Targeted therapies hold out the promise of a new era in cancer treatment, but will we fear cancer any the less?
CREDIT ILLUSTRATION BY GUY BILLOUT

This is how it starts. Carla wakes up one morning feeling that something is wrong. She has been having headaches, but not of the normal, take-a-pill-and-relax type. These headaches come with a sort of numbness, and now she notices some other things that aren’t as they should be. There are bruises on her back that she can’t explain; her gums have been going pale; and she’s very, very tired. She goes to her doctor, but he can’t tell her what’s wrong. Try some aspirin, he says; maybe it’s a migraine. The aspirin doesn’t help, so she finally asks for some blood tests and soon she winds up at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, where a young and talented physician gives her the preliminary diagnosis: acute lymphoblastic leukemia (A.L.L.). Carla knows nothing about lymphoblasts, or why she’s going to have to have a bone-marrow sample taken, but she knows about leukemia. It’s cancer of the blood. She’s terrified, and she may not be in a state of mind to take in the oncologist’s reassurance that A.L.L. is “often curable.” Continue reading →

Ginger naturally contains a compound that is up to 10,000 times more effective than chemotherapy drugs at killing the cancer stem cells that make malignant tumors so dangerous, according to a study published in the journal PLoS.

The chemical, known as 6-shogaol, is produced when ginger roots are dried or cooked. The researchers found that 6-shogaol is active against cancer stem cells at concentrations that are harmless to healthy cells. This is dramatically different from conventional chemotherapy, which has serious side effects largely because it kills healthy as well as cancerous cells. Continue reading →

Even the most aggressive cancers which have metastasized have been reversed with baking soda cancer treatments. Although chemotherapy is toxic to all cells, it represents the only measure that oncologists employ in their practice to almost all cancer patients. In fact, 9 out of 10 cancer patients agree to chemotherapy first without investigating other less invasive options.

Doctors and pharmaceutical companies make money from it. That’s the only reason chemotherapy is still used. Not because it’s effective, decreases morbidity, mortality or diminishes any specific cancer rates. In fact, it does the opposite. Chemotherapy boosts cancer growth and long-term mortality rates and oncologists know it. Continue reading →

A Global Quest – The True History of Chemo & The Pharmaceutical Monopoly

I was diagnosed with a cancer with a death rate of 99%. I also just published a novel. And the two have become eerily similar.

Six months ago I was discovered to have the tumor Glioblastoma Multiforme living inside my skull. At the same time my new novel Nod was approaching publication in North America. As both the disease and my novel progressed I began to notice eerie similarities between the two, even down to the physical similarity between the eye on the book’s cover and an image of the tumor itself, with its vein-like tendrils spreading out across my brain. Continue reading →

Because It Involves Generic Drugs

Deborah Denehy received chemotherapy directly to her abdomen to treat ovarian cancer, a treatment that remains underused in the United States. Credit Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

In 2006, the National Cancer Institute took the rare step of issuing a “clinical announcement,” a special alert it holds in reserve for advances so important that they should change medical practice.

In this case, the subject was ovarian cancer. A major study had just proved that pumping chemotherapy directly into the abdomen, along with the usual intravenous method, could add 16 months or more to women’s lives. Cancer experts agreed that medical practice should change — immediately. Continue reading →

Using statistical software about eight years ago, the CDC estimated the number of people in the United States that were living with cancer. The CDC calls people living with cancer “cancer survivors” rather than “cancer victims,” and for the 30 years leading up to 2001, the number of cancer survivors in the US increased nearly seven million, but how? We, as Americans, are consuming MORE toxic food, more toxic water and putting more dangerous chemicals on our skin. Let’s take a look. Continue reading →

From sage to sesame seeds, a new book by one of Britain’s leading cancer surgeons is the definitive guide.

Breast cancer is by far the most common cancer in women. With 55,000 cases diagnosed every year, an estimated 1 in 8 women face the prospect of developing the disease at some point in their lives.

As consultant breast cancer surgeon at London’s Royal Free Hospital, I know first-hand the impact of this illness on women and their families. But avoiding it isn’t just about luck.

I have become increasingly convinced that diet and lifestyle play a part in the development of breast cancer. Making changes really can reduce your risk. Continue reading →

Scientists discover genes that ‘lower the risk of early death’

Smokers who live for a long time may have specific genes that promote a lengthy lifespan, scientists have found. Winnie Langley, who died aged 102, is pictured lighting a cigarette on her 100th birthday

Every smoker is aware their habit puts them at risk of disease and early death – yet many still live to a ripe old age.

Now, US scientists have discovered it may be down to their genes.

Smokers who live for a long time may have specific genes promoting a lengthy lifespan, their study found.

And these ‘longevity’ genes were also linked with an 11 per cent lower incidence of cancer.

Scientists say the genes help the body’s cells maintain and repair themselves, protecting the person from ageing, and environmental damage like smoking. Continue reading →

Coca-cola is over 120 years old. Only seven people in the history of the world have known the Coke formula. No matter how large, corporations are great at keeping secrets. Drug giant Eli Lilly is no exception. While working as an organic chemist, I was appalled to learn how they methodically kept natural remedies from the watchful eye of the media, especially when it involved effective cancer fighters like Madagascar periwinkle. Continue reading →

I’m certain if you were to poll women and ask whether they’d rather have lawns with no weeds or be able to keep their breasts, the answer would be the latter! And yet billions of tons of pesticides are spread all over our lawns, on our kids’ soccer fields, at our parks and on our crops, regardless of the mounting scientific evidence that directly links these toxic chemicals to breast cancer and other types of cancers.

Here’s a list of harmful but common chemicals found in our food, food packaging, food containers, and water supply as well as some ways to avoid or limit your exposure. Continue reading →