Press release: Childhood Cancer 2012 - mobile phones

Childhood Cancer 2012: International Scientific Conference on Early Exposures and Childhood Cancer

New theory on how mobile phones could cause brain cancer

A new theory about how radiation from mobile phones might induce brain cancer will be presented for the first time today (Wednesday 25th April) at the Childhood Cancer 2012 conference in London.

A landmark report by the World Health Organization’s cancer agency last year concluded that there is a possible link between mobile phone use and brain cancer, but how that might happen has remained unclear (1). Explaining the mechanism of how mobile phone radiation might cause cancer is vital for avoiding and ultimately preventing the disease.

The conference will hear that one explanation could be that the radiation produced from mobile phones could activate signaling pathways within brain cells and stimulate the growth of cancer cells. Professor Dariusz Leszczynski, of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority in Finland, has gathered together the findings from several studies published thus far, taken the common denominators and compared them to how gliomas, the most common form of brain tumour (2), develop (3).

Read More:

http://www.childrenwithcancer.org.uk/News/press-release-childhood-cancer-2012-mobile-phones

Children exposed to the common pollutant naphthalene show signs of chromosomal damage

According to a new study, children exposed to high levels of the common air pollutant naphthalene are at increased risk for chromosomal aberrations (CAs), which have been previously associated with cancer. These include chromosomal translocations, a potentially more harmful and long-lasting subtype of CAs.

Researchers from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Medical Center, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report the new findings in Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Naphthalene is found in both outdoor and indoor urban air. It is present in automotive exhaust, tobacco smoke, and is the primary component of household mothball fumes. Classified as a possible carcinogen by the International Agency for Cancer Research, naphthalene belongs to a class of air pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Prior research at the CCCEH has established a link between prenatal exposure to PAH and increased risk for childhood obesity, IQ deficits, and CAs. The new study is the first to present evidence in humans of CAs, including translocations, associated with exposure to one specific PAH—naphthalene—during childhood.

Read More:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-05/cums-cet052912.php

Donna Smith - Fighting the Real Enemy: Cancer in America

For the second time in my life, I find myself in need of cancer care.  Somehow it seems the universe conspires to put me in settings where I observe and can report on the on-going insanity of the dysfunctional U.S. healthcare system.  Such was the case this week as I sat in the oncology infusion center near a prestigious medical center.

The need for a progressively financed, single standard of high quality care for all under a social insurance model – like Medicare for all for life – has never been clearer to me than it was this week.  The enemy faced in cancer treatment is not the cancer itself. 

Every patient is different in terms of how he or she handles cancer diagnosis and treatment.  While we have built such a culture of terror around the word and the disease, having cancer does not necessarily mean one will die from cancer.  It is a serious thing, but in many cases early detection and treatment means being a cancer survivor is a more likely outcome than being a cancer casualty.  I like to face most of my tests and appointments alone.  So for this week’s visit to the infusion center, I was on my own while my husband went to his usual Friday golf play.  That seems so good and normal to me in the face of something sort of lousy overall.  And I like the feeling of that illusion of normalcy.  Other patients bring friends or family along for support. 

Read More:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/28-1

Cannabis smokers show greater lung capacity and lower cancer levels than non-smokers

For many years, the demonizing claims being made against cannabis have been crumbling as research slowly dispels them. Fifty years ago people earnestly believed that the consumption of cannabis was directly linked to the development of an array of mental illnesses, and violent and hypersexual behavior.

Medical opinion must be guided by research

But these prejudices are still hanging on. Today, an individual who responsibly informs their doctor of their marijuana use, because, as with any medicine, chemical interactions may change the resulting chemical behavior, are most frequently urged to cut back. Various reasons are given for a physicians concern. Some, who appear to have fallen behind on the research, still express concern about "brain cell damage" a remnant from the Reagan era's Just Say No campaign.

The main objection, that even the most well-informed physicians feel justified in making, is that even if cannabis itself is not particularly harmful, its most common method of ingestion, smoking, is bad for the lung tissue, regardless of the harmlessness of the substance being smoked. The belief piggybacked its way in on the back of growing opposition to tobacco, and the understanding that tobacco obstructs pulmonary flow and shortens breath.

