Category: The Best Years In Life

Despite increasing studies and reports which have warned of the dangers and questionable benefits from mammograms, the ACS continues to promote mammograms and lure women of all ages into mammography centers. By doing so, the ACS helps provide patients and huge profits to manufacturers of mammogram machines and films. Thus, the ACS continues in virtually all of its important actions to be strongly linked with the mammography industry, ignores the development of alternatives to mammography and exposes pre-menopausal women to radiation hazards from mammography with little or no evidence of benefits.

Why would the ACS, whose mission is supposed to be preventing and finding a cure for cancer, continue to stand so firmly behind the use of mammograms? Perhaps part of the answer comes from the fact that no fewer than five radiologists have served as ACS presidents. In addition, the mammography industry conducts research for the ACS and its grantees, serves on advisory boards, and donates considerable funds.

For example: DuPont, a leading mammography company as well as a leading producer of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, has been a substantial backer of the ACS Breast Health Awareness Program. DuPont has also sponsored television shows and other media productions touting mammography, produced promotional literature for hospitals, clinics, doctors and medical organizations, produced educational films, and lobbied Congress for legislation promoting the availability of mammography services.

The highly publicized National Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign further illustrates the conflicts of interest between the ACS and the mammography and other cancer industries. Every October, ACS and NCI representatives help sponsor promotional events, hold interviews, and stress the need for mammography. The flagship of this month-long series of events is the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month organization's sponsored National Mammography Day, which takes place on the third Friday in October. On this day and throughout October radiologists provide free or discounted mammogram screening.

While the country is awash in a sea of pink every year, what is conspicuously absent during Breast Cancer Awareness Month is any information on environmental and other avoidable causes of breast cancer. This has not been by accident. Breast Cancer Awareness Month was created by Imperial Chemicals (now AstraZeneca), which happened to be one of the world's largest manufacturers of chemical carcinogens.

AstraZeneca owns a string of Salick Health Care cancer centers in U. S. hospitals. AstraZeneca subsidiary AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals is also the manufacturer of tamoxifen, the world's top-selling anticancer and breast cancer "prevention" drug.

In the 1990's, the ACS aggressively launched and promoted a "chemoprevention" program along with the NCI to recruit 16,000 healthy yet supposedly "high risk" women for a 5-year clinical trial with the highly profitable drug tamoxifen. The women were told tamoxifen was essentially harmless and could reduce their risk of breast cancer. They were not told that tamoxifen was a highly potent liver carcinogen in rodent tests or that it was a well-known aggressive human uterine cancer agent

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a masterful public relations deception for ACS favorite AstraZeneca as well as other sponsors who either profit from cancer or whose products cause cancer, providing undeserved good will from millions of American women. For an in depth look at the deception involved in National Breast Cancer Awareness Month see:

"Breast Cancer Deception – Hiding the Truth Beneath a Sea of Pink"
http://www.tbyil.com/breast-cancer-…

In the next installment in this series we will take a look at how the ACS has used their power and influence to suppress and attack alternative cancer treatments that might offer safer and less expensive options than the treatments of the ACS favored companies whose profits would be at risk if such alternatives were accepted.

Lung cancers are some of the most prevalent and difficult to treat cancers. World wide, lung cancer kills more people than any other form of cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), 222,250 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year and 157,300 will die this year from lung cancer.

In the new study, PhD Paul Brennan, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon France, and colleagues investigated 385,747 research subjects from 10 European countries. The researchers documented B vitamins and methionine levels based on serum samples from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort study conducted from 1992 to 2000. Then they compared the levels of 899 individuals who had been diagnosed with cancer by 2006 with those of 1,770 control participants.

The results revealed a dramatically lower risk for lung cancer among participants with the highest blood levels of B6 and methionine. The researchers also found a moderately lower risk for lung cancer in former and current smokers who had higher serum levels of folate and they stated in their JAMA article that "Similar and consistent decreases in risk were observed in never, former, and current smokers".

