If you have cancer, or know someone who does, these are important resources to know about. This is the third in HONEST MEDICINE’S “best of” series. The other two are:
Nine Articles That Expose Some of Big Pharma's Highly Questionable Practices
Eight Important Online Audios and Videos
I hope you will find the following resources helpful, as well.
1) Cancer Decisions – Ralph Moss’s website and newsletter. I have enjoyed receiving this wonderful free email newsletter (which has nearly 50,000 subscribers), for several years now, and find each issue to be a revelation! Dr. Moss never ceases to amaze me: For 5 years now, he has published this newsletter, for a total of over 250 e-issues, and each one is wonderful. Dr. Moss does not accept ads (pop up or otherwise) or tie-ins to any commercial products whatsoever. His website puts it best: Accurate information on cancer is our only commodity.” One testimonial states: "The newsletters are great...well researched, reasonable and balanced .. short reports on a variety of topics . . . [a] wealth of information.” Be sure to take advantage of his NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES.
2) Honest Medicine’s Audio Interview with Dr. James Belanger About the Naturopathic Treatment of Cancer. In this extremely exciting and informative interview, Julia Schopick talks with Naturopathic Physician, Dr. James Belanger, co-founder of the Lexington Natural Health Center in Lexington, MA about his innovative work with cancer patients. Dr. Belanger performs comprehensive blood tests, which give him vital information about the state of his patients’ immune systems and cancer growth factors. Based on the results of these tests, he treats them with natural medicines. His results have been stunning, and Dr. Belanger’s work is known throughout the country.
3) The Annie Appleseed Project: Ann Fonfa. Ann Fonfa (who describes herself as "a woman with breast cancer--and an attitude") says that the primary goal of her website, The Annie Appleseed Project, is to educate people about topics that relate to cancer and nutrition, with special emphasis on complementary therapies. This 14-year breast cancer survivor keeps her site updated with the latest information concerning many different kinds of cancer. She also attends many of the official cancer industry meetings around the country as a vocal patient advocate. Ann will be featured in upcoming articles and podcasts on HonestMedicine.com.
4) Jeanne Wallace, PhD, Nutritionist. Nutritionist, Dr. Jeanne Wallace, knows more about both conventional and alternative cancer treatments than anyone I know. If you have one of the cancers she works with (listed on her site), and if you want to take a chance on outliving your prognosis, call Dr. Wallace at (435) 563-0053.
5) Is Breast Cancer Awareness a Marketing Sham?, by Lucinda Marshall. In this January 23, 2007 "Alternet" article, Lucinda Marshall criticizes the “think pink” phenomenon, whereby people buy pink products as a way of donating to the breast cancer "cause.” One breast cancer survivor is quoted as saying, “The contribution percentage is negligible compared to mark-up on the product. How dare they use women in this battle to line their pockets? There will be a reckoning and I hope I live to see it." And Marshall points out some disturbing facts, such as, “The American Cancer Society (ACS) devotes its entire explanation about what causes breast cancer to genetic factors, despite the fact that by their own admission, only 5-10 percent of breast cancer is hereditary.” It should come as no surprise that the money raised by the various “think pink” campaigns goes to organizations that support the surgery/radiation/chemo (often called the “slash/burn/poison”) approach to cancer treatment.
6) Breast cancer and the hype over Herceptin, by Ralph Moss, PhD. This excellent article, originally published in March 2006 by “New Scientist,” was written by Ralph Moss, PhD, a medical writer, with a special interest and expertise in cancer. In this article, Dr. Moss shows how a study on Herceptin, published by the “New England Journal of Medicine,” actually found that the drug showed modest benefit, but nonetheless, was turned by the media (with lots of help from the Pharmaceutical Establishment) into results that were “revolutionary,” “stunning,” “jaw-dropping.” One doctor, from MD Anderson, enthused: “This observation suggests a dramatic and perhaps permanent perturbation of the natural history of the disease, and may even be a cure." The real benefit of the drug, says Dr. Moss was “modest and qualified” and “far short of the hype.” An excellent example of how modest study results are too often exaggerated.
7) Welcome to Cancerland: A Mammogram Leads to a Cult of Pink Kitsch. Barbara Ehrenreich's hard-hitting criticism of the corporitization of breast cancer, was published in Harper's Magazine. In this wonderful article, Ms. Ehrenreich expresses her disgust with the infantilization and feminization of the disease, with its pink ribbons and teddy bears, and its walks, runs and races. She writes about the "Cancer Industrial Complex: the multinational corporate enterprise that with the one hand doles out carcinogens and disease and, with the other, offers expensive, semi-toxic pharmaceutical treatments." This article is so rich in its expression that it is almost impossible to summarize. A very important article.
