June 18th, 2009 · No Comments

• Malignant melanoma of the skin in adults is increasing by 168% due to the use of suns creens in childhood that fail to block long wave ultraviolet light.

• Thyroid cancer is increasing by 124% due in large part to ionizing radiation.

• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is increasing 76% due mostly to phenoxy herbicides; and phenylenediamine hair dyes.

• Testicular cancer is increasing by 49% due to pesticides; hormonal ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products; and estrogen residues in meat.

• Childhood leukemia is increasing by 55% due to ionizing radiation; domestic pesticides; nitrite preservatives in meats, particularly hot dogs; and parental exposures to occupational carcinogens.

• Ovarian cancer (mortality) for women over the age of 65 has increased by 47% in African American women and 13% in Caucasian women due to genital use of talc powder.

• Breast cancer is increasing 17% due to a wide range of factors. These include: birth control pills; estrogen replacement therapy; toxic hormonal ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products; diagnostic radiation; and routine pre-menopausal mammography, with a cumulative breast dose exposure of up to about five rads over ten years. Reflecting these concerns, Representatives Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Henry Waxman have introduced bills promoting educational campaigns, including teaching regular breast self examination to high school students. However, and in spite of its scientifically proven efficacy, this initiative has been strongly challenged by breast cancer prevention “experts” who remain unaware of the scientific evidence on the cancer risks of high dose radiation premenopausal mammography.

The letter writers went on to accuse the National Cancer Institute of being “asleep at the wheel” in its failure to devote enough resources to prevention (beyond promoting smoking cessation and screenings for certain cancers, though the coalition considers mammography to be risky because it exposes women to accumulating radiation).

“As members of the independent scientific community, we welcome the Obama Administration’s goal of health care reform and prevention. But while President Obama has put forward a unique cancer plan, it focuses far too much on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, rather than on prevention. The simple truth is that the more cancer is prevented, the less there is to treat. That will also save lives and money,” they wrote.

The NCI recently reported a reduced incidence of many types of cancers over recent years including, for men, a drop in cancers of the lung, colon/rectum, oral cavity, and stomach, and for women, a drop in breast, colon/rectum, uterus, ovary, cervix, and oral cavity.

The report attributed the improvement to the “treatment, early detection and prevention” of cancers but acknowledged that it’s difficult to sort out the reasons for the fluctuations.

However, the NCI release also noted that cancers of the lung, thyroid, pancreas, brain/nervous system, bladder, and kidney, as leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and melanoma had increased for women as had cancers of liver, kidney, and esophagus, melanoma (2003-2005), non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and myeloma for men. Certain cancers, like brain/nervous system cancers for men, remained “stable.”

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