite clear and compelling.
Steve Crawford,
Jyvskyl, Finland

Cool on Climate Change
The article “Eco-Rebels” confirmed that global warming will require a mix of solutions that we are not prepared to put in place [Oct. 22]. It will require the determined involvement of governments to invest in research and development, create incentives for production of alternative energy and curb our addiction to oil. We need to reduce consumption, recycle and demand that our politicians take action. I am convinced that we will see more debate than substantial change in the near future, but I hope we will not debate the subject to death.
Lorenzo Rodriguez,
El Paso, Texas, U.S.

Danish statistician Bjorn Lomborg’s claim that global warming will only cause us to wear “slightly fewer layers of winter clothes” is not credible. My new book Global Warming and Agriculture uses averages from six climate models and two schools of agricultural-impact models to estimate that in the absence of action, by the 2080s, global warming will reduce agricultural productivity 30% to 40% in India, 15% to 25% in Africa and Latin America, and 20% to 35% in the southern U.S. and Mexico. And if we consider the longer-term catastrophic risks from the runaway greenhouse effect, shutdown of the Gulf Stream and collapse of the West Antarctic ice shelf, curbing carbon dioxide emissions is a small price to pay for insurance, even though adaptation will also be needed.
William R. Cline, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics and Center for Global Development,
Washington