Breast Cancer (Are We Really Looking For a Cure, Or a Cash Cow ?)

[Extracted from Ezine Articles. Sonya Green is the webmaster and author of Reinventing Myself. Her writing reflects her passion for finding Joy in everyday life. Love, health and happiness are available to us. The article below is well-phrased by her]


It's breast cancer awareness month. Everywhere I turn I find someone or something trying to engage me in breast cancer awareness. I'm trying to focus on health and wellness but its difficult when the media keeps pushing fear, expectancy and urgency at me. Why not have a health, healing and happiness awareness month ? I try not to be too cynical and I do understand that so many people are wanting to inform and assist, but I do also see the negative influence of being stuck in defining myself as a cancer victim. I see it as a form of voodoo: you had cancer, your going to get cancer, cancer will kill you, let us save you, watch out for cancer; everyone is touched by cancer...What irritates me most about these foundations or campaigns is the obvious plea for donations in the name of research. Well excuse me, but after decades of research and billions of dollars, what I see is nothing much more than reinventing the wheel; better chemo drugs, better surgical techniques, better radiation equipment and countless reports and stats. No cure and not even any real understanding of the cause. The hard fact is that most of the money raised is spent on wages; scientists, surgeons, hospitals, technology, administration, advertising and pharmaceuticals. Cancer is definitely a big, big business. Most of the research is being done by people who have a great financial stake in treating cancer.

What would happen if we found out that cancer was caused by air pollution, food tampering and modifying, water contamination, vaccines, antibiotics, bacteria or parasite infestation ? What if it really is about stress overload or the effects of radiation or low levels of oxygen ? It has even been suggested that cancer might not be a disease at all but a response by the immune system or a symptom caused by the immune systems inability to cope with an overload of toxins. Its even been suggested that a tumour might be the only way that the immune system can hold back abnormal cells by isolating clumps. That sounds pretty radical but we do know that many people die from cancer after all tumours have been removed. What if cancer is just a natural way for the body to eat up poisons and other crap but becomes erratic or unbalanced at a point of toxic overload ?

We do know that meat and dairy products are very different now to what they once were. Both are extremely high in protein, vitamins and minerals and by all accounts should be superior sources of health giving nutrients. BUT animals are now pumped up with hormones and antibiotics and who knows what other chemicals. They do not usually graze on natural foods, most of them are penned and are so stressed by their living conditions, transportation and abattoir treatment that we can only concede that their flesh is flooded with stress hormones prior to slaughter.

Milk has changed so much since the days of the cow on the farm. Have you noticed that milk will now last for many weeks under refrigeration ? Why doesn't it go sour within a few days the way it used to? Without even going into the argument of additives or processing, lets just think about milk for what it really is. No animal other than humans continue to drink milk after they are weaned. Natural milk from a healthy mother (of its own species) is perfect food for a baby. Once the baby is able to eat solid food, milk is no longer provided or required. How do we justify ingesting the milk of another species ? Why do we, as adults, believe that we should continue breastfeeding from a cow ? My main concern about milk is that a woman's body, at a certain age, winds down the whole baby making system. Most breast cancers show up in post menopausal women; menopause being nature's way of closing down the baby making system. Could it be that the breasts themselves are rejecting the foreign milk supply ? Wouldn't is be likely that a lactating cow would be full of the very hormones that a menopausal woman's body is trying to diminish ?

So far, science does seem to agree that there is a link between hormones and inflammation as probable causes or influences in breast cancer. Well, considering that meat and dairy are both acid forming foods, which create inflammation, and again both are naturally and often artificially pumped up with hormones, doesn't it at least raise some questions ? It is also thought that cancer might be caused by bacteria or virus and it is now common knowledge that we are becoming resistant to a lot of antibiotics due to our over consumption, do we really need more coming through our food supply ? It does seem that most woman do tend to have a bacterial and or fungal imbalances a lot of the time.

