Breast cancer strikes more women in the world than any other type of cancer. One in 11 women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. Approximately 1.2 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and it is estimated that at least 700,000 families around the world lost a family member to the disease in 2001. Breast cancer is the primary cause of cancer-related deaths in women world-wide1 and the second leading cause of death for women in Europe. About five to ten percent of breast cancers are hereditary. Research is continuing to look further at the relationship between family history and the risk for cancer. Women who die from breast cancer are robbed of nearly 20 years of their lives. Every year approximately two million "people-years" are lost to breast cancer in the United States and Europe. After initial treatment, approximately 50 percent of women will experience the spread of their breast cancer to other parts of their body. The average time that these women will live is only 18 to 30 months. Industrialised countries such as North America, Northern Europe, Australia and New Zealand have the highest rates of breast cancer. In developing countries, the highest breast cancer incidence rates are in South America, the Caribbean, western Asia and North Africa. · Women from western Africa and eastern Asia have the lowest risk of getting breast cancer, although studies show women can take on the breast cancer risk of the country they move to within as little as one generation.