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Women Aren't Told Truth About Cancer Risks

Women aren't told truth about cancer risks

http://www.acmi.canoe.ca/Health9907/28_breastcancer.html

By JENNIFER DITCHBURN -- The Canadian Press

Wednesday, July 28, 1999

 OTTAWA (CP) -- The money-driven medical establishment isn't telling women enough about potential causes of breast cancer such as the pill and getting a mammogram too young, says crusader Dr. Samuel Epstein.
 
Epstein told the world conference on breast cancer Tuesday that the American Cancer Society and other institutes have a vested interest in focusing on treatment -- not prevention -- because they have links to major pharmaceutical and technology companies.
 
"It is my position that the cancer establishments ... bear a very major responsibility for losing a winnable war against cancer," said Epstein, a researcher at the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois.
 
The Canadian Cancer Society objected to his comments, saying it raises money "to fight cancer and fight it on all fronts."
 
Society director Dorothy Lamont said most of the group's money comes from public donations, not big drug companies.
 
Epstein has compiled a list of avoidable risk factors associated with breast cancer, based on thousands of studies that he says contain suggestive to substantive evidence.
 
"To insist on scientific certainty before public health action is taken is unconscionable."
 
Epstein's view is that concentrating on the hereditary causes of the disease is pointless when the astronomical increase in cases is clearly not related to genetics but outside factors.
 
He noted there has been a 125 per cent increase in North America in the incidence of cancer linked to estrogen levels.
 
Epstein pointed to the pill as a major risk factor, because of the added estrogen it puts in the body. Even the newer generation of pills has been shown by little publicized research to be a threat.
 
"For me, the biggest risk for breast cancer is the pill," said Epstein, who has written books condemning the cancer research establishment.
 
"We are dealing with a very dangerous situation indeed."
 
Pre-menopausal mammograms -- which Epstein calls a scam -- are also dangerous because they expose the breast to high levels of radiation.
 
The painful flattening out of the breast to take the mammogram can also rupture existing tumours and inadvertently spread the cancer.
 
"The mammographers talk about "losing the pre-menopausal market,"' he said.

"You are a market. You are the foundation of an industry that cares little about the risks and more about the profits."
 
Another major risk, says Epstein, comes from beef and dairy products that North Americans consume.
 
He said that estradiol -- one of the hormones widely used in the cattle industry -- is well recognized as a gene-damaging carcinogen on the basis of numerous studies.
 
Canada and the United States allow the use of hormones to add weight to beef and make cows produce more milk, the subject of a trade dispute with the European Union where there a ban is in place.
 
There are protective measures, said Epstein, like taking a few aspirin a week.

He says five studies have pointed to the benefits of aspirin in relation to breast cancer, much as it has been shown to prevent heart disease and colon cancer.
 
"The reason you haven't heard about this is because aspirin is a cheap drug, no one's going to make money out of it."
 
Many of the risks are associated with North American women, who are the most likely to suffer from the disease.
 
Statistics show that the rate of breast cancer can be as high as 100 per 100,000 women in North America, compared to numbers in the mid 60s in African countries.
 
The world conference, running until Friday, features 200 presenters from 55 countries.

Risk factors linked to breast cancer

Birth control pill, estrogen replacement therapy.

Pre-menopausal mammography.

Tranquilizers.

Breast implants.

Hormone treated beef and milk products.

Binge drinking at early age.

Workplace exposure to carcinogens.

Hair dyes.

Exposure to pesticides, household chemicals, pollutants from waste sites.

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