The scientists wrote, "Our results suggest that above-median serum measures of both B6 and methionine, assessed on average five years prior to disease onset, are associated with a reduction of at least 50 percent on the risk of developing lung cancer. An additional association for serum levels of folate was present, that when combined with B6 and methionine, was associated with a two-thirds lower risk of lung cancer."

The researchers believe that the key to such dramatic lung cancer risk reduction may be found in previous research which linked B vitamin deficiencies to DNA damage and subsequent gene mutations. "Given their involvement in maintaining DNA integrity and gene expression, these nutrients have a potentially important role in inhibiting cancer development, and offer the possibility of modifying cancer risk through dietary changes," the authors concluded. They also pointed out that deficiencies in B vitamins are high in many western populations.

Vitamin B6 is one of the busiest and most important vitamins and is involved in no less than 100 different chemical reactions in your body per minute. Excellent sources of vitamin B6 include spinach, bell peppers, and turnip greens. Very good food sources of vitamin B6 include garlic, tuna, cauliflower, mustard greens, banana, celery, cabbage, crimini mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, kale, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, cod and chard.

Methionine is an essential amino acid. This means that it must be obtained through the diet in adequate quantities to meet the body's needs. Food sources of methionine include meat, poultry, fish, cottage cheese, peanuts beans, eggs, garlic, lentils, onions, yogurt and sesame seeds.

Folate plays an essential role in human growth and development, in particular cell division and DNA synthesis of B vitamin. Natural folates and folic acid are found in a wide variety of foods, including dark green leafy vegetables. Nature provides many excellent sources: spinach, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, escarole, chard, arugula, beet greens, bok choy, dandelion green, radicchio, black-eyed peas, lentils, okra, kidney beans, great northern beans, broccoli, lettuce, beets, lima beans, sunflower seeds, Brussels sprouts, corn, asparagus, green peas, cabbage, avocados, peanuts, tomato juice, orange juice, strawberries, eggs and bananas.

The study was conducted by researchers at the National Foundation for Children, who surveyed 1,300 teachers and 10 schools. Teachers who used gardening as part of their learning experience reported that it improved children's readiness to learn. The teachers also reported that gardening encouraged pupils to become more active in solving problems, as well as boosted literacy and numeracy skills. Now the society is urging that gardening should be incorporated as a key teaching tool in schools' regular curriculum instead of being an optional extra-curricular activity.

The report said: "Fundamental to the success of school gardens in stimulating a love of learning was their ability to translate sometimes dry academic subjects into practical, real world experiences. Children were encouraged to get their hands dirty, in every sense. Teachers involved in the research said the result was a more active, inquisitive approach to learning. The changeable nature of gardening projects – where anything from the weather to plant disease can affect the outcome – forced children to become more flexible and better able to think on their feet and solve problems."

Dr Simon Thornton Wood, director of science and learning at the RHS, said: "Schools which integrate gardens into the curriculum are developing children who are much more responsive to the challenges of adult life."

Sadly, gardening has become a lost natural endeavor in much of today's urbanized societies. As a result, modern man is losing out on a wealth of natural physical and mental health benefits. Gardening provides aerobic, isotonic and isometric exercise, which benefits muscles and bones as well as respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Such benefits help prevent health problems such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis. Strength, endurance and flexibility are also improved by gardening, which makes it one of the best all-round exercises.

Physical exercise such as one gets from gardening releases endorphins, which are natural compounds that alleviate stress and its many negative health consequences. Studies have shown that simply being in a garden lowers blood pressure. Gardening also fosters a good night's sleep and exposes people to both healthy sunshine and beneficial immune boosting soil microorganisms.

Gardeners are more likely to eat a wide range of fruit, vegetables, salad and herbs than non-gardeners, even if they don't cultivate the produce themselves. Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is essential to a healthy diet.

In addition to the benefits of physical activity, gardening helps people reconnect with the natural world from whence they sprang. It provides a calm oasis where one is lost in the moment and can be a natural form of meditation that quiets the conscious mind. It can also be a form of self-expression, enabling one to develop creativity and build confidence while allowing a healthy outlet for emotions.