Read More:

http://www.naturalnews.com/035980_cannabis_smokers_cancer.html 

Greg Palast - Killings, cancer, corruption and Azerbaijan: Eurovision in the Islamic Republic of BP

Palast's book Vultures' Picnic will be released in Britain June 26. Catch with Special Guest Warren Ellis, info here.

Will “Beyond Petroleum” oil giant BP pick the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest today in Baku, Azerbaijan? If so, I wouldn’t be surprised.

When I was arrested by the military police of Azerbaijan during my investigation of BP for Channel 4′s Dispatches in 2010, one of the cops who surrounded our crew in the desert told us, with great pride:

“BP drives this country.”

Indeed it does.

In 1992, the newly independent former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan elected a kindly Muslim Professor, Abulfaz Elchibey, as President.

But the voters had made an error: Elchibey refused to give BP an exclusive contract to drill the nation’s massive Caspian Sea fields as the company wished. In 1993, with assistance and, reportedly, guns provided by MI6, Elchibey was overthrown by the nation’s former Soviet KGB boss, Heydar Aliyev.

Read More:

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/05/eurovision-bp-azerbaijan-killings-cancer-corruption/

Rising Infertility And Cancer Rates Possibly Linked To Pharmaceuticals And Household Chemicals

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), household products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food all contain endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) which may be causing significant increases in diabetes, obesity, cancers and increasing infertility. 

In recent decades, the incidence of many human diseases and disorders including diabetes, breast and prostate cancer, and male infertility has increased significantly and many scientists believe this is due to increasing levels of exposure to mixtures of some chemicals in widespread use.

The report also highlights that EDCs negatively effect early development of the brain, immune, reproduction and metabolic systems. These affects are often unnoticeable until several years or decades after exposure.

Jacqueline McGlade, EEA Executive Director explained:

"Scientific research gathered over the last few decades shows us that endocrine disruption is a real problem, with serious effects on wildlife, and possibly people. It would be prudent to take a precautionary approach to many of these chemicals until their effects are more fully understood."

Even though there is sufficient evidence of harm from EDCs in some wildlife species and in laboratory studies using rodent models for human health, it is difficult to demonstrate the effects of EDCs on humans due to the length, cost and methodological challenges with these types of studies.

Read More:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/245485.php

Randall Neustaedter - Sun exposure lowers cancer risk

A study that correlated exposure to sunlight with cancer risk found that people exposed to more sunlight had a significantly lower risk of many types of cancer (Lin, 2012). This study followed more than 450,000 white, non-Hispanic subjects aged 50-71 years from diverse geographic areas in the US. Researchers correlated the calculated ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure in these different areas with the incidence of a variety of cancers. The diverse sites included six states (California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina), and the metropolitan areas of Atlanta and Detroit. They followed these subjects over a period of nine years in the study and eliminated other known risk factors for cancer such as smoking, body mass index, and physical activity. This was the first prospective study (participants were actively observed for the duration of the study) to look at the relationship of sunlight to cancer.

A total of 75,000 participants In the study contracted cancer. The study found that 12 types of cancer were reduced in those subjects exposed to more sunlight. These included cancers of the lungs, prostate, pancreas, colon, thyroid and many other types. As expected melanoma and other skin cancers occurred more often in the participants exposed to more sunlight. The incidence of cancers of female organs including the ovaries, breast, and uterus were not reduced in this study, possibly because men spend more time outdoors than women. This confirmed a previous study that showed a decreased incidence of cancer in men but not women in relation to sun exposure (Grant, 2012).

This research confirms the protective effect of Vitamin D for many types of cancer. No other known factors in sun exposure would account for these findings. This provides more evidence that sun exposure is protective and that the routine use of sunscreens is counterproductive. Sunscreen should be used to prevent sunburn during prolonged exposure to bright sun at midday. Otherwise sun exposure and ultraviolet radiation promote health. Similarly, in parts of the world and times of the year with limited sun exposure taking a vitamin D supplement in adequate amounts is beneficial to the immune system, promotes bone growth, prevents cardiovascular disease, and reduces the incidence of cancer.

