The National Aquatics Center, commonly known as the Water Cube, was bathed in pink lights on Sept 15.

Dressing up the famous Beijing landmark in pink was part of the Este Lauder Global Landmark Illumination Initiative, the cosmetics company's breast cancer awareness campaign.

The campaign's goal is to raise funds to promote prevention, early detection through regular breast exams and treatment.

At the lighting ceremony, US-based Este Lauder Companies announced a joint research project with Peking University Third Hospital (PUTH) to study the risk factors for breast cancer in China.

According to the Ministry of Health, lifestyle changes and an increase in workplace stress is contributing to a yearly increase in breast cancer cases in China. Between 2000 and 2005, the incidence of breast cancer increased by 38.5 percent in the country, the Ministry of Health reported. About 60 percent of the patients are between ages 40 and 55.

"The disease is expanding to younger groups," said Liu Xiaoguang, vice president of PUTH.

Liu said people are more aware of breast cancer than in previous years, but added that no wide-scale breast cancer prevention project exists in China.

The joint project by the Este Lauder Companies and PUTH will study breast cancer patients and high-risk groups.

Researchers will identify the relevance between prior risk factors and current incidences to explore whether there are new risk factors.

Fabrice Weber, Este Lauder's Asia-Pacific president, said this year is the 10th anniversary of the Global Landmark Illumination Initiative and the 18th anniversary of its breast cancer awareness campaigns.

The Water Cube is one of more than 200 global landmarks that have been illuminated with the company's pink lights in recent years. Other landmarks include New York's Empire State Building in the United States, the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the China Millennium Monument in Beijing

"In this special year, we illuminated the Water Cube, a landmark representing the Olympic spirit, in pink light to spread the message of hope and encourage people to keep fighting breast cancer," Weber said.

"China is the focus of the world in many ways, and China is one of our company's most focused strategic markets," Weber said. "While we care about the beauty of Chinese women, we also care about the health and happiness of women in this country."

In addition to pink lights, the company also has used pink ribbons to promote breast cancer awareness. By the end of October, Este Lauder will have distributed more than 85 million pink ribbons and information brochures around the world, the company estimated.

The company has raised more than $250 million to support the work of the international Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

(China Daily 09/21/2009 page10)