Furthermore, gardening helps develop a sense of achievement where we are able to step back and see the differences we have made and discover the small, important things in life. Gardeners tend to be hopeful and philosophical people who look forward to future seasons, enjoy the present and respect the past, and are more accepting when things are not perfect.

Clearly, teaching our children to garden, both at home and at school, will help give them a head start at living and at appreciating a more natural and healthy life.

Following is an original recipe for making your own tasty and healthy raw food vegan burgers:

Quarter Pounder in the Raw Burger

Ingredients:

* 4 cups fresh or previously frozen vegetable pulp from juicing
* 1 cup raw walnuts, soaked, rinsed & drained
* 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked, rinsed & drained
* 1/4 cup raw & shelled pumpkin seeds, soaked, rinsed & drained
* 1/2 onion, chopped
* 1/2 cup dehydrated tomatoes, soaked in 1/2 cup water until
soft
* 1 tablespoon organic non-distilled apple cider vinegar or non-pasteurized organic fermented soy sauce
* 1 teaspoon maple syrup
* 1 teaspoon sea salt
* 1 teaspoon marjoram
* 1/2 teaspoon red or white pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon dill
* 1/2 teaspoon thyme
* Pinch of cayenne or 1/2 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional)

Directions:

Put all the ingredients into a food processor or a top quality blender and blend until smooth. Slowly add just a bit of water (1/4 cup at a time) if needed to blend easily.

Adjust spices to your liking.

If, like some, you like it hot, add cayenne or half a jalapeno pepper. Do not use both as they are each different peppers and do not blend all that well on your palate.

Continue to blend until smooth and uniform in color. The tomatoes should allow your blend to be the same color as raw meat. Form into burger shapes about the size of a fast food burger. You ought to wind up with six burgers and one junior size, more or less.

Dehydrate until rare (thin crust), medium (mostly dried but pliable) or well (dry as a bone) done.

Serve on a lettuce leaf or on raw bread, if you have some, surrounded by a few sliced tomatoes, onions, and a scattering of micro greens.

If desired the "burgers" can be heated or even grilled slightly. Caution: cooking too fast and/or at too high heat will result in overly crunchy burgers and is not a healthy idea at any rate.

Enjoy!

Yield:

About six adult servings and one kid-sized one.

Approximate nutrition information per serving:

240 calories, 12g fat (1.5 g saturated fat), 26 g carbohydrate,
6 g protein, 9 g dietary fiber, 240 mg sodium.

Recipe contributed by Kathy at the Yahoo Oleandersoup Group from her upcoming raw food book.

Note: For more soy-free, vegan and other healthy recipes, see:

In actuality, the Interphone Study did discover that long-term usage increased the chance of glioma by 40 per cent, but dismissed the risk because of possible biases and errors. Six of eight Interphone studies found increased risks of glioma, the most common brain tumor, with one study finding a 39 per cent increase.

An Israeli study found heavy users were about 50 per cent more likely to suffer tumors of the parotid salivary gland. Two studies into acoustic neuroma, a tumor of a nerve between the ear and brain, reported a higher risk after using mobiles for 10 years. A Swedish report reported the risk as being 3.9 times higher.

Contradicting the study's conclusions, Dr Elisabeth Cardis of the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona who led the study said: "Overall, my opinion is that the results show a real effect." Bruce Armstrong, another Interphone researcher from the University of Sydney, said: "There is evidence that there may be a risk; Interphone has made that a little stronger."

Interphone has been rife with controversy almost from the day it was set up in 2000. Some of the criticism stems from the fact that mobile phone manufacturers partly funded the project to the tune of around 5.5 million euros, and there were concerns that such funding compromised the study's independence. The scope of the project was also questioned, as it had left out children and adolescents, which are the groups most vulnerable and most susceptible to brain tumors. In addition, many observers and commentators have suspected that the four year delay was due to disagreements among the researchers. Based on what has transpired, such concerns appear to have been valid.