8) Chemo Concession -- Cancer docs profit from chemotherapy drugs.This September 21, 2006 article from MSNBC exposes the “dirty little secret” of the cancer industry that many of us have known about for awhile now: Cancer doctors are allowed to profit from the sale of chemotherapy drugs. As one oncologist is quoted as saying in this article, "So the pressure is frankly on to make money by selling medications." The cancer industry must not want us to know about this practice, since not surprisingly, the American Cancer Society’s website contains no mention of the cancer concession. A search for “chemotherapy drug concession” and “chemotherapy concession” brings up one article: “ACS: Chemotherapy: What It Is, How It Helps.” I should be shocked by this, but I'm not.
9) The contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult malignancies. This important study, conducted by 3 Australian oncologists, and published in December 2004, in the professional journal, “Clinical Oncology,” concluded that, “it is clear that cytotoxic chemotherapy only makes a minor contribution to cancer survival. To justify the continued funding and availability of drugs used in cytotoxic chemotherapy, a rigorous evaluation of the cost-effectiveness and impact on quality of life is urgently required.” However, according to cancer expert, Dr. Ralph Moss “Although the paper has attracted some attention in Australia, the native country of the paper's authors, it has been greeted with complete silence on this side of the world.” And, “Yet despite the mounting evidence of chemotherapy's lack of effectiveness in prolonging survival, oncologists continue to present chemotherapy as a rational and promising approach to cancer treatment.”
10) Antioxidants Against Cancer – by Ralph Moss
This is a very important book, because so many cancer patients are told by their oncologists to avoid all use of nutritional supplements, and in particular, antioxidants. Unfortunately, these doctors are simply not aware of the impressive research that proves otherwise. This book lays out the evidence. As one of the Amazon.com online reviews of this book puts it: “Ralph Moss, PhD, formerly of Sloan-Kettering . . . has done a first-rate job of going through myriad journals and papers and establishing which ideas about the use of antioxidants are scientifically proven. This book has no less than 460 references to papers on the subject, in other words, every contention of Dr. Moss's is well documented.”
Zyprexa Sales Rep -- YouTube Video
I first became aware of this fascinating youtube video, "Zyprexa Sales Rep," thanks to an email from the indefatigable Vera Sharav, whose organization, Alliance for Human Research Protection, has both a website and a blog, dedicated to making sure that human research subjects are treated ethically, and that the risks they are subjected to are minimized. About this Zyprexa video, Ms. Sharav wrote: “On December 18, 2006, when the second front page news report about Eli Lilly's concealed documents ran in The New York Times, "Zyprexa Sales Rep" was posted on YouTube by a group of physicians, PharmedOut.
PharmedOut, the group that posted the video, is dedicated to making the public aware of how pharmaceutical companies influence which medications doctors prescribe. Since so much of what physicians learn about medications comes from the pharmaceutical companies themselves, both through their “educational programs” and their company sales reps, PharmedOut aims to “increase access to unbiased information about drugs, and to encourage physicians to choose pharma-free CME [Continuing Medical Education.]” It is an organization worth learning about.
This youtube video is fascinating. In it, former Eli Lilly drug rep, Shahram Ahari, who worked for the company until 2000, tells how he and the other drug reps were instructed by their employer to downplay the side effects of the antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa. The side effects -- which include quick weight gain, leading to obesity and associated diabetes -- were serious and many psychiatrists and patients were worried. When these psychiatrists shared their concerns with Ahari and the other reps, they were told to downplay the side effects of the drug, while focusing on its efficacy. One recommendation was to tell patients to drink a glass of water before and during each meal so that their stomachs would expand and they wouldn't be as hungry! The idea was to stress to doctors that keeping their patients' symptoms (of psychosis) under control was more important than staying thin.
The reps were also taught how to manipulate statistics in a way that was favorable to their drug. One of my favorite quotes in this video comes from Ahari’s statistics professor: “Statistics are like prisoners. Torture them long enough and they’ll tell you whatever you want to hear.” Ahari believes that Eli Lilly did a cost benefit analysis, and decided to hold off admitting the truth about Zyprexa, so that they could earn lots of money in the meantime, before the repercussions finally surfaced.
February 11, 2007 in Archived Articles, Current Affairs, News/Commentary | Permalink | Comments (8)
Digg This | Save to del.icio.us