What Women Need To Know About Environmental Causes of Cancer

What Women Need To Know About Environmental Causes of Cancer — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

Last week the Breast Cancer Fund released it’s State of the Evidence Report for 2008. The 2008 report, provides the most comprehensive listing to-date of chemicals linked to breast cancer. It also provides a much more complex picture of breast cancer causation than traditionally accepted, one in which timing, mixtures and dose of environmental exposures interact with genes and lifestyle factors.

In conjunction with the release of this report, they also held a blogger-only telephone conference to discuss the report. The informative conference featured Janet Gray, Ph.D., and Breast Cancer Fund Executive Director Jeanne Rizzo, R.N., and for an hour they took questions from bloggers on the latest studies linking environmental exposures to breast cancer.

Findings…

While each study, chemical and exposure source alone doesn’t tell the whole story, looking at them together allows us to better understand how to prevent the disease. Learn more about major emerging themes in breast cancer causation through the links below.

• Complexity of breast cancer causation
• Timing of exposure matters
• Mixtures: Chemicals, radiation and genes

Sources of Exposure…

Learn more about where and how we come into contact with chemicals and radiation linked to increased breast cancer risk. Then learn what can be done to reduce those exposures.

• Air pollution
• Consumer exposures
• Occupational exposures
• Pesticides
• Radiation

Chemicals of Concern by Type…

The evidence is divided into three main sections, examining the scientific links to breast cancer within each category. Click on each category for an overview and list of chemical fact sheets.

• Chemical carcinogens
• Hormones and endocrine disrupting compounds
• Radiation

There is also a Moving Forward section that outlines state and federal policy recommendations…

Together with other breast cancer prevention, women’s health, environmental health and environmental justice advocates, the Breast Cancer Fund seeks to make policy changes—in states and nationally—that will mean less breast cancer for our children and grandchildren.

If you would like to listen to the one hour conference call discussing these new findings, it was made into a podcast at Ready Talk.

Here is some of what other participants in the conference are blogging about…

From Girl-Woman-Beauty-Brains-Blog

According to Dr. Gray and Ms. Rizzo, two themes emerged in examining the evidence related to environmental risks and breast cancer:

• Mixtures: In real life, we are not exposed to single chemicals but chemical cocktails. There is growing evidence that supports the need to further study the interaction between chemicals, radiation, and genes.
• Timing of exposure. Scientists now know that the timing, duration, and pattern of exposure are at least as important as the dose. Mammary cells are more susceptible to the carcinogenic effects of hormones, chemicals, and radiation during early stages of development, from the prenatal period through puberty and adolescence, and on until the first full-term pregnancy.

From Frances Ellen Speaks - At Your Own Risk

A good place to start would be to throw away those plastic containers you use for warming up foods in the microwave. Switch to glass containers. It’s a proven fact that toxic chemicals contained in plastic leach into food during the warming process.

And if you’ve been using plastic baby bottles–STOP.

Following is a small section of the report regarding plastics.

The three plastics that have been shown to leach toxic chemicals when heated, worn or put under pressure are polycarbonate (leaches bisphenol A), polystyrene (leaches styrene) and PVC (leaches phthalates).

Bisphenol A is used in the linings of cans, baby bottles, sports water bottles and dental sealants. The evidence about bisphenol A and its many effects on human health is convincing and growing. Studies funded by the chemical industry say it’s harmless; non-industry studies show it’s a powerful hormone-disruptor linked to breast cancer.

From The Breast Cancer Fund Blog

Equipped with this strong foundation of science, together we have much work to do. This release is really a beginning, not an end. We’ll keep you posted on the reach and impact of State of the Evidence 2008.

Also See:

Nina’s Interview with Dr. Susan Love…

When Olivia’s “Cruise for Our Cause” heads to the Caribbean on March 30, 2008 it will be the first cruise experience dedicated to breast cancer, women’s health awareness and research funding. So it’s timely that we catch up with Dr. Susan Love, President and Medical Director of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. Her name and life work is synonymous with the breast cancer advocacy movement and it’s an absolute honor to have her participate in our money talk.