Until an embargo was placed on all news about the study, all indications had been that the study would conclude that there was evidence of dangers from cell phones and recommend measures to decrease the danger. Last year the Daily Telegraph reported that a major WHO study will finally announce later this year that "long-term use of mobile phones can cause brain tumors."

Only last month, the London Times was reporting similar information. Then came the industry spin that should have provided a strong clue that something was afoot. On May 16th, a news release from the Mobile Manufacturers Forum group which helped fund the study reported that the new study "provides significant further reassurance about the safety of mobile phones. The overall analysis is consistent with previous studies and the significant body of research, reporting no increased health risk from using mobile phones."

While several other countries have strengthened warnings about cell phones, Britain's Department of Health continues to maintain that "the current balance of evidence does not show health problems caused by using mobile phones" and suggests only that children be "discouraged" from making "non-essential" calls while adults should "keep calls short".

Given the Interphone Study's conclusions, it does not appear likely that Britain will be strengthening their guidelines soon. One can only conclude that the mobile phone manufacturers got their 5.5 million Euros' worth.

In the new study, Yale researchers found evidence that common household items such as cleaners, shampoos and detergents are creating a chemical cocktail. These products are combining with a chlorine compound and resulting in a new cancer causing agent in water supplies that comes from sewage treatment plants. The compound is NDMA, which is a nitrosamine. Nitrosamines are known to be highly carcinogenic and have been especially linked to bladder cancers.

The new study was conducted by researchers at the Yale Department of Chemical Engineering and was published earlier this year in Environmental Science and Technology. Thus far scientists know little about the new nitrosamine compound other than that it causes cancer. Though the scientists are not sure exactly how NDMA forms, they suspect that the combination of compounds found in common household items lead to the formation of NDMA when water is chlorinated.

Researcher William Mitch and colleagues noted that scientists have known that NDMA and other nitrosamines can form in small amounts when wastewater and water are disinfected with chlorine. Although nitrosamines are found in a wide variety of sources, such as processed meats and tobacco smoke, scientists have known little about their precursors in water. Previous studies with cosmetics have found that substances called quaternary amines, which are also ingredients in household cleaning agents, may play a role in the formation of nitrosamines. Quaternary amine monomers are widely used in antibacterial soaps and mouthwashes, while polymers are used in shampoos, detergents, and fabric softeners.

In the study, the researchers collected treated waste water from waste water treatment facilities in three Connecticut cities. The researchers also examined the effects of adding common household cleansers, shampoos and detergents.

Their laboratory research showed that when mixed with chloramine, household cleaning products including shampoo, dishwashing detergent and laundry detergent formed NDMA. The researchers' report noted that sewage treatment plants may remove some of the quaternary amines that form NDMA. However, quaternary amines are used in such large quantities it is believed that some still persist and have a potentially harmful effect in the water treated at sewage treatment plants.

Notably, the same group of researchers previously found high levels of nitrosamine disinfection byproducts in swimming pools, hot tubs and aquariums that had been disinfected with chlorine. The highest nitrosamine detected in chlorinated swimming pools and hot tubs reached levels up to 500-fold greater than the drinking water concentration of nitrosamines associated with a one in one million lifetime cancer risk.

by: Tony Isaacs

(SilverBulletin) Previously in this series we looked at the cozy relationship between the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the chemical industry, including how that industry had been the source of both board members and major donations. A stark example of the influence chemical makers wielded with the ACS came in the spring of 1993 when the ACS helped attack an upcoming documentary about pesticide dangers.

Shortly before PBS was due to broadcast the documentary on "Frontline", a draft of the script was leaked to the powerful public relations firm Porter-Novelli. Porter-Novelli had notable clients on both sides of the fence, including the ACS as well as Ciba-Geigy, DuPont, Monsanto, Burroughs Wellcome, American Petroleum Institute, the Center for Produce Quality, the USDA, the NCI, plus other National Institutes of Health.

