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June 1, 2000
Breast Cancer: Cause and Controversy
A Tale of Two Counties
Most women in Marin County need not worry much about resources for care once they are diagnosed with cancer, although the county does have small pockets of low-income minorities. By and large, the community standard of health care are among the best in the country.
For the women of Hunters Point -- and all the underserved minorities and poverty-class citizens of San Francisco County -- the burgeoning community-research projects in Marin may shed some light far beyond those cloistered grounds. Maybe even in their own neighborhoods.
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They just said we were all rich, white and well-educated, and that had something to do with disease rates. | |
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Perhaps community activists in San Francisco should take some cues from their Marin counterparts, who succeeded in getting the attention and commitment of Nancy Rubin, the region's top health officer.
As a former health official in San Francisco, Rubin watched the early years of the AIDS epidemic at close quarters, back when nobody wanted to believe the word on the streets about a mysterious "gay cancer" that was moving through the community.
"I have learned to pay attention and follow the instincts of my constituents," she said. "People were saying, 'it's in the body fluids, it's in the body fluids,' and the scientists were saying, 'no way, our studies show there's no evidence.' And then it turned out that the gay men in rollerskates dressed up in nun's habits were right."
For Francine Levien, breast-cancer survivor turned community warrior, the fight must be waged no matter what the experts say.
"We're starting this on a grassroots level," she said. "We couldn't get any cooperation at first from anyone in the medical or scientific community. They just said we were all rich, white and well-educated, and that had something to do with disease rates. But I didn't believe it then and I don't now."
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Breast Cancer: CAUSE & CONTROVERSY by Carl Hall photographs by Pico  SIDEBARS: Photo Gallery: Breast cancer survivors carry on. (Pico) Long Island: A mammoth research effort and its critics. (Hall) Risk factors offer questions and answers. (Wilson)
Toxic Links: How do we know if a chemical is dangerous? (Wilson)
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