The 32-page booklet, "Think Pink, Live Green," was introduced Saturday at Lankenau during a free half-day conference attended by nearly 250 people. Presenters included Harvard Medical School cell biologist Joan V. Ruderman, who helped with the scientific basis for the guide. A fully referenced version is now online at http://www.breastcancer.org/guide
Of course, self-help guides are nothing new. A search of Amazon.com for "breast cancer prevention" books turns up hundreds of tomes - including Weiss' own 1998 book, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, and the 2010 update, Living Well Beyond Breast Cancer, both written with her mother, Ellen Weiss.
And while risk reduction sounds great, Weiss is the first to admit it is complicated and fallible.
"There is no combination of steps to guarantee breast-cancer prevention," she said. "All we can do is try to reduce risk in a meaningful way."
Still, she sees a need for "Think Pink, Live Green," which she plans to promote through social and traditional media.
Despite all the talk of breast-cancer awareness, she has found that many females, especially young ones, know little about the biology of breasts. Nor are they aware that their body's own estrogen and chemicals that add or mimic estrogen - such as birth-control pills, menopausal hormone therapy, and alcohol - can promote breast cancer.
To change that, she began speaking in local schools five years ago. That spawned a Random House book, Taking Care of Your 'Girls,' A Breast Health Guide for Girls, Teens and Inbetweens.
"This has been Marisa's passion for quite some time," said Jennifer Sabol, medical director of Lankenau's breast-cancer program. "She's found kids have astronomical misconceptions about breast cancer. Thirty percent think they could develop it at 12 to 15 years old."