Read More:

http://www.naturalnews.com/035855_sun_exposure_cancer_risk.html

Anthony Gucciardi - Turmeric Slows Spread of Breast Cancer – Beating Cancer with Nutrition

Are you interested in beating cancer with nutrition?

Mainstream medical practices for cancer treatment have been shown to be both dangerous and ineffective, lending further merit to the phrase “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

While medical professionals are being educated in the field of medicinal treatment revolving around pharmaceuticals, many foods are repeatedly being recognized as powerful cancer-fighters and overall health-enhancers.

Who would have thought that nutrition and eating habits could help to maintain your health?

Showcasing just one of the countless ways you can begin beating cancer with nutrition, research has shown that turmeric can slow down the spread of breast cancer.

Studies out of the University of California, San Diego, published in the British Journal, NATURE, have previously discovered a molecule known as RANKL. This molecule is found in aggressive breast cancer cells, which predict more life threatening disease. Aggressive cancer cells predict that the breast cancer will spread throughout the body, putting the body in a state of metatasis. Breast cancer patients often pass after cancer has metastasized to other body parts, ruining the functioning of vital organs such as the liver, lungs or brain. Interestingly enough, cancer drugs have been shown to ‘metasize’ tumors in some research.

Read More:

http://wakeup-world.com/2012/05/11/turmeric-slows-spread-of-breast-cancer-beating-cancer-with-nutrition/

Sayer Ji - Human Hormones Are Being Eclipsed By Synthetic Chemicals

A new study published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology has raised some disturbing possibilities regarding the dangers of common hormone-mimicking preservatives found in thousands of consumer products on the market today.[1]

Titled "Parabens detection in different zones of the human breast: consideration of source and implications of findings," researchers discussed the role that parabens -- a class of estrogen-mimicking chemicals widely used in drugs, foods and cosmetics -- may have in breast cancer and childhood disease.

The report focused on the findings of The Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Centre at the University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust published last month (March, 2012), which discovered five paraben esters in human breast tissue samples collected from 40 mastectomies from women with primary breast cancer.[2] The report revealed three things:

1) The ester form of parabens found within the breast tissue samples indicated a dermal route of exposure, as would occur through skin care products and underarm deodorants.

2) The paraben residues were found at concentrations up to 1 million times higher than the estrogen (estradiol) levels naturally found in human breast tissue.  

3) Propylparaben was found in the highest concentration in the underarm area (axilla), where underarm deodorants are most used and breast cancer prevalence is at its highest.   

Read More:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/human-hormones-are-being-eclipsed-synthetic-chemicals

Soybeans Soaked in Warm Water Naturally Release Key Cancer-Fighting Substance

Soybeans soaking in warm water could become a new "green" source for production of a cancer-fighting substance now manufactured in a complicated and time-consuming industrial process, scientists are reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Hari B. Krishnan and colleagues explain that the substance, Bowman-Birk Protease Inhibitor (BBI), has shown promise for preventing certain forms of cancer in clinical trials. Those human tests resulted from evidence of BBI's beneficial effects, including indications that BBI derived from the large amounts of soybeans in traditional Japanese diets might underpin low cancer mortality rates in Japan. However, the current method of extracting BBI from soybeans is time-consuming and involves harsh chemicals. The scientists set out to see if there might be a greener and more environmentally friendly way of obtaining BBI.

They found that soybean seeds incubated in water at 122 degrees Fahrenheit naturally release large amounts of BBI that can easily be harvested from the water. The protein appeared to be active, with tests showing that it stopped breast cancer cells from dividing in a laboratory dish. "The abundance of BBI in soybean seed exudates by incubating the seeds in warm water provides a simple and alternative method to isolate this low molecular weight protein," the researchers said.

Read More:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120509123858.htm