And, my previous post on environmental causes of breast cancer.

Is Money Making You Stressed? It Could Be Making You Sick Too.

Stressing Over Money Can Make You Sick — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

Do you stress over money? I do. With the way the economy is going, if you’re not stressing over money now, you sure could be in the near future. Gas prices are going up, home values are going down, and what money we do have is buying less and less. The thing about stressing over money is…It doesn’t pay the bills. What it can do is make you sick.

Yes, stressing over money (or anything for that matter) can and does make you sick. How sick? Here is an excerpt from an article at About.com, that addresses Health Problems Associated With Stress…

Science is constantly learning about the impact that stress has on your overall health. Stress is or may be a contributing factor in everything from backaches and insomnia to cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome (many people believe that CFS and fibromyalgia are the same illness).

Stress is often a key factor when women experience either absence of menstruation or abnormal bleeding. Hormonal imbalances caused by stress may proliferate the symptoms of fibroid tumors and endometriosis, as well as make pregnancy difficult to achieve for couples with fertility problems.

Heart disease is the number one killer of American women. High blood pressure, heart attacks, heart palpitations, and stroke may be stress related cardiovascular conditions. Some women experience changes in their sexuality and encounter various sexual dysfunctions such as loss of desire and vaginal dryness as a result of stress.

Often people feel the effects of stress as fatigue, various aches and pains, headaches, or as emotional disorders such as anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances. Stress affects others by causing gastrointestinal disorders such as ulcers, lower abdominal cramps, colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Frequently people under the effects of over stress will have more colds and infections due to lowered immune system responses. Stress can initiate dermatological conditions such as itchy skin and rashes.

Wow. That’s a lot of problems. So, what is a person to do? Well, learning to control the things we can control, and letting go of the rest, is a good first step…and potentially, the hardest step. Maybe we can find something that will help…

Here is a post from ChEsKa’S pRiDe — The 10 Essentials for Relieving Stress

Also check out WebMD’s Letting Go of Stess.

Everyone feels stressed these days. But do you really know what that means? Do you understand what daily stress does to your body, mind and spirit? Over the next four weeks, you’ll learn to identify exactly what causes you stress. Equally important, you’ll find out how to manage your stress and become more relaxed.

From About.com — Money, Stress, and Happiness

If you stress about money, you’re not alone: a significant amount of Americans are deeply in debt, living beyond their means, don’t have a clear plan to solve their financial problems, and stress about it quite a bit. The fear, stress and conflict associated with money issues can also impact your personal happiness. The following resources can help you to create a plan for yourself to get out of debt, if necessary, make your money go further, and plan for your future. Once you have a plan, you should feel significantly less stressed about money. When money is less of an issue, rather than being enslaved by it, you can use it to do the things that make you truly happy.

Also See:

Your 6 Biggest Money Problems, Solved.

Are you stressing over money? Is it making you sick? Is there something special you do that helps reduce your stress?

Universal Healthcare, Medicaid, and Cancer

Universal Healthcare, Medicaid, and Cancer - by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer) 

I’m not sure how much we really needed a study to determine that uninsured people are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer too late to be treated successfully. In most cases, a person actually needs to see a doctor to be diagnosed with a disease. So, is anyone surprised to find out that poor, uninsured people, aren’t going to the doctor? I didn’t think so. The only thing this study does do, is underscore the healthcare crisis we are currently facing (with 47 million Americans uninsured), and the need for all Americans to have access to quality healthcare. However, in order to prevent this study from being used as an argument for some type of universal healthcare…Medicaid has been thrown into the mix.

Here is an example from The New York Times, of how the news of this new study is being reported…

A nationwide study has found that the uninsured and those covered by Medicaid are more likely than those with private insurance to receive a diagnosis of cancer in late stages, often diminishing their chances of survival.