Porter-Novelli first crafted a rebuttal to help the manufacturers quell public fears about pesticide-contaminated food. Next, Porter-Novelli called up another client, the ACS, for whom Porter-Novelli had done pro bono work for years. The rebuttal that Porter-Novelli had just sent off to its industry clients was faxed to ACS Atlanta headquarters. Then it was circulated internationally by e-mail so that the 3,000 regional ACS offices could use it to help field calls from the public after the show aired.

The ACS memo stated: "The program makes unfounded suggestions . . . that pesticide residue in food may be at hazardous levels. Its use of a 'cancer cluster' leukemia case reports and non-specific community illnesses as alleged evidence of pesticide effects in people is unfortunate. We know of no community cancer clusters which have been shown to be anything other than chance grouping of cases and none in which pesticide use was confirmed as the cause."

Later, accuracy in Media's newsletter trumpeted quotes from the ACS memo in an article whose banner headline read "Junk Science on PBS." The article began "Can we afford the Public Broadcasting Service?" and went on to disparage the PBS documentary. "In Our Children's Food . . . exemplified what the media have done to produce these 'popular panics' and the enormously costly waste (at PBS) cited by the New York Times."

When public television producer Marty Koughman saw the article he was outraged and initially believed the ACS had somehow been duped. Later, however, Koughan figured out what was really going on after several failed attempts to get an ACS rebuttal. "When I realized Porter-Novelli represented five agrichemical companies, and that the ACS had been a client for years, it became obvious that the ACS had not been fooled at all," said Koughan. "They were willing partners in the deception, and were in fact doing a favor for a friend _ by flakking for the agrichemical industry."

Koughan's investigation had relied heavily on a ground-breaking report issued by the National Academy of Sciences in June of 1993 entitled "Pesticides in the Diet of Children." The report declared the nation's food supply was "inadequately protected" from cancer-causing pesticides and a significant threat to the health of children. An earlier report issued by the Natural Resources Defense Council in 1989, "Intolerable Risk: Pesticides in our Children's Food," had also castigated pesticide manufacturers.

Former director of the National Academy of Sciences Board of Agriculture Charles Benbrook had worked on the pesticide report by the Academy of Sciences. He charged that the role of the ACS as a source of information for the pesticide and product industry was "unconscionable." Investigative reporter Sheila Kaplan went a step further in a 1993 Legal Times article: "What they did was clearly and unequivocally over the line, and constitutes a major conflict of interest."

In the next installment in this series we will examine the close relationships the American Cancer Society has with the mammogram and other cancer industries.

The Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) recently evaluated the EPA's air content and quality testing results in Venice Beach, Louisiana. LEAN found hydrogen sulfide content of up to 1,192 parts per billion. LEAN and other agencies have also found extremely elevated levels of other VOCs, most notably cancer causing benzene. The highest levels of benzene detected to date were on April 30, at 3,084 ppb, followed by May 2, at 3,416 ppb. Louisiana's ambient air standard for the VOC benzene is 3.76 ppb.

All VOCs are highly toxic to humans and physical reactions from exposure to these gases include:

*Drowsiness
*Irritation of eyes, nose or throat
*Coughing or difficulty breathing
*Dizziness
*Nausea or vomiting
*Rapid or irregular heartbeat
*Headaches
*Tremors
*Confusion
*Memory damage
*Ocular damage
*Neurological damage
*Convulsions
*Unconsciousness
*Death (at very high levels)

Scores of residents and clean up workers have already been reported as suffering from spill-related symptoms. Louisiana's Health Secretary Alan Levine told CBS News there have been 75 people so far reporting spill-related symptoms in Louisiana. CNN has reported that an additional 15 cases have been reported in Alabama.

