Former 'Seinfeld' star urges universal health care

'Veep' multiple Emmy winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus reveals that she's fighting breast cancer

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 56-year-old multiple Emmy-winning star of "Veep" and "Seinfeld," has breast cancer.

The actress disclosed her diagnosis on Twitter yesterday "in a signed message snapped on personal stationery," according to a Huffington Post story by Sara Boboltz.

Her note began, "1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Today, I'm the one."

She also took the opportunity to plug universal health care: "The good news is that I have the most glorious group of supportive and caring family and friends, and fantastic insurance through my union. The bad news is that not all women are so lucky so let's fight all cancers and make universal health care a reality."

Actress Deborah Messing, who again is starring in the TV sitcom "Will and Grace," tweeted that "you are incredible to use this moment as an opportunity to support others."

And actress Anna Kendrick tweeted, "I don't think I realized how much I love this woman, who I don't know. Love her more for speaking up for others in this moment."

Christina Applegate, an actress who had a double mastectomy in 2008 after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, said Louis-Dreyfus could contact her if she wanted to talk.

Former vice president Joe Biden, whose son Beau died of cancer in 2015, tweeted that "we Veeps stick together. Jill and I, and all of the Bidens, are with you, Julia." 

Just under 240,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.

Louis-Dreyfus, who did not immediately announce what treatments she's contemplating, won her sixth consecutive Emmy for playing bumbling politico Selina Meyer on "Veep," a political satire, earlier this month, a record. 

Her latest award came the day before her diagnosis. 

More information on the disease, as well as reactions to diagnoses, can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Is chemical a link to cancers, birth defects?

Huffington Post exposé looks at possibility that DuPont corp. actually poisoned the planet

Almost everyone agrees that environmental toxins contribute to the fact that 250,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.

And that those environmental factors most likely lead to countless men and women contracting other cancers.

As well as birth defects.

Now comes a Huffington Post exposé well worth a look-see, a revelatory piece about DuPont's actions regarding it allegedly poisoning the planet with a chemical compound innocuously called C8.

Some may find the story, comprehensive (and long), too depressing. 

Others may be inspired to protest one thing or another.

Some may even defend DuPont, whose ads have used the trademarked phrase "The miracles of science" with its logo, by invoking an old chestnut, sometimes erroneously attributed to Calvin Coolidge: "What's good for business is good for the country."

Regardless, the piece may shake your faith in the idea that only the bottom line — profit — counts.

In my new VitalityPress book, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," which is aimed at male caregivers, I, Woody Weingarten, discuss a variety of environmental factors and how they might — or might not — be responsible for the disease.