Cleverly, someone decided to throw a monkey wrench into this study, by comparing having no insurance at all, to having Medicaid. I say “cleverly”, because without that little snip-it of information, this study would appear to be the perfect argument for universal healthcare. But now some can argue, that Medicaid is a government program that isn’t working…So, how could the government ever be capable of implementing a healthcare program that would work?

From WebMD…

Researchers say the findings should have important implications for the nation’s health care system and policy decisions about health care reform.

Here is what Jude, from First Draft thinks, in a post titled “Two Americas“…

Now, this might not be the biggest revelation ever, but it seems that people who don’t pay a lot for their health care get lesser-quality care. I can hear the wingers already screaming that this is obviously a failure of public insurance, as private insurance leads to better care.

I admit, I know very little about Medicaid, but when you dig a little deeper into the reporting of this study, it appears there is more to the “Medicaid” aspect then meets the eye.

This study seems to find that having Medicaid is still better than being one of the 47 million that are uninsured…

Results showed that uninsured patients were 90% more likely and Medicaid patients were 40% more likely to be diagnosed with stage II than stage I disease compared with those who had either private insurance or Medicare (difference not significant between the two latter groups).

And, are the Medicaid patients in this study mostly from nursing homes? If so, this study on Medicaid and nursing homes seems to indicate the problem is more to do with the actual care being given in nursing homes, and less to do with being insured with Medicaid.

A study in the January 2008 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggests that Medicaid patients in nursing home care receive limited cancer services. While the prevalence of cancer in nursing home patients is 1 in 10, according to Dr. Bradley and coauthors this population has received little attention in outcomes research.

The report concludes that nursing home patients had a preponderance of late or unstaged disease, high mortality with a few months of diagnosis, low hospice use, and very little cancer-directed treatment, even among patients with early stage cancer where treatment can alleviate symptoms.

I’m pointing these discrepancies out because - If this study is really going to be used to help determine our country’s healthcare policy, then we need to understand a few things. Most importantly, that the problems facing Medicaid are much different than the problems facing any plan to insure the uninsured. In other words…Don’t use statistics on orange trees, to determine whether or not to grow an apple tree.

Also see:

Health Insurance only for the Healthy — If 47 million uninsured Americans is not high enough a number of vulnerable people who often do not visit the doctor soon enough to receive an early cancer diagnosis leading to a higher cancer survival rate, Blue Cross of California is looking to increase the number of uninsured — with the help of doctors.

Sweet Surrender — C is for CANCER

Anyway, I still don’t know what this post is really about, I guess it could mean different things to different people. If you have good insurance it may mean one thing…but if you have a parent in a nursing home, or are uninsured yourself, probably something totally different. What does this information mean to you? Will these issues have any affect on how you vote in November?

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
CatherineBlogs, The Political Voices of Women, Care2 Election Blog

Gardasil For Boys Too?

This is from Mir at BlogHer.  Gardasil’s Back in the News:  Boys Now Need It, Too?

There’s been a lot of talk here at BlogHer about Gardasil, over the past year or so. I wrote about it a year ago, trying to articulate my feelings on it as a mom to a daughter who would soon be eligible for vaccination. Catherine Morgan has kept her finger on the pulse of the matter with multiple posts, including pointing out that several young girls have died within hours of receiving the vaccination.

My initial optimism was, perhaps, premature.

In the meantime, various states have been discussing mandating the vaccine, or trying to, with varying levels of success. (Check out Vaccine Awakening for a good explanation of what recently happened in the Virginia legislature.)

And now there’s this — HPV-caused oral cancer is on the rise in men, prompting Merck to seek government approval to make Gardasil available to boys, as well.

READ FULL POST AT BLOGHER

Also See:

What is Not Being Reported about the Merck Cervical Cancer Vaccine

Ten Reasons Why HPV Vaccine is ‘Murky’

Gardasil:  The Three Faces of the HPV Vaccine

First Update

Second Update

Third Update

Healthy Living: The Great American Health Challenge

Healthy Living and The Great American Health Challenge — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

We’ve been talking a lot about making healthy lifestyle changes since the New Year. If you are one of the millions that wants to become healthier in 2008, you may be interested in this program…

The American Cancer Society is introducing an exciting new program on Thursday, it’s called The Great American Health Challenge. The campaign is designed as a comprehensive prevention and early detection program. It’s a simple program with four interactive tools to provide information and encourage healthy lifestyles.

