The Institute’s research agenda is defined by these priorities:
* Focus on the environment, an under-studied area that can lead to the discovery of preventable causes of cancer, particularly in communities with higher risk;
* Make women’s health, especially breast cancer, a central rather than peripheral research priority;
* Support innovation, including new research methods and pilot studies t
o test new hypotheses;
* Foster multidisciplinary teams of researchers to integrate their strengths;
* Foster true collaboration among scientists, physicians, and community members. Silent Spring Institute began in 1994, after members of the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition called for a scientifically sound investigation into elevated breast cancer rates on Cape Cod. They founded “a laboratory of their own” and named it Silent Spring Institute in tribute to Rachel Carson, whose landmark book, Silent Spring, launched the modern environmental movement. Carson died of breast cancer just two years after the book was published. Be part of the movement http://silentspring.org/.
