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Breast
cancer - detection or deception
M.E. gets official recognition
Tamoxifen may lead to new breast cancer
Tobacco industry infiltrates
WHO
Steiner
and asthma
Cancer figures still rising
Muesli allergy
Breast cancer and insulin
Sugary drinks and breast cancer
Vitamin A and osteoporosis
The Pill increases risk of gum disease
Birthplace and cancer linked
40% Alzheimer's misdiagnosed
M.E. clusters suggest viral link
Breast cancer - detection
or deception
In her article Breast cancer - detection or deception, health author Sherrill
Sellman gives the following information:
• According to the US’s annual
Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the American Cancer Society, breast
cancer cannot be avoided, only detected as early as possible then treated.
• Breast Cancer Awareness Month’s
founding father and current primary and controlling sponsor is the pharmaceutical
giant Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, now called AstraZeneca. The company makes
the widely used but controversial breast cancer drug tamoxifen (also marketed
as Novaldex). It also makes herbicides and fungicides, one of which, the
organochlorine pesticide acetochlor, has been identified as a cause of
breast cancer. During 1996 the chimneys of its chemical plant in Perry,
Ohio (US) were measured as spewing out 53,000 pounds of recognised carcinogens.
Little wonder that there is little mention of preventable environmental
carcinogens like pesticides, herbicides, plastics and other toxic chemicals,
but all the emphasis on cure.
• The American Cancer Society was founded
by the Rockefeller family. It has close connections with the pharmaceutical
and chemical industry, as well as with the mammography industry. Five
of its presidents have been radiologists. Little wonder again that it
denies the possibility of prevention and focuses on early detection.
• In the US 180,000 women are diagnosed
with breast cancer each year. 44,000 will die of the disease. In the 1950s
1 in 20 women was considered at risk. Now it’s 1 in 8 and the rate
is increasing 1% a year.
• From 1940 to 1980 production of synthetic
(man-made) chemicals rose 350-fold. There are now 750,000 in the environment,
of which only 3% have been safety tested.
• Women living near waste incineration
units have 6.5 times the average level of breast cancer
• Women in well off families have higher
levels of breast cancer than poorer women. The authors of the study attributed
it to their increased exposure to domestic pesticides such as those used
in lawn-care and dry cleaning.
• When Israel banned the use of the
pesticides DDT, Lindane and benzene hexachloride in 1978, levels of breast
cancer, which had increased every year for 25 years, began to fall. By
1986 they were an average 8% lower across all age groups but 33% less
in women aged 25-34.
See also ‘Breast cancer - detection or deception’ in the ‘Medicine’ section
(9093) Sherrill Sellman. Positive Health 1.3.02 p24
M.E. gets official recognition
The UK Department of Health (DoH) has finally accepted that myalgic encephalomyelitis
(M.E.), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, is “a genuine condition
(causing) profound, often prolonged illness and disability (in) real people”.
Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson told GPs lacking sufficient knowledge
about the illness to refer patients on to specialists.
Many think that M.E. is only an adult disease. In fact there are an estimated
25,000 children with M.E. in the UK. The severity of the disease ranges
from simply being tired all the time or easily exhausted to being unable
to sit up, tolerate light or consume solids. M.E. can last from six months
to decades. According to etired consultant Dr. Alan Franklin, at least
50% of long term absences from school are because of M.E.
Contact: Action for M.E., P.O. Box 1302, Wells BA5 1YE % 01749 670799
email: wells@afme.org.uk
(8924) Nicole Martin. Daily Telegraph 12.1.02 p13
Independent Wednesday Review 16.1.02 p9
ME a virus?
A five year survey of 333,000 children and 27,000 teachers at 1,098 schools has established that: 1 child in 1,400 and 1 teacher in 200 suffer from M.E.,
• 390 schools reported long term sickness absences, 224 attributed to M.E.,
• of 885 individual sickness reports, 372 were attributed to M.E.,
• 51% of the children who could not attend school for a year or more produced medical certificates saying that they suffered from M.E.
In over a third of the cases there were clusters of three children or more being off school at the same time, suggesting that M.E. is a viral infection. The largest cluster extended over a number of schools in an area containing recreational water polluted with sewage,“suggestive of a mini-epidemic”.
The report also indicates a dramatic increase in the number of cases during puberty, peaking in the mid teens, suggesting hormonal involvement. Twice as many girls as boys stayed away from school. In teachers, the largest number affected were in their forties. In this case there were four times as many women as men, again suggesting hormonal involvement. The second most common reason for long term absence in children was cancer and leukaemia, at 23% (as opposed to 51%)
(2259-60) Ian Murray. Times 22.5.97 p5
Tamoxifen may lead to new
breast cancer
A new US study following the medical outcomes of 9,000 women over 50 across
eight years found that those taking tamoxifen to control cancer in one
breast had a greatly increased risk of developing a tumour in the other.
They found that while tamoxifen apparently protects against oestrogen-receptor-positive
tumours, it appeared to increase the risk of an oestrogen-receptor-negative
tumour in the healthy breast fivefold. Oestrogen-receptor-negative tumours
are more difficult to treat, have a high death rate and an 8-35% lower
5-year survival rate.