The Great American Health Challenge is based on four simple things…

1) Check — Take a quick quiz that screens you for potential risk factors, and promotes early detection and treatment.

2) Move — Encouraging exercise by finding activities that are best suited for your lifestyle.

3) Nourish — Maintain a healthy weight, learn about healthy eating and get tips on diet and nutrition.

4) Quit — Information and tools to help you quit smoking.

So that’s it, four easy steps that could help you prevent cancer and heart disease.

You can also participate in BlogHer’s Good Health-A-Thon.

BlogHer’s Good Health-a-thon is all about what we can do, little by little, day by day, week by week and month by month to live healthier. It’s not a matter of saying “I’m going to go to the gym more this year” and then reviewing your progress in January of 2009, only to discover you haven’t actually used your gym card since mid-February.

Instead, the point of the Good Health-a-thon is to have each of us set simple, attainable, health-related goals for ourselves throughout the year. Our goals can be anything we want, but with the idea of broadening our definition of “health” well beyond calorie counting.

See: Week One

Other recent BlogHer Health and Wellness posts you might be interested in…

Body Image, Dieting, and Your New Years Resolution

Weighing In on the New Years Dieting Frenzy

Four Tips That Could Prolong Your Life

Ten Random Tips For Weight Loss

Journey To Physical Fitness and More

Fitness: It Changed My Life

Curvy Moms Are Brainier

Beans Are A Great Choice For Good Health

Online Diet and Fitness Tools

How Do You Choose To Diet?

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at CatherineBlogs.com and The Political Voices of Women

Healthcare Crisis: SCHIP, HMOs, and Universal Healthcare, what can we do?

Healthcare Crisis: HMOs, Universal Healthcare, SCHIP, and the 2008 Presidential Election — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

I don’t think I go one day without reading or hearing about someone facing medical issues, and not having adequate health insurance. Cancer patients who can’t afford their treatment, coverage denied for people with insurance, uninsured kids, and people who are working hard to support their families, and still don’t have health insurance.

Just the other day on my Women 4 Hope blog…I had a young man comment about being told he had sleep apnea, and that he needed a special devise to help him breath at night or he could die. Oddly, his insurance company won’t cover the cost of this piece of equipment. How can that be? This young man has resourcefully started a blog in hopes to find a used machine, or raise enough money to purchase a new one.

So, how is it…That we are the richest country in the world, but we can’t afford to make sure our own citizens have quality affordable health insurance? This is actually a question I intend to pose to the presidential candidates at the10 Questions project, later this weekend (I’ll post the video here in comments, once I have it ready).

It’s beginning to appear that…Only the wealthy, and most poverty stricken people in this country are guaranteed health care. If you are not at one extreme or the other, your life could very well be on the line. That just doesn’t seem right? Yet, it is the reality for many people.

I didn’t see the movie SICKO, but I have heard Michael Moore speak of his belief that the insurance companies (especially HMOs), are the main problem in this healthcare crisis we are facing. And I agree. Of course insurance companies need to be profitable, but over the last 20 years or so, they have really began a systematic pillaging of the American people. HMOs are said to be “managed healthcare”, but unfortunately the only thing they are doing a good job at managing, is their shareholders money.

These insurance companies have no vested interest in the actual health of the customers they “serve” (I use that word lightly), and actually make their own rules, while having no accountability at all. At the very least, HMOs should change their name to reflect what they really are…PMHDs (Profit Making Health Dictators).

READ FULL POST AT BLOGHER

Invisible Toxins In Everyday Products Are Making You And Your Family Sick

image from

Invisible Toxins In Everyday Products Are Making You And Your Family Sick — by Catherine Morgan

Are You Unknowingly Making Your Child Sick? Moms need to know what invisible toxins are in the everyday products they provide to their children.

