I am enclosing a press release from Dr. Samuel Epstein, leading
environmental advocate for prevention of breast cancer:
May
2002,/FROM PR NEWSWIRE CHICAGO 888-776-6551/ MTC BIO HEA
TO
MEDICAL AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Escalating
Incidence of Childhood Cancer Is Ignored by the National Cancer
Institute and American Cancer Society, Warns Samuel S. Epstein,
M.D., And Quentin D. Young, M.D.
CHICAGO,
May 9 /PRNewswire/
-- The following was released by Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.,
Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and Professor
Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University
of Illinois School of Public Health, Chicago, and Quentin
D. Young, M.D., Chairman of the Health and Medicine Policy
Research Group, Past President of American Public Health Association,
Chicago:
Since
passage of the 1971 National Cancer Act, launching the "War
Against Cancer," the incidence of childhood cancer has steadily
escalated to alarming levels. Childhood cancers have increased
by 26% overall, while the incidence of particular cancers
has increased still more: acute lymphocytic leukemia, 62%;
brain cancer, 50%; and bone cancer, 40%. The federal National
Cancer Institute (NCI) and the "charitable" American Cancer
Society (ACS), the cancer establishment, have failed to inform
the public, let alone Congress and regulatory agencies, of
this alarming information. As importantly, they have failed
to publicize well-documented scientific information on avoidable
causes responsible for the increased incidence of childhood
cancer.
Examples
include:
--
Over 20 U.S. and international studies have incriminated paternal
and maternal exposures (pre-conception, during conception
and post-conception) to a wide range of occupational carcinogens
as major causes of childhood cancer.
--
There is substantial evidence on the risks of brain cancer
and leukemia in children from frequent consumption of nitrite-dyed
hot dogs; consumption during pregnancy has been similarly
incriminated. Nitrites, added to meat for coloring purposes,
have been shown to react with natural chemicals in meat (amines)
to form a potent carcinogenic nitrosamine.
--
Consumption of non-organic fruits and vegetables, particularly
in baby food, contaminated with high concentrations of multiple
residues of carcinogenic pesticides, poses major risks of
childhood cancer, besides delayed cancers in adult life.
--
Numerous studies have shown strong associations between childhood
cancers, particularly brain cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
and leukemia, and domestic exposure to pesticides from uses
in the home, including pet flea collars, lawn and garden;
another major source of exposure is commonplace use in schools.
--
Use of lindane, a potent carcinogen in shampoos for treating
lice and scabies, infesting about six million children annually,
is associated with major risks of brain cancer; lindane is
readily absorbed through the skin.
--
Treatment of children with Ritalin for "Attention Deficit
Disorders" poses risks of cancer, in the absence of informed
parental consent. Ritalin has been shown to induce highly
aggressive rare liver cancers in rodents at doses comparable
to those prescribed to children.
--
Maternal exposure to ionizing radiation, especially in late
pregnancy, is strongly associated with excess risks of childhood
leukemia. It is of particular significance that the cancer
establishment ignored the continuing increase in the incidence
of childhood cancer in its heavily promoted, but highly arguable,
March 1998 "claim to have reversed an almost 20-year trend
of increasing cancer cases."
The
failure of the cancer establishment to warn of these avoidable
cancer risks reflects mindsets fixated on damage control
--
screening, diagnosis, and treatment
--
and basic genetic research, with indifference to primary prevention,
as defined by research and public education on avoidable causes
of cancer. For the ACS, this indifference extends to a well-documented
longstanding track record of hostility, such as supporting
the Chlorine Institute in defending the continued global use
of chlorinated organic pesticides, and assurances in the 2002
Cancer Facts and Figures that cancer risks from dietary pesticides
and ionizing radiation are all at such low levels as to be
"negligible." This indifference to primary prevention is compounded
by conflicts of interest, particularly with the giant cancer
drug industry. Not surprisingly, The Chronicle of Philanthropy,
the nation's leading charity watchdog, has charged that: "The
ACS is more interested in accumulating wealth than saving
lives."
The
minimal priorities of the cancer establishment for prevention
reflects mindsets and policies and not lack of resources.
NCI's annual budget has increased some 20-fold since passage
of the 1971 Act, from $220 million to $4.2 billion, while
revenues of the ACS are now about $800 million. NCI expenditures
on primary prevention have been estimated as under 4% of its
budget, while ACS allocates less than 0.1% of its revenues
to primary prevention and "environmental carcinogenesis."
It
should be particularly stressed that fetuses, infants and
children are much more vulnerable and sensitive to toxic and
carcinogenic exposures than are adults. It should also be
recognized that the majority of carcinogens also induce other
chronic toxic effects, especially in fetuses, infants and
children. These include endocrine disruptive and reproductive,
haematological, immunological and genetic, for which there
are no available incidence trend data comparable to those
for cancer.
The
continued silence of the cancer establishment on avoidable
causes of childhood, besides a wide range of other, cancers
is in flagrant denial of the specific charge of the 1971 National
Cancer Act "to disseminate cancer information to the public."
As seriously, this silence is a denial of the public's inalienable
democratic right-to-know of information directly impacting
on their health and lives, and of their right to influence
public policy.
Whether
against cancer or terrorism, war is best fought by preemptive
strategies based on prevention rather than reactively on damage
control. As importantly, the war against cancer must be waged
by leadership accountable to the public interest and not,
as is still the case, special agenda private interests. The
time for open public debate on national cancer policy is long
overdue.
SOURCE:
Cancer Prevention Coalition 05/09/2002
CONTACT:
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.,
Chairman
of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and Professor Emeritus
of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of
Illinois School of Public Health, Chicago,
+1-312-996-2297, fax, +1-312-413-9898, epstein@uic.edu,;
Quentin
D. Young, M.D.,
Chairman
of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, Past President
of American Public Health Association, Chicago, +1-312-372-4292,
info@hmprg.org
Web site: http://www.hmprg.org
http://www.preventcancer.com
CO:
Cancer
Prevention Coalition ST: Illinois IN: MTC BIO HEA
SU: JR-AJ --
CGTH004 -- 2641 05/09/2002 11:00 EDT
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Copyright 2002, PR Newswire
For
More Information:
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Cancer
Prevention Coalition
Email:
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Have
a Beautiful and Healthy Day,
Shelley Kramer
Your Decisions as Health Consumers
The
Public's Right to Know!
www.Healthy-Communications.com
Los
Angeles Director of the Cancer Prevention Coalition Awareness
and prevention seminars on avoidable risks of cancer and illnesses
Health,
Awareness, Harmony and Prosperity
310 457 5176
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