Blog Entries by Samuel S. Epstein

Risks From Toxic Ingredients In Cosmetics, And Personal Care Products

4 Comments | Posted September 17, 2009 | 10:25 AM (EST)


The Cancer