Environmental factors coinciding with lifestyle and cultural behaviors are going to be found, eventually, to the the cause. I live in oakland, and the people whom I know who come from the lower class and are ethnic are many. Almost without exception they eat a lot of fast food, drink a lot of soda, many of them smoke or drink. Many of them eat to excess regularly and don't eat nearly enough fresh fruits and vegetables. Many of them come from economically disadvantaged families forced to live in less-than-ideal neighborhoods plauged by soil and air pollution and high levels of stress caused by neighborhood violence, the untimely deaths of loved-ones and broken homes. The hormone cortisol is a killer. I am writing this in hopes that people of color will click on this article and view my opinion - it may save their lives. Back to it: Cortisol is a hormone linked with obesity, heart disease and cancer. The levels of severe (morbid) obesity in the at-risk community is off the chart - particularly for females, where it is estimated that one in three are severely overweight. This is clearly a co-factor. Many, many of the Hispanic and black kids these days are shockingly obese. This plays havoc with the endocrine system and sets the stage for many serious illnesses - including breast cancer. In addition to sodas and junk-food, even if the people from this class strive for a more balanced diet including fresh fruits and vegetables, they will more than likely be consuming "conventionally-grown" produce, not organically grown, due to it's prohibitive cost and the fact that the better grocery stores are likely to be outside of their neighborhoods. The reason this is a grave concern is that conventional food is dangerous to eat due to massive petrochemical contamination and GMO modification. All conventional foods are grown with massive amounts of fertilizer and generous applications of weed-killer and insecticides - all brought to you curtesy of those great guys at Shell and Monsanto and all of them made with petrochemicals i.e. crude oil. The residues get into the flesh and skin of the fruits and vegetables and then into us. It is not water-soluble and thus collects in our tissues over time giving us cancer - primarily in women breast and ovary cancers and in men it is testicular and prostate cancer. In men it will also cause gynocomastia. Male breast cancer has been steeply on the rise! The reason for it is that the body detects the chemicals and they mimic estrogens. Too many estrogens in the body (esp. fake ones, call zenoestrogens "strange" estrogens, literally) will cause men to grow breasts and become infertile and cause women to grow cancers and tumors. If you think this is bad enough, well wait: there's a lot more! If you eat meat or eggs or cheese you are in for a whammy: there is nearly 15 times more concentrated deadly petrochemicals in those products. And to make matters worse...even if you had the extra $$$ to pony up for that nice "organic" steak at the Walmart, well, guess what? It's not really organic at all - it's "feed-lot" meat - ordinary, conventionally-grown steak. So it is hard to find the real thing...the cows eat the grain which is grown conventionally and it all stores up in their tissue and you eat the result: concentrated toxins. Also, many of my friends from the black and latino community really like their cosmetics! You girls have to have your nails done and slather your bodies with all kinds of make-up and bath junk. it's great to be well-groomed, but all of these products have high levels of toxins in them. Bottom line, get educated. Take a trip to your local health-food store and ask some hard questions. Do some internet searching and share the information with all your girlfriends. Oh, one last thing: don't drink tap water, okay??? It's laced with all sorts of nasty chemicals that are super toxic over time, so don't do all those long hot showers and hot bath-tub soaks: you're getting massive doses of the same xenoestrogens as in the meat! This time it is from two main sources: chloromines and birth-control pills. That's right: when you pee your hormone-laden urine goes right back into the drinking water system and it builds up worse and worse every year that goes by. These both produce the xenoestrogenic effect, making you sick. There is so much more I could tell you, but here's the bottom line: it takes weeks and months to fully detox from this cancerous contamination. Start now: eat locally produced organic fresh fruits and vegetables, drink Crystal Geyser water (and don't let it sit in the car - I almost forgot: get rid of the microwave and all your plastic storage and cooking utensils immediately - the plastics in them are massive sources of xenoestrogens in your bodies.) Go vegan or eat certified organic chicken and meat from small local farms (not Safeway or Walmart brand, honey!), drink a lot of water all the time. Don't drink any more soda...don't eat any more junk food. Don't ever go to a fast food restaurant. YES I'M SAYING CHANGE YOUR WHOLE FRIGGING LIFESTYLE! YES IT'S TOTALLY INCONVENIENT. SO IS DYING OF CANCER...