A disturbing story came to light this week, from CNN’s Planet In Peril series. Our children are being exposed to such high levels of industrial chemicals, that studies are showing many of them to have up to seven times greater levels in their blood than their parents. Think about that for a minute. If their levels are this high now…How high do you think they will be by the time they are adults?

With so many cancers and chronic illnesses being blamed on environmental causes…How sick do you think these children might be by the time they are parents? How many might be unable to be parents? We are talking about chemicals that are known carcinogens, and known to be in products we and our children are using every day. It’s a much larger problem than I had ever realized…especially for our children.

Of course, we can not be sure how these exposures will affect our children’s future health, only time will tell. But, if these studies are any indication, the future is very troubling.

READ FULL POST AT BlogHer

Respiratory Care Week

When Breathing Hurts — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer) 

With all the attention breast cancer gets this month, it’s easy to forget that there are many other diseases that are also recognized in October. Next week, October 21st -27nd is Respiratory Care week, so I decided to devote this post to Lung Disease awareness, and some of the bloggers that are giving it to us.

There are many different types of lung disease…COPD, Asthma, Lung Cancer, TB, Cystic Fibrosis, Sleep Apnea, to name a few. All of these conditions can range from mild symptoms to severe, and even if you don’t suffer from one of them, it’s very likely you know someone who does.

READ FULL POST AT BLOGHER

(image from)

Oprah Show Controversy: Dr. Northrup Seems To Be Blaming Women For Their Diseases

Is Your Illness All Your Fault? — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

It seem that Oprah has ruffled a few feathers while explaining her recent bout with thyroid problems. Some are saying that she is just using a thyroid problem as an excuse for a recent 20 pound weight gain. Others find her method of treatment [a one month trip to her Hawaii estate for total relaxation and healthy eating] to be a bit grandiose, and not exactly a treatment available to the average woman with thyroid disease. And then others are a bit taken back by her “expert” Dr. Northrup, and her attempt to blame the patients (mostly women) for their thyroid disease.

See what I mean at Oprah’s Thyroid Club (with 85 comments) —From The New York Times

…The downside is that the talk show host has been vague about her diagnosis and treatment and even suggested that her body’s imbalance of thyroid hormones was the result of working too hard and not relaxing enough. Her main “treatment” approach seemed to be quitting work for a month and eating only fresh food at her tropical Hawaiian estate.

“While good nutrition, exercise, and self-care are certainly part of overall good health, they are not likely to cure your thyroid condition,’’ writes Mary Shoman, founder of a well-known thyroid disease Web site and the author of several books on the topic. “It may have worked for Oprah, but …I doubt most of us could ever aspire to such a luxurious recuperation.”

Ms. Winfrey hasn’t detailed her specific diagnosis, but Ms. Shoman says the description sounds like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease that is characterized by the thyroid’s gradual decline into hypothyroidism, interspersed with periods “when the thyroid sputters to life and becomes temporarily overactive.” Avoiding medical treatment is only an option for those with very mild thyroid problems, notes Ms. Shoman, who worries some women may try to self-treat rather than consulting a doctor about their symptoms…

BlogHer Contributing Editor Laurie wrote:

“Here’s what else Dr. Northrup has to say about thyroid disease:

“In many women thyroid dysfunction develops because of an energy blockage in the throat region, the result of a lifetime of ’swallowing’ words one is aching to say. In the name of preserving harmony, or because these women have learned to live as relatively helpless members of their families or social groups, they have learned to stifle their self-expression….It’s no coincidence that so many more women than men have thyroid problems. Thyroid disease is related to expressing your feelings…”"

For me, there is no doubt that some degree of a mind/body connection exists. Personally, I know that when under great stress or anxiety, that my medical problems will often become worse. However, there is a thin line between “connection” and “blame”…and it seems this Dr. Northrup may have just crossed that line.

