"Breast Cancer Ties To Environment Probed"

"Marika Holmgren will never be sure why she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 37. She was a devoted athlete and vegetarian. Cancer ran in her family, but not breast cancer."

"Six years and many rounds of chemotherapy and surgeries later, Holmgren has for now won the battle. But she still wonders why the battle even began.

Could it have been the chemicals in the blush and lipstick she once wore daily? Did it matter that she lives in Half Moon Bay, where breast cancer rates exceed the state average?"

Stephanie M. Lee reports for the San Francisco Chronicle February 26, 2013.