Newspaper Page Text
<
JlllY 22 - JULY 28 / 1993
NEWS
Mayor Jackson agrees to sign new
partnership benefits bill mgeg
Partnership brouhaha leads to
backlash In Atlanta PACES
SCIENCE
study supports theory t
ng gay Is fteretHtary §fi
SOUTHEAST
New Orleans artist finds he was
target of anti-gay witch hunt In
the 1960$ PAGE 4
IgSpipj
NATION
Former Atlanta AIDS service official
ousted from her post In D.C. mge*
SPORTS
Three Atlanta softball
EfiSl®
■ - O £* ■ .
Tm
VOIIHE 6/HUBBfR 22 PlttSf RECtCEE ESC WNIRI SOID
Clinton flip flops, adopts "don't ask, don't tell."
Page 7
The invisible scourge
The news about lesbians’ breast cancer risk is finally coming out.
But little help is yet available to meet their unique needs.
by C. MITCHELL
On two occasions, Dcnnic Douchcr had lumps
removed from her breasts. The lumps were benign, so
Douchcr didn't feel concerned when she went in for her
third mammogram.
But after the test, the lab technician said she thought
she saw “something small.” Douchcr’s gynecologist
urged her to get a biopsy.
“1 didn’t want to have it, but they said, ‘you're in a
high risk group. You haven’t had children, you’ve had
fibrocystic disease and previous biopsies,’" Douchcr
recalled.
“Well—no one had ever told me 1 might be at risk
for breast cancer,” Douchcr added.
And no one ever told her that she might be more at
risk because she was a lesbian. In fact, until recently, no
one even thought about lesbians when they did breast
cancer research, according to epidemiologist Suzanne
Haynes.
And no one hypothesized that, compared to hetero
sexual women, lesbians stand a two-to-three-fold higher
chance of developing breast cancer. But Haynes be
lieves that could be true.
She first developed the hypothesis after organizers
invited ha to speak at last July’s National Lesbian and
Gay Health Conference. In preparation, the epidemi
ologist began looking for statistics on the number of
lesbians with breast cancer.
“I was really shocked to find out there were no
published cancer rates for lesbians,” Haynes recalled.
“So I had to look at the risk factors for lesbians. If there
are no numbers available, the second best thing to do is
to look at the risk factors and, from that, come up with
an estimated number.”
In trying to get that number, Haynes realized that
lesbians could be at risk for a few different reasons.
Along with a family history of breast cancer, whether
or not a woman has borne children is one of the most
significant risk factors for developing the cancer, Haynes
said.
“The whole medical theory for the cause of breast
cancer is tied to high levels of circulating estrogen." she
says. “The theory is that, with women who don’t have
children, there tire too many years of circulating estro
gen.”
Compared to women who have a child, women
who don't do so have twice the risk of developing
breast cancer. About 80 percent of lesbians have not
borne children, Haynes said.
Alcohol also plays a role in breast cancer, she added.
Haynes said that studies have shown that with only two
drinks a day, there is a 30 percent increase in Lhc body's
estrogen level. Studies also support the well-known fact
that lesbians drink more than heterosexuals, she added.
Julie Carroll is the director of a new project at
Atlanta's Feminist Women’s Health Center. The project,
named “All Women Arc At Risk For Breast Cancer,"
will distribute information about the incidence of breast
cancer and prevention. The group seeks to educate all
women, including women of color and lesbians, Carroll
said.
Talking about ways to prevent breast cancer, Carroll
urged monthly breast self exams, because most lumps
arc found by women during such exams. Haynes be
lieves mammograms are more important in catching
cancer, because they pick up lumps at an earlier stage of
their development. .
But either way, lesbians lose.
Why? Because compared to heterosexual women,
lesbians get fewer routine gynecological checkups, in
cluding mammograms, according to Haynes and Carroll.
And compared to lesbians, twice as many heterosexual
women give themselves breast exams, Haynes said,
citing studies done in the recent past.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among
women between the ages of 32 and 52. It kills approxi-
CONTINUES ON PAGE 6