This October we will celebrate our sixteenth year in the fight against breast cancer and we are getting ever closer to our goal. When I began our Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign in 1992, women were suffering and dying of this disease in fear and in silence. Once I realised this, I knew that I had to do something and I set out to inspire women all around the world to seek information about breast cancer and to visit their doctor once a year for their mammogram if over the age of 40. If I could help save one woman by arming her with information and knowledge, then our mission would be accomplished.

Sixteen years later, we have accomplished much more than I imagined. Because of the continued support and dedication of our employees and partnerships around the world, we have reached more women and their families with our message about the importance of early detection than ever before. By the end of 2008, we will have distributed more than 80 million pink ribbons throughout 60 countries. In 2007 we illuminated over 200 global landmarks in pink lights, and the beauty products sold by our Company's brands to raise money for The
Breast Cancer Research Foundation, helped to bring The Estée Lauder Companies' cumulative contribution, together with our retail partners, to almost $30 million.

The good news is that mortality rates continue to fall, believed to be the result of early detection and more effective treatments. I firmly believe that our BCA Campaign is partially responsible for the increasing number of women and men who are surviving this disease. That is why we must continue to pursue what we all believe is attainable in our lifetime – a world without breast cancer.

During the last 16 years, the Company has distributed over 65 million pink ribbons and more than 80 million pieces of informational literature. During the month of October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month), the Company hosts bake sales, pink-t-shirt days as well as other special employee-driven fundraising events, to raise funds for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). Several of the Company's brands offer pink beauty products for sale in support of their contributions to BCRF. Funds raised in the UK for the BCRF go to their research programme at the Royal Marsden Institute of Cancer Research. Funds raised in the Republic of Ireland go to the Cancer Clinical Research Trust.

In 1989, Evelyn H. Lauder joined the Board of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York City and led a fundraising drive to establish the first-ever comprehensive breast and diagnostic centre specifically designed with patients in mind. The Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Centre at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre filled a void within the health care community and allowed women to take care of all of their breast health needs under one roof. But it wasn't just women from local areas seeking help at the Centre; it was women, as well as some men, coming from all over the world. Mrs. Lauder realized that more had to be done to raise awareness about breast cancer. She knew that by reaching as many people as possible with the message that early detection saves lives and by supporting clinical and genetic research aimed at finding a cure, we could make a difference.

In realising that the women of the world needed a voice, Mrs. Lauder initiated The Estée Lauder Companies' annual Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign. In 1992, Evelyn H. Lauder, together with Alexandra Penney, then editor of Self magazine, created the pinkribbon as the worldwide symbol of breast health. The Company began publicising the symbol by distributing pink ribbons at The Estée Lauder Companies cosmetic counters around the world. In 1993 and 1995 she brought the campaign to the UK and Ireland.