The good news is that common indoor plants may offer considerable improvement for the air in homes and offices. In the late 1980s, NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) spent two years testing common house plants for their ability to remove the volatile organic compounds benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde from the air. The study found that all of the plants were useful, with some houseplants capable of removing as much as 87 percent of indoor air pollutants within 24 hours. The plants the study found effective were:

*Bamboo or Reed Palm
*Elephant Ear Philodendron
*Chinese Evergreen
*Chrysanthemum
*Cornstalk Dracaena
*English Ivy
*Gerbera Daisy
*Golden Pothos
*Heartleaf Philodendron
*Janet Craig Dracaena
*Peace Lily
*Red-edged Dracaena
*Selloum Philodendron
*Snake Plant
*Spider Plant
*Warneck Dracaena
*Weeping Fig

Though the study was limited to only three common VOC pollutants, it is believed that the same indoor plants should also be effective against other VOCs, including sulphur dioxide. The plants which were found to be most effective for benzene removal were: English Ivy, Dracaena marginata, Janet Craig, Warneckei, Chrysanthemum, Gerbera Daisy and Peace lily.

Besides the benefits of eliminating toxins from the air, plants are a source of oxygen. They have been found to elevate mood as well as productivity and they reduce fatigue, coughs, sore throats and other cold-related illnesses by more than 30 percent, partially by increasing humidity levels and decreasing dust.

In addition to houseplants, carbon air filters in combination with HEPA filters are very good for removing VOCs and other pollutants from indoor air. Activated carbon filters in particular are effective at eliminating sulphur dioxide in both air and water. Sulphur dioxide is commonly referred to as "rotten egg gas" due to its distinctive odor.

Note: organic nurseries are preferred sources of all plants since commercial nurseries frequently use malathion and other pesticides.

by: Tony Isaacs

(SilverBulletin) It is estimated that over 5 million people in the US have Alzheimer's disease and many experts believe that number may triple by 2050. Though there is presently no known cure, many recent year studies and anecdotal evidence indicates that proper diet, lifestyle and supplementation can prevent, slow and even reverse the Alzheimer's.

In a rodent study conducted in 2008 at the University of California, Irvine, mice with the rodent equivalent of Alzheimer's were given high doses of Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) and it was 100% effective at restoring cognitive function. A current human study is underway.

Supplements of oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs) improved memory in animals with age-related cognitive decline in a recent study from Japan and Korea. Proanthocyanidins are found in many plants including apples, pine bark, cinnamon, cocoa, grape seed, grape skin, red wines, bilberry, cranberry, black currant, green tea, black tea, and other plants. The berries of black chokeberry have the highest OPC concentrations found to date.

Other research has shown that a compound in curry not only prevents changes in the brain that lead to Alzheimer's disease, but it also actually reverses some of the existing damage. People over 65 in certain rural areas of India, where curry consumption is high, have a less than 1 percent (0.84%) chance of developing the disease. In the larger cities and other areas of India, the risk is just 2.4 percent. By comparison the chances of getting Alzheimer's for people over 65 in the United States range from just under 5 percent to an astonishing 17 percent.

Holy Basil (a close relative of the herb basil) has long been used in Ayurvedic medicine to rejuvenate mental and physical health. Now, researchers in India have found that holy basil extract protects against free radical damage by actively seeking out and eliminating harmful molecules.

Many studies support the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids. According to epidemiological data in the Framingham Heart Study, people who eat an average of 180 mg or more a day of DHA, found in fish oils, have a lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego provided ground-breaking proof that a natural protein called BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) can prevent and even reverse Alzheimer's.

In other studies:

*Compounds in black currants have been found to slow the progression of Alzheimer's and are currently being studied in multiple Scottish studies.
*A compound in extra virgin olive oil could deter proteins from disrupting nerve cell function that causes the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease.
*Exposure to sunlight in the morning followed by melatonin supplementation at night helps restore healthy sleeping patterns.
*Blueberries are especially helpful for optimum cognitive function.

Other natural items which may help:

*The antioxidants Vitamin E and lipoic acid could help reduce the severity of Alzheimer's.

*Antioxidants such as Acetyl-L-carnitine protect against amyloid-beta neurotoxicity.

