“Show Us Yer Tits!” And other inappropriate ways to draw attention to the perils of these lady parts

If you haven’t noticed that, being October, it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month you must be walking around with your head stuck in your shirt sleave (if this is the case, I suggest looking in the mirror before heading out from now on). There is pink-ribboned stuff everywhere, countless ads on the telly, and breast screen vans positioned all over the place. In the States, KFC is even getting behind the cause. If you think eating KFC is going to reduce breast cancer risk, you must be sillier than Sam (I don’t know who Sam is but for the sake off alliteration, he is silly). I’m probably going to rub a few people the wrong way with this post, but I can’t let the month pass by without voicing my opinion. Wait a sec while I don my plastic raincoat and prepare to dodge flying rotten fruit. Okay, here goes my rant …

Most people expect that I will be right into Breast Cancer Month festivities, given that I have cancer and all, but the fact is that I don’t see the point. Raising the awareness that too many women are getting breast cancer is all well and good, in fact it is great, but where is this awareness getting us? The situation is no better now than when the awareness campaigns began. Since its inception in October 1994, the National Breast Cancer Foundation has allocated more than $55 million to breast cancer research. Despite this, the medical industry is still no closer to finding a cure. So, where is the money really going? From your pockets it goes to the NBCF. From there it goes into skyrocketing the already ridiculously inflated bank balance of the pharmaceutical industry (a multi-billion dollar industry). These guys use the money to come up with and trial new drugs to be used in the treatment of cancer. The drugs will then be sold to cancer patients, in spite of how effective they truly are, at a generous price of tens of thousands of dollars a pop.

If that still sounds like a pretty sweet deal, let’s delve deeper into the scam. Prevention still focuses mainly on early screening and detection, including extensive use of mammograms, some attention to diet and lifestyle and precious little on toxins and environmental factors. Likewise, research into the “cure” continues to pour into surgery, patentable chemo drugs and radiation – the same methods that have been used since the start of the War on Cancer. Despite some optimistic juggling of statistics, the fact remains that more people are acquiring and dying of cancer each year by relying on such tried and failed methods.

Mammograms are not just painful and unnecessary, but they are dangerous!
Many women subject themselves to the torturous ordeal of having a mammogram because they believe the act is the best way to catch breast cancer. Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first? Good? Good. Mammograms are useless. The bad news is that they are dangerous.

A study by researchers from the University of Nebraska and the John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, cast fresh doubt on the widespread assumption that regular mammograms save lives, showing that 2,970 women must be screened for breast cancer in order to prevent even one death.

“For a woman in the screening subset of mammography-detectable cancers, there is a less than 5 percent chance that a mammogram will save her life,” wrote the researchers.

Mammograms are not only lousy at saving lives, but they also lead to unnecessary surgery. In 2001, a study known as the Cochrane analysis found that if 2,000 women underwent regular screening for 10 years, one life would be saved but another 10 women would undergo unnecessary treatment such as surgery or radiation. Mammograms may also increase the risk of causing and spreading cancer by the force that is used to squeeze the breast tissue. Benign tumours may become activated, and actual cancerous tumours may become more aggressive and may release cancer cells into the bloodstream.

A safer option
As well as feeling for lumps and changes in your breasts yourself at home, there is another early detection test that is more effective and much safer than a mammogram. However, it doesn’t make anyone as much money as a mammogram and is therefore rarely offered unless asked for. I’m talking about thermography. According to a report by Natural News.com, a breast thermogram has the ability to identify a breast abnormality five to ten years before the problem can be found on a mammogram. Plus, a thermogram does not use radiation, and can be done as frequently as anyone thinks is necessary. Thermograms work by creating infra-red images (heat pictures) that are then analysed to find asymmetries anywhere in the chest and underarm area. Breast thermography detects patterns of heat generated by the increased circulation produced by abnormal metabolic activity in cancer cells. This activity occurs long before a cancer starts to invade new tissue.

What about mastectomies?
I’m so shocked to read about women who actually have their breasts removed as a preventative measure against breast cancer. And so many other women are saying that they would do the same thing if breast cancer ran in their family. As a result of mammograms and MRI’s, many women, with the advice and consent of their doctors, opt to have radical mastectomies, which involve removal of one or both breasts along with underlying muscle tissue and lymph nodes under the arm. Gosh. Not only is it extreme mutilation but, again, it is unnecessary.

A study of 1,851 women at the University of Pittsburgh found that having a mastectomy would barely improve chances of survival. According to researchers, survival does not depend on such surgery because breast cancer is fundamentally a systemic disease, not one that simply spreads from an initial site. Duh!

So here’s my idea. Why not raise awareness of the real causes and ways to prevent cancer. Sure, these methods may not be as lucrative as the conventional treatment as it stands today, but they will save a heck of a lot more lives. These include exercise, detoxifying your liver, eating an organic plant-based diet, achieving alkalinity in your body, meditation and relaxation. These methods are not only free (except for food, but everyone has to eat anyway right?) but they will not impinge on your quality of life at all. They will actually improve it. So let’s raise money for appropriate charities like the Gerson Institute and the Gawler Foundation and host Girl’s Nights In where we indulge in healthy food, organic teas and fresh organic veggie juices. That is what Breast Cancer Awareness Month should be about.

Here is a really inspiring story about Dr Lorraine Day who beat breast cancer the au naturalé way. I particularly love the letter she writes socking it to her critics!

What are your thoughts on this topic? Are you with me, or do you think I’m just talking turkey? I would love to hear what you think.

Positive affirmation for the day: Today I am developing a world of peace for myself, both inside and out. Today I know that I am always only one breath away from peace and serenity.

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Jess Ainscough