Mammograms as Breast

Cancer Promoter

Did you know where all that pink ribbon money from breast cancer awareness promotions really goes? In reality, it is used to recruit more breast cancer patients.Nearly 100 percent of the funds are used to promote "free mammograms," which is just a clever way to "cause" breast cancer since mammography emits high levels of radiation and damages breast tissue.

The rate of false positives and false negatives is alarming: Upwards of 70 to 80 percent of all positive mammograms do not show any presence of cancer upon biopsy. Additionally, mammograms have a high rate of missed tumors (false negatives). In the book The Politics of Cancer, Dr. Samuel S. Epstein claims that in women ages 40 to 49, 25 percent have their cancer missed by mammography.

This is simply another ruse to scare women into dangerous, even deadly, treatments most of them didn’t even need in the first place. Let us reiterate for emphasis: Mammography is a global scam. The cancer industry is based on fraud. "Run for the cure" events are a clever deception designed to keep people distracted from the REAL cancer cures that already exist.

Double mastectomy as prevention

According to WebMD.com, some women at very high risk of developing breast cancer elect to have both breasts surgically removed, a procedure called bilateral prophylactic mastectomy. The surgery aims to remove all breast tissue that potentially could develop breast cancer. Preventive breast cancer surgery also may be considered if a woman has already had breast cancer and is therefore at increased risk for developing the disease again in either breast.

Not surprisingly, this ridiculous procedure does not eliminate cancer. One wonders if someone with a family history of brain tumors would elect phophylactic brain removal. And some call this "progress" in the fight against cancer.

Safer methods

Breast thermography. "Digital infrared scanning," commonly referred to as "breast thermography," is an FDA-approved tool that screens for breast cancer and has been available since 1982. The test is simple, painless, and uses no radiation. An abnormal finding using this technology is the single most important marker of high risk for developing breast cancer, eight times more significant than a first order family history of the disease.

MammaCare. A physical examination of the breast, whether by a clinician or by the patient, is still the way that the majority of breast cancers and breast lumps are detected. Manual examination of the patient’s breast by a doctor, nurse or physician’s assistant is referred to as a clinical breast exam, or CBE. When CBE is performed by highly trained fingers, the best possible result can be obtained.

The MammaCare technique for CBE is the result of 10 years of extensive research with funding from the National Cancer Institute. The principal behind the technique was to identify and standardize the most sensitive method for detection of the smallest lesions and changes of tissue texture within the breast. The method is based on the concept that if fingers can be taught to read Braille, it should be possible to teach fingers to detect and identify very small changes in breast tissue at a very early stage. If found by the woman, the changes can be brought to the attention of her doctor for further investigation.

According to the National Institutes of Health, PREVENTION is "protecting against disease by preventing it from occurring." Below are several known factors that reduce breast cancer risk

Vitamin D—a cancer preventative

Cedric F. Garland, Dr.P.H., cancer prevention specialist at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and colleagues estimate that 250,000 cases of colon cancer and 350,000 cases of breast cancer could be prevented worldwide by increasing intake of vitamin D3, particularly in countries north of the equator. Vitamin D3 is available through diet, supplements and exposure of the skin to sunlight.

"For the first time, we are saying that 600,000 cases of breast and colorectal cancer could be prevented each year worldwide, including nearly 150,000 in the United States alone," said study co-author Garland. The paper, which looks at the dose-response relationship between vitamin D and cancer, was published in the October 2007 edition of the journal "Nutrition Reviews."

Sleeping in the dark

A lack of darkness at night may increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Haifa, Israel and published in the journal "Chronobiology International."

Researchers used NASA satellite maps to determine how much light was emitted into space from various neighborhoods across Israel at night, which they believed should approximate how bright those neighborhoods are. They then overlaid this map with breast and lung cancer statistics for the same neighborhoods.

As predicted, the researchers found no connection between light levels and lung cancer, but found that women living in neighborhoods with "average" lighting had breast cancer levels 37 percent higher than those living in neighborhoods with low night light levels. Women in communities with the most nighttime lighting had breast cancer rates 64 percent higher than women in communities with the least light.

Prior research has found higher cancer levels among rats kept in lighted cages at all times, and also among humans who work night shifts. This research has led the World Health Organization to classify night shift work as a "probable carcinogen."

Scientists believe that the carcinogenic effect of night shift work comes with the fact that light prevents the body’s production of the tumor-suppressing hormone melatonin, which is normally produced at night. Light in the blue spectrum, such as that emitted by fluorescent bulbs, is particularly damaging to the body’s ability to make melatonin.

Supporting this hypothesis is the fact that blind women, who cannot sense light and who have higher than average melatonin levels, have lower breast cancer rates than other women.