Another area which has had very little attention is the possibility of parasite infestation. Most of us won't even consider the idea that we might be overrun with parasites and rarely consider them as a serious health issue. Many of us were treated for threadworm as kids but in modern times we tend to think that they are as insignificant as hair lice. Science seems to be tunnel visioned about viral and bacterial issues and seems to have little interest in parasites. It's an unsexy topic to be sure and very little research goes into it. We tend to think there are about four common worms and unless we have an itchy anus or little white threads showing in our poo then we assume we don't have a problem. Most treat themselves with a pill from the pharmacy but it is now thought that they only address a few of what might well be hundreds or more. They are not a third world country complaint - they are a human complaint and it has been estimated that as many as 85% of people will have a parasite problem. In countries where people are more aware of the problem they eat foods which prevent infestations whereas our diets actually encourage parasites; sugar being the main culprit. Many countries include things like garlic, tumeric, cabbage, chilli, pepetas, kelp, wasabi and cloves in their diets to address the parasite problem and interestingly these countries are also the ones with the lower breast cancer rates. It has always been thought that eating uncooked meat or touching animals are the main reasons for worms but in these days of global travel and eating out it is very likely that we are picking up parasites by breathing in eggs or touching things like money, handrails or shopping trolleys or pretty much anything that has been touched by unwashed hands.

So, what's the connection between parasites and breast cancer ? Well, there is some suggestion, or at least an interesting point of view, that parasites might cause cancer. One theory is that parasites might hide in joints and tissue and that the immune systems response leads to the abnormality of the cells. Another theory is that the parasites are giving off toxins which become carcinogenic. Another theory is that the parasites are robbing us of nutrients and weakening us to such a degree that the immune system becomes unable to preform effectively. It has also been suggested that many of our so called degenerative diseases such as arthritis might well be caused by the same principle. It's even been thought that a tumour might be a parasites hiding place - that is, parasites might actually create a safe hideout like a cocoon for their eggs.

I do not have the answers myself just a lot more questions. My take on all of this is that many of these things might prove to be correct and if that is so then very easily addressed. At worst, none of these alternatives will cause any harm and will at the very least help to cleanse and strengthen the body. Experimenting with our diet and lifestyle or attempting to rid the body of fungus and bacteria's will only create better health and well being. Detoxifying the body and taking antiparasitic herbs can only help and who knows might even be the simple answer we have been searching for.

My main point is that we need to look outside the box that we keep looking into. Too many people are dying or at least suffering serious complications after chemo and radiation therapies. They keep saying that less people are dying of cancer but we are not hearing enough truth about the people who are dying from heart, liver and kidney diseases bought about by adverse reactions to such therapies. It is well documented that radiation can increase the risk of cancer! When the best we have on offer at the moment is the destruction of healthy cells, in an attempt to bring about a remission, then I do believe that we are not closer to a cure at all. I think we are creating other major health problems - like destroying cancer cells but dying from liver disease due to the toxicity of the drugs used.

Maybe modern medicine will come up with the answers, and all in all, I guess we can only be grateful for the time, effort and funding going into it. I'm just trying to raise questions about some of this funding going into practical help for the real sufferers; more money treating patients rather than servicing gala events and advertising. Let's put some funding into testing our food, air and water. Let's do some serious research on people who have survived cancer without medical interference. Let's be more honest about the real cause of death if it is caused by or influenced by medical intervention.

Let's be skeptical about the fact that too many diseases have drugs which don't cure but can be used ongoingly to stop the progression or alleviate the symptoms. Isn't it interesting that heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, epilepsy and arthritis just to name a few, all have drug therapies that are taken on a daily and ongoing basis. What exactly has been actually cured in the last few decades ? Am I the only one who wonders if one very cheap drug cured a disease would it ever be released? Is a drug company ever going to sell a $5 cure when it can earn $50,000 over a lifetime of symptom suppression? If a research facility has invested millions of dollars into research, how will they recoup that money if they discover that a cure is something as simple as dechlorination the water or drinking green tea ?

At the very least I think it is up to us all to take our own health into consideration and not just blindly accept everything we are told. Everything is just a perception or an opinion until it becomes a truth for us. Lateral thinking might lead us through a few dead ends but if experimenting with alternatives helps to create stronger immune systems and "Does no harm" then surely they are worth exploring.