This is the kind of information people need to help them combat breast cancer. But Dr. Miriam Grossman, M.D. points out that there is a strong reluctance to report it. I knew that having babies and nursing them was one good way to reduce your risk of getting breast cancer (and, if you think about it, it’s very logical or even teleological) but I did not realize the extent to which it was true. According to Dr. Grossman:
Numerous large studies have shown that each birth will reduce your risk by ten percent and each year of nursing by at least four percent. So if you start your family early, have three kids and nurse them each for two years, you’ve decreased your risk by about 54 percent.Now that’s really something! That should be front page news in October--the so-called "Breast Cancer Awareness Month." But apparently, we’re not supposed to be that aware. Grossman points to a thwarted campaign among doctors to try and respond to the dismay of patients who discovered that they were infertile in their 30s. A group of them tried to sponsor PSAs that showed a baby bottle shaped like an hourglass. The text announced that fertility starts to decline after 30. This is nothing but a fact--and a fact about which a great number of disappointed patients had reported ignorance. Still, malls and theaters refused to post their announcement. This deliberate ignorance of female biology is really astonishing. It has become perfectly acceptable to discuss (in the most public and even obscene ways) the anatomy and function of the female clitoris, but to suggest that fertility declines after 30 and that early childbirth helps prevent breast-cancer is--well, taboo. Up is down and black is white.
I should point out to those of you who have followed my postings on these topics that I have just discovered that Dr. Grossman is, in fact, the "Anonymous, M.D." responsible for this book which I reviewed here). The paperback is now out and includes a new introduction and her real name on the cover. I’m glad she isn’t anonymous anymore. This kind of thing needs to be combated and it needs people willing to take the heat.
So Dr. Grossman is "Anonymous." I didn't know that. Do you know why she felt the need to be anonymous. Was she outed by someone?
I have no idea what brought her out but I'm guessing that she explains that in the new introduction she wrote for the paperback version of her book . . . I'd guess that she's emboldened and that she wanted to take some of the kudos that are due to her. And she should.
Julie,
Thank you so much for your wonderful blog entry about Miriam Grossman, M.D. and her column, “Want Protection from Breast Cancer? Have Some Babies.” It is true, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and those in the health industry should be mentioning ALL of the ways to help lower the risk of breast cancer, including those that may not seem to fit political correct standards. Fortunately, we have Dr. Grossman to help provide critical information that otherwise tends to get left out.
In reference to the comment on your blog as to why Dr. Grossman owned up to the name “Dr. Anonymous,” she was “outed” by Dr. Laura Schlessinger, with her permission. At that time, Dr. Grossman had the backing of many health professionals who urged her to take credit for something so groundbreaking. Initially she was concerned about the potential consequences to her job that might have been brought about by going public with her book Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student. Since the release of that book, Dr. Grossman has been on hundreds of radio talk shows, television shows such as Pat Robertson’s 700 Club, and her work has received positive reviews in The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, and Newsweek.
In addition to being a successful author and psychiatrist at UCLA, Dr. Grossman is also a Senior Fellow at the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, whose mission is to prepare women for effective leadership and to promote leading conservative women. The Institute provides educational, networking, and mentoring opportunities for conservative women across the country, advancing ideas that are pro-America, pro-free enterprise, pro-religion, and pro-family.
I invite you to visit the Institute’s website at www.cblpi.org. In addition, Dr. Grossman’s website is www.miriamgrossmanmd.com.
Sincerely,
Melissa Mullins
Marketing Assistant, Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
"numerous large studies." The story will get more traction if the Doctor links to a few of them.