Exercise

Women who exercise regularly during their younger years are 23 percent less likely to develop breast cancer as adults, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and published in the "Journal of the National Cancer Institute." Researchers questioned 65,000 female nurses between the ages of 24 and 42 about their exercise histories back to the age of 12, then followed them for six years. Women who had engaged in at least three hours and 15 minutes of vigorous activity each week, such as running, between the ages of 12 and 22, were 23 percent less likely to develop cancer during the study period than women who had not exercised that much. The same protective benefit seemed to accrue to women who engaged in 13 hours per week of moderate exercise—such as walking.

Diet as prevention

A wealth of recent studies have documented diindolylmethane (DIM) as one of the most effective phytonutrients in the prevention and treatment of breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers. DIM is the compound found in cruciferous vegetables that regulates hormone balance and cell behavior. If the thought of eating servings of broccoli and cabbage every day does not appeal to you, you can still receive the amazing benefits of these vegetables through supplementation with DIM.

Flaxseed and its primary lignan secoisolariciresinol (SDG) have a variety of effects on estrogen metabolism and receptors. When transformed into mammalian lignans by the action of intestinal bacteria they become known as "phytoestrogens."

Studies have shown that women with the highest levels of lignans in their breasts have the highest levels of breast health. Studies have shown that when SDG and other lignans are present in high amounts in the blood and urine, women have a reduced risk of many chronic diseases including breast cancer and cardiovascular disease.

One of the best ways to prevent and cure breast cancer is to make sure your levels of lignans are high.

Essential nutrient

Magnesium deficiency has long been associated with cancer, heart disease and alcoholism. Magnesium in general is essential for the survival of our cells but takes on further importance in the age of toxicity where our bodies are being bombarded on a daily basis with heavy metals. Glutathione requires magnesium for its synthesis. According to Dr. Russell Blaylock, low magnesium is associated with dramatic increases in free radical generation as well as glutathione depletion and this is vital since glutathione is one of the few antioxidant molecules known to neutralize mercury. Without the cleaning and chelating work of glutathione (magnesium), cells begin to decay as cellular filth and heavy metals accumulate; excellent environments to attract deadly infection and cancer.

Black cohosh

Extract of black cohosh may halt the growth of breast cancer cells, according to a new study conducted by the French company Naturex and published in the journal "Phytomedicine."

Cimicifugae racemosae rhizome, also known as black cohosh, is a plant in the buttercup family that is native to eastern North America, ranging from central Georgia in the south to southern Ontario in the north, and as far west as Missouri. Black cohosh has a history of use as a traditional medicine for gynecological problems, kidney problems and sore throat and is commonly used to help relieve the symptoms of menopause.

Acid/alkaline balance

It is a fact that cancer proliferates in an acidic body. A simple pH test strip can be used to test your urine or saliva for your overall body pH. Cellphone and cordless phone usage, living near cell towers or high voltage power lines, acid-forming beverages and foods (coffee, sodas, alcohol, refined carbohydrates and processed foods), lack of aerobic exercise and dehydration contribute to a low or acidic body pH.

Other factors:

Root canals, HRT and brassieres

Root canals. Reports found at Cancertutor.com reveal that, "in a study of 150 breast cancer patients by Dr. Rau, in Switzerland, 147 of them had had root canals on the same meridian as the breast cancer." The other three also had dental problems on the same meridian, but they were not root canals, they were infections in the jawbone.

Another medical doctor reported a similar experience with his breast cancer patients.

HRT. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increases women’s risk of lobular breast cancer by four times after only three years, according to a study published in the journal "Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention." According to the study’s lead researcher Christopher Li of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, "Previous research indicated that five or more years of combined hormone-therapy use was necessary to increase overall breast cancer risk. Our study....suggests that a significantly shorter length of exposure to such hormones may confer an increased risk."

Researchers suggested that the longer time period found in prior studies arose from the fact that those studies looked only at breast cancer in general, while the current study looked specifically at lobular cancers. Lobular breast cancer accounts for approximately 10 percent of invasive breast cancers, while ductal breast cancer, in which tumors form in the breast’s milk ducts, accounts for much of the rest.

The risk of breast cancer also increases if you were bottlefed, and never bore or breastfed a child.

Brassieres. One of the most suppressed and proven causal factors for developing breast cancer is due to your bra constricting the flow of lymphatic fluid in breast tissue. In their book, "Dressed To Kill : The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras," authors Syd Singer and Soma Grismaijer found that the odds of getting breast cancer dramatically increased with bra-wearing over 12 hours per day.

• Women who wore their bras 24 hours per day had a 3-in-4 chance of developing breast cancer.

• Women who wore bras more than 12 hour per day but not to bed had a 1-in-7 risk.

• Women who wore their bras less than 12 hours per day had a 1-in-152 risk.

• Women who wore bras rarely or never had worn them experienced a 1-in-168 chance of getting breast cancer.

• The overall difference between 24 hour wearing and not at all was a 125-fold difference.

Syd Singer says, "women should take their bras off before they take their breasts off." Why wait, when you can liberate your lymphatics now?

Much of the information for this column can be found at Mike Adams’ website at www.naturalnews.com/breast_cancer.html