Original research: Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2001: 93:
1009-13.
(8603) What Doctors Don’t Tell You 1.10.01
Health Alert - Cipro
The Anthrax scare in the US has sent sales of the
fluorinated quinolone antibiotic ciprofloxacin (Cipro) soaring. Cipro
is normally prescribed for 7-14 days but thousands of Americans are taking
the exceedingly long 60-day course for anthrax. Taking Cipro can encourage
germs to mutate so that future bacterial infections become untreatable.
During the last decades a dramatic increase in bacterial strains multiresistant
to antibiotics, particularly Cipro - has been reported. The American Medical
Association has advised its members that the worldwide problem of antibiotic
resistance poses future dangers worse than the anthrax attacks of today.
The US Food and Drink Administration (FDA) approved the use of Cipro for
the treatment of inhalational anthrax in 2000. Since then, other fluorinated
quinolone drugs (Baycol, temafloxacin and grepafloxacin) have been withdrawn
when they were found to have caused severe liver and renal damage - and
deaths. The same health dangers have been found for Cipro, but it is still
readily available. The most common side-effects (2%-16%) reported are
gastrointestinal and equal to those reported when children accidentally
ingest “too much” fluoride from their toothpaste - such as fluorosis,
nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. This is because taking
Cipro leads to raised serum fluoride levels.
Like other fluorinated drugs, Cipro can:
• cause
the muscle-wasting disease rhabdomyolysis, tendinitis and tendon rupture
• react
with other drugs (e.g. theophylline, methadone, warfarin) with fatal results
• inhibit
the detoxifying work of the thyroid hormone- regulated P450 1A2 enzyme
system in the liver, leading to dangerously high serum levels of toxic
chemicals such as theophylline and caffeine, significantly increasing
the risk of heart attack and fits
• transfer
through the placenta in pregnant women, inhibiting P450 1A2 activity in
the foetus critical for proper breathing just after birth. Cipro also
transfers through breast milk
• cause
extreme reactions to sunlight, ranging from allergy and sunburn to cancers
Ed.- Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. In cutaneous (skin) anthrax, a lesion appears on the skin and develops into an ulcer with a black centre. It is rarely painful but, untreated, the infection can spread and cause blood poisoning. Inhalation anthrax starts with a flu-like illness followed by respiratory difficulties and toxic shock after 2-6 days.
(8613) Parents of fluoride poisoned children
21.10.01
WHO infiltration
smoked out
An enquiry launched by World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General
Gro Harlem Brundtland has exposed a long-term strategy by the tobacco
industry to undermine the WHO’s work against smoking. As well as
manipulating public opinion against the WHO by attempting to discredit
key executives and arranging media events to coincide with WHO initiatives,
it succeeded in getting its own consultants appointed onto key WHO executive
committees. One such was the US lawyer Paul Dietrich, who at one stage
was sending monthly bills for fees to both the WHO and British American
Tobacco.
The Tobacco Industry’s wider strategy included convincing the Governments
of less industrially developed countries that growing tobacco as a cash
crop was essential to their economic stability and thus to their battle
against poverty and malnutrition. Dietrich worked hard to steer WHO spending
away from tobacco control initiatives and towards child mass immunisation
and anti AIDS programmes.
Ed.- One wonders how a man so obviously tied to the Tobacco Industry as
Paul Dietrich was ever appointed to any job by a WHO interview panel.
(7318-20) Judy Jones. British Medical Journal 5.8.00
p319
Steiner and asthma
A study has found that children in families leading an anthroposophic
lifestyle (i.e. a lifestyle based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner)
are, on average, 40% less likely to develop atopic illnesses (asthma,
hay fever, eczema). Furthermore, the risk fell in proportion to the degree
of anthroposophic lifestyle led. Of the characteristics of an anthroposophic
lifestyle, the researchers identified low participation in vaccination
programmes and higher frequency of developing childhood illnesses in childhood,
low use of antibiotics and high consumption of fermented vegetables containing
live lactobacillus beneficial bacteria as particularly significant. The
‘anthroposophic cohort’ used in the study were children attending
Steiner schools. They found that compared to a matched control group of
children attending ‘ordinary’ schools:
• Only 52% of the Steiner children had had antibiotics in the past
compared to 90% of the control group
• Only 18% had had an MMR jab compared to 93%
• 63% ate fermented vegetables compared to 4.5%.
Originally published in The Lancet 1999;353:1485.
(7549-50) Informed Parent 1.7.00 p1
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Cancer
still on the up
The latest figures from the UK’s Office of National Statistics show
that the incidence of cancer continues to rise and will affect one in
three people alive today: In 1997 there were 221,000 diagnosed cases,
half as many again as in 1971.
(7356) Jeremy Laurance. Independent 10.11.00 p13
Cancer is now Ireland’s biggest killer overtaking ischaemic heart
disease. In 1999 there were 7454 registered cancer deaths.
(7324) British Medical Journal 22.7.00 p194
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Patrick Webster, 52, may have won a place in the Guinness Book of records - some compensation for the agony of 37 years of constant sneezing and skin allergy tests and 20 years on pointless steroids. One doctor even told Patrick that he must be allergic to himself.