This is what she had to say…

Dr. Northrup says your health depends on what’s going on with your mind, body and soul, and your symptoms are actually your soul’s way of bringing deeper issues to your attention. “You’re in labor with yourself because everything that no longer serves your highest purpose and your optimal health starts to go away and your body gives you signals—’Hey, you’ve been putting too much stuff under the carpet emotionally, nutritionally, not exercising … putting everyone else first. The kids, the husband, the job, whatever,’” Dr. Northrup says. “And your soul is saying, ‘What about me? What about me?’ And your body will start getting symptoms to hit you over the head with till you wake up.”

Well, that just doesn’t make much sense…There are plenty of depressed people that don’t have a single medical problem wrong with them, as there are plenty of people who suffer with numerous medical issues that are not in the least bit depressed.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all just go to our “happy place” and will our medical problems away? Yes, it sure would be…But, in “reality” medical problems happen…regardless of your state of mind. So all of this talk about Thyroid disease stemming from an underlying emotional problem…well, no wonder why people are getting a bit upset. Oprah may be spotlighting thyroid disease, but the medical community blaming the patient for their health problems is not new at all. Just ask anyone who suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowl Syndrome, just to name a few. And actually, Dr. Northrup names many more…

The first thing Dr. Northrup wants Rachel to do is to make a list of five things she wants to do—and then do them! The five things Rachel chooses to do may help improve her health in the long run. “When you do those, they decrease cellular inflammation. This isn’t just some kind of pop psychology. They decrease inflammation in your cells and cellular inflammation is the beginning of all chronic degenerative disease,” she says. “So headaches, high blood pressure, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, it all begins with cellular inflammation. Things that bring you joy quell stress hormones in the body and decrease cellular inflammation.”

I imagine Dr. Northrup doesn’t actually suffer from any of these pesky “cellular inflammations”, otherwise how could she even say any of this with a straight face. She is basically saying that people with cancer, thyroid disease, and many other chronic illnesses, have brought this all on themselves. When someone suffering hears this kind of crazy talk, they actually begin to believe that their illness is their own fault. And that’s not even the worst thing. What is worse, is when that person believes that if they could just emotionally “fix” themselves, they could make themselves better [in this case, just like Oprah]. And when they don’t get better…again, they will feel it is their own fault.

From Stop The Thyroid Madness

And when she finally has a program which somewhat addresses the thyroid issue this week, she allows her hallowed guest, Dr. Christiane Northrup, to state “your symptoms are actually your soul’s way of bringing deeper issues to your attention.” Hogwash! And thyroid patient Mary Shoman has rightly proclaimed that “thyroid disease is NOT your fault, despite what Dr. Northrup says.”

How do you feel about these comments by Dr. Northrup?

Also See:

Domestic Divapalooza

The Beach Life

THE MAGAZINE ARTICLE THAT STARTED IT ALL

What’s the number, Oprah? — from Cardiogirl

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at CatherineBlogs.com and The Political Voices of Women

Breast Cancer Treatment…What Is Your Life Worth?

Breast Cancer Treatment…What Is Your Life Worth? — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

Revolutionary new cancer drugs offer hope where there was none. But the price tag may be too high for some to bear.

Many Americans are already having to decide between food on the table and their prescription medications. The health care crisis is hitting hard, and the cost of prescription drugs is sky-rocketing. But what happens when you have to decide between expensive breast cancer treatments to save your life, and paying the mortgage on your house? How much could you afford to spend, to save your life? It’s not even a fair question to ask, but many cancer patients are being forced to answer it.

This is an excerpt from a recent article in SELF magazine…

Seven months after being diagnosed with stage IIIB inflammatory breast cancer, 37-year-old Diekmeyer had spent nearly 100 days in doctors’ offices or the hospital near her Ohio home. She’d had five surgeries, with another scheduled for September; slogged through more than three months of grisly chemotherapy; suffered the indignities of baldness and violent nausea. After all that, she still didn’t know if she’d survive the year. But Diekmeyer had another, more immediate, fear keeping her up nights. Because of mounting medical bills, she was worried she might lose her home.

