Film provides insight into breast cancer

So says the introduction to Rachel's Daughters: Searching for the Causes of Breast Cancer - a documentary film shown Tuesday evening at the University of Arizona Center for English as a Second Language.

"We didn't know so many of our mothers would bury us," continues the narration.

On-hand Tuesday was Lori Pascarella, a Tucson breast cancer survivor who is featured in the movie.

"I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 32," said Pascarella, now 37. "But this is not about me," she told the 60 people in attendance. "This is about many others."

The documentary seeks to bring attention to a link between chemicals in the environment and epidemic rates of breast cancer, a disease that afflicts 2.6 million American women and kills 44,000 a year.

The disease survivors interview cancer experts and visit contamination sites in the film.

Julie Urbanik, a non-degree-seeking graduate student, said she was fascinated by the link between environmental pollution and rising illness rates.

"This really raises awareness of what's around us," she said.

Colette Barajas of the Lesbian Health Cancer Project, one of the event's sponsors, said government bodies need to re-examine the use of chemicals in the environment.

"The government doesn't care," she said. "It doesn't listen."

Environmental Resource Foundation member Peter Montague, who also appeared in the movie, said, "Chemical dumpers can dump whatever they want and we have to line up the dead bodies to prove we're being harmed."

The movie also focused on prevention, and Barajas said women need to take health seriously.

"People don't want to hear about cancer," she said. "People think it's never going to touch them, until they're diagnosed."

Pascarella said the most important thing she could tell any woman would be to become familiar with their body through self exams and other preventative measures.

"Early detection is the only reason I'm alive," she said.

Pascarella was a phone technician operator when diagnosed and believes long-term exposure to radiation in telephone lines may have helped spark the cancer.

However, she does not blame the exposure alone.

"I think it's really more of a combination platter," she said. "All these things add up."

Pascarella quit her job after the diagnosis and now operates the Goofy Gallery on East Broadway. She said other women also have the option to leave high-risk situations.

Women's studies junior Christine DeLarbre said the movie had a lot of information she did not know about breast cancer and its causes.

"It really shows how susceptible we are, especially as young women," she said.

The film is named after award-winning environmentalist author Rachel Carson, who wrote Silent Spring in 1962. The book documented the widespread environmental impact of pesticide misuse.

While she wrote, Carson received treatment for breast cancer. She later died from the disease.

Sponsored by the UA Women's Studies Department and the YWCA, the film was shown in conjunction with October's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Rachel's Daughters has been shown on HBO and will be shown in Tucson again on Oct. 28.