THE MYSTERY OF MARIN

A View of San Francisco through the spires
of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Headlands.

Doubts linger about the underlying cause of the dramatic increase in breast cancer death rates that took place in Marin County, California roughly 10 years ago....

Marin County, California is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful and most highly desirable places to live in the entire world. Its cliffs and shorelines, harbor inlets, rolling green hills, houseboats, restaurants, vineyards and what seems like hundreds of miles of bike trails also make it an ideal place to enjoy a healthy Lifestyle. Marin ranks near the top in the country in Life Expectancy and has a very low incidence of heart disease, stroke and most major cancers. But it wasn't long ago that Marin was on the verge of becoming the breast cancer capitol of America. At one point Marin's breast cancer death rate was 20% higher than neighboring counties and by far the highest in the state. In places like Marin no stone is left unturned to get to the bottom of the problem. Surrounded by some of the most sophisticated medical facilities and research institutions in the world and with unlimited amounts of money to spend they investigated everything including the soil, the water and the ocean breeze before concluding the primary cause was a Lifestyle that included having children late in life and too much alcohol. Was Marin simply a victim of its own success?