*Vegetable and fruit juices have plentiful antioxidants.

*B vitamins, such as B6, folic acid, and B12 lower homocysteine levels. It is believed that high brain levels of homocysteine cause neuronal damage leading to progression of Alzheimer's.

*Curcumin, the yellow compound found in turmeric, is getting increasing attention and may be a good preventive.

*Natural supplementation with huperzine may help by blocking the breakdown of acetylcholine into cholinesterase. Acetylcholine precursors such as choline may also help, as may blue green algae which inhibit cholinesterase.

*Herbal teas can provide important nutrients and enhance mood.

*Silica appears to protect against Alzheimer's disease.

In addition to the above items, taking steps to keep a sharp and active mind can be essential.

1996 – The ACS together with a diverse group of patient and physician organizations, filed a "citizen`s petition" to pressure FDA to ease restrictions on access to silicone gel breast implants. What the ACS did not disclose was that the gel in these implants had clearly been shown to induce cancer in several industry rodent studies, and that these implants were also contaminated with other potent carcinogens such as ethylene oxide and crystalline silica.

1998 – The annual ACS "Cancer Facts & Figures" report made this statement regarding breast cancer: "Since women may not be able to alter their personal risk factors, the best opportunity for reducing mortality is through early detection." The publication made little or no mention of prevention. Likewise, no mention was made of contamination of animals and dairy fats and produce with carcinogenic pesticide residues or the need to switch to safer organic foods.

1998 – The ACS allocated $330,000, less than 1 percent of its then $680 million budget, to research on environmental cancer.

1999 – The ACS trivialized risks of breast, colon and prostate cancers from consumption of rBGH genetically modified milk – which is outlawed by most nations worldwide.

2002 – The ACS announced its active participation in the Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association`s "Look Good…Feel Better Program," to "help women cancer patients restore their appearance and self-image following chemotherapy and radiation treatment." This program was partnered by a wide range of leading cosmetics industries, which failed to disclose information on the carcinogenic, and other toxic, ingredients in their products donated to unsuspecting women.

2002 – The ACS reassured the nation that carcinogenicity exposures from dietary pesticides, toxic waste in dump sites, ionizing radiation from "closely controlled" nuclear power plants, and non-ionizing radiation are all "at such low levels that cancer risks are negligible."

2010 – The ACS indifference to cancer prevention other than smoking remains unchanged, despite the escalating incidence of cancer and its billion dollar plus budget.

In the past, most ACS funds have come from public donations and high-profile fund raising campaigns. However, over the last few decades, an increasing proportion of the ACS budget comes from large corporations, including the pharmaceutical, cancer, chemical and fast food industries. In 1992, the American Cancer Society Foundation was created to allow the ACS to solicit contributions of more than $100,000.

A close look at the heavy-hitters on the Foundation`s board and the big donors gives an idea of which interests are at play at the ACS. The first members of the board of trustees included the president of Lederle Laboratories/American Cyanmid and the CEO of biotech giant Amgen. Amgen`s success has rested largely on the product Neupogen, which is administered to chemotherapy patients to stimulate their white blood cell production. As the cancer epidemic grows, so does sales for Neupogen.

Many of the ACS $100,000 plus "Excalibur Donors" manufacture carcinogenic products. These include:

* Petrochemical companies (DuPont, BP and Pennzoil)
* Industrial waste companies (BFI Waste Systems)
* Junk food companies (Wendy`s International, McDonalds`s, Unilever/Best Foods and Coca-Cola)
* Big Pharma (AstraZenceca; Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Company and Novartis)
* Biotech companies (Amgen and Genentech)
* Cosmetic companies (Christian Dior, Avon, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden and Estee Lauder)
* Auto companies (Nissan and General Motors)

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In future installments of this series, we will examine the close relationships the American Cancer Society has with the pesticide, chemical, mammogram and cancer industries, the wealth and uncharitable performance of the ACS, how the ACS has wielded influence to suppress alternative treatments and more.