By luck he read an article about the work of the York Nutritional Laboratory, which has developed a blood test which can even detect delayed allergic reactions, and has now been diagnosed as allergic to egg yolk and the oats in his morning bowl of muesli. He is now sneeze-free.
(7029-30) Simon de Bruxelles. Times 30.6.00
Sugary drinks and breast cancer
Knowing that several studies had drawn links between a history of weight gain and increased breast cancer risk, Belgian researcher Jaak Janssens (Limburg University Centre, Diepenbeek) wondered whether the boom in sugary soft-drinks might be a factor, as drinking these cause insulin levels to soar. His hypothesis is that inappropriate levels of insulin in the body at a critical phase in breast development could lead to lesions which could, later, become cancerous.
To test the link between soft drinks and insulin secretion he persuaded teenagers to fast for 12 hours then drink a 330ml bottle of a popular fizzy drink. Insulin levels did indeed soar and, interestingly, the greater the amount of body fat, the higher the insulin went. He suggests that there is a vicious circle. "Soft drinks and high calorific food in pubertal children brings accumulation of body fat and in turn increases the response of insulin". This could decrease the body's overall sensitivity to insulin, which may have a continuing effect on breast cells. He believes that a similar process could explain the increase in testicular and prostate cancer.
(6439-41) Debora MacKenzie. New Scientist 4.12.99 p16
Breast cancer and insulin
A ten-year study of 535 women being given standard treatment for breast cancer has found that those with the highest insulin levels were eight times more likely to die than those with the lowest levels. 30% of those with the highest levels had died within seven years compared to 5% of those with normal levels. Furthermore, the women with the highest levels were four times more likely to suffer a recurrence or a spreading of the disease to other parts of the body.
The researchers advise women with high insulin levels to reduce them through diet and exercise.
(6924-25) British Medical Journal 3.6.00 p1496
Vitamin A and osteoporosis
A review of 27 studies of the possible association between excessive vitamin
A intake, decreased bone mineral density and increased risk of hip fracture
has concluded that the association is proven - at least in postmenopausal
women taking above 1.5 milligrams/day.
The researchers from the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition at Saskatchewan
University (Canada) believe that this may explain the higher incidence
of osteoporosis in Sweden and Norway, where milk fortified with vitamin
A is popular.
Original research: Whiting, SJ and Lemke, B. Nutrition
Reviews 1999;57(6):192-5
(6208-9) Positive Health 1.12.99 p40
Pregnant women suffer unusually high levels of gum disease. This is thought to be due to their raised hormone levels, which aggravate and inflame gum tissue, but return to normal after the birth. Periodontology expert Mena Soory (Guy's, King's and St. Thomas' Dental Institute, London) wondered whether oral contraceptives might have the same effect and carried out a study of 49 women in Sri Lanka. She found not only that the gum disease gingivitis was 32% more common in the women taking the Pill, but that they also had fractionally wider gaps between their teeth (too small to cause real concern). They also found that higher plaque levels increased the severity of the symptoms, suggesting a reaction between the presence of oestrogen/progesterone and the plaque.
Mena Soory recommends strict dental hygiene for Pill users: brushing twice a day and flossing before bed.
(6442-43) Andy Coghlan. New Scientist 27.11.99 p7
Birthplace and cancer linked
One of the largest studies of childhood cancer ever carried out in Britain (22,400 children who died between 1953 and 1980) has established strong links between birthplace and death from leukaemia and other childhood cancers. The children’s birthplace was more important in setting a risk than where they grew up.
The highest risks were within three miles of oil refineries (petrol fumes), car factories (principally paint spray), steel works, cement works and crematoria and power stations, (with a few for a few exceptions nuclear power stations did not appear to have a significant risk).
Additional risk was also found within 2.5 miles of motorways and railways (petrol and diesel fumes) and the scientists also considered proximity to petrol stations, bus stations, school and hospital chimneys a hazard.
The study found that the increased risk around factories was constant over many years, giving the lie to the hypothesis that clusters of illness could be attributed to a sudden influx into an area of building workers carrying viruses new to the area. The persistent excesses could only be attributed to environmental factors. The researchers concluded that exposure of pregnant women and young babies directly to airborne pollutants was the most likely mechanism by which the excess cancer clusters were caused. The way the pollutants combined with each other to form secondary pollutants was also significant.
(1883-84) Times 10.4.97 p8
40% Alzheimer's not Alzheimer's!
According to one Canadian psychiatrist up to 40% of Alzheimer’s cases are misdiagnosed. The dementia is due rather to factors like vitamin B12 or E deficiency, a drug reaction, hypothyroidism or cerebrovascular disease, all of which can be reversed. One study found that the average ‘Alzheimer’s’ patient admitted to one London hospital had only half the normal levels of vitamin E in their blood and a quarter of normal beta-carotene levels.
Successful treatments for ‘Alzheimer’s’ include selenium supplements, eating lots of fruit and vegetables (preferably organic), the herb gingko bilboa, aromatherapy sage oil, and homeopathic albumin.
(2133) Holistic News 1.4.97 p32
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