Marianna took a look at “What is your life worth?” — Marianna is a military veteran with over 16 years of service, and is a college graduate with degrees in political science and human resource. This is what she thinks…

Ever the advocate for women’s health and the pursuit of advancing women’s issues in medical science, I was reading Self Magazine’s article bought today while flipping through the stacks of magazines to buy while contemplating what to make for dinner (okay I digress……) in regards to the journey of several women plagued with cancer and the expensive drugs out there being sold to save their lives. — read her full post here

As a nurse working on an oncology unit many years ago, I would sometimes think about whether or not I would choose to have debilitating chemo treatments if I were ever diagnosed with an incurable cancer. Not that I wouldn’t want to live, I just sometimes wondered, if I were faced with the dilemma of quality vs. quantity, what would I choose? I never thought back then, that I (or anyone else for that matter) might someday be faced with not even having a choice. But that is exactly what is happening today.

Breast Cancer Awareness: Do you know what your environmental risks are?

Click here to see what the numbers mean in this picture.

Breast Cancer Awareness: The Environmental Risks — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

I was honored to be asked and participate in a phone conference this week on breast cancer, sponsored by LUNA and the Breast Cancer Fund, together they have established Pure Prevention. The call brought two nationally recognized environmental health experts, Dr. Janet Gray and the Executive Director of the Breast Cancer Fund, Jeanne Rizzo, to answer questions from a selected group of health bloggers. It was an hour conference that anyone can listen to here.

The focus of this conference and Pure Prevention, is to look at ways a woman can lower her risk of breast cancer by lowering her environmental risks. Many of these risks I was not even aware of, so I am grateful to have been a part of this discussion. My thanks to Cynthia Samuels for inviting me to participate.

Because only 1 out of 10 women who have breast cancer have a genetic history of the disease, what women put on and in their bodies can make the difference. Pure Prevention is a new campaign that seeks to expand on the “cure-centered” breast cancer conversation by helping women identify the environmental causes of the disease and inspiring them to make smart choices about the products they use every day.

One of the questions I asked, was about environmental risks that might not be getting enough attention, and that many women might be unaware of. Several were brought to my attention, including “ionizing radiation” and “electromagnetic fields“. However, the one I found most disturbing, was about the chemicals that are known to be dangerous but are still being used in the packaging of our foods. So even when you are eating a healthy diet, you could still be ingesting many chemicals that could be harmful your health. Frustrating isn’t it?

Did You Know There Is An “Invisible” Form Of Breast Cancer? (With YouTube Video)

An “Invisible” Form Of Breast Cancer — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

I started writing this post to cover a new study on the benefits of using MRI for the diagnosis of breast cancer (full report). It’s an important study, especially for women in a high risk category.

In the process of collecting information on the MRI study, I found myself wondering if an MRI could detect Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC)?

Skin Cancer Prevention - The Facts and the Controversy.

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Skin Cancer Prevention — The Facts and the Controversy (cross posted at BlogHer.org - by Catherine Morgan

A post on skin cancer prevention…That’s easy enough; avoid sunburns, use sunscreen, and check your skin for unusual sores or changing moles. O.K. all done. Well, it turns out it’s a little more complicated than all that. So, let’s take some time to understand the facts and the controversy surrounding skin cancer prevention. Yes, I said controversy. Surprised? You shouldn’t be…Isn’t there a controversy surrounding just about every issue now a days? You’re shaking your head right now aren’t you? Because you know it’s true.

But seriously, here are some of the facts about skin cancer…

Cancer, Chronic Illness, and Online Communities

image from gypsy ribbons

Not too long ago, I did a post on BlogHers living, coping and blogging with chronic illness. At that time I hadn’t included BlogHers blogging with cancer, although I do agree that cancer is becoming more and more a chronic illness.

Cancer is in the news a lot these days. Elizabeth Edwards’ breast cancer, Fred Thompson’s lymphoma, Tony Snow’s prostate cancer are a few that made the headlines. But what’s most interesting about these reports is that they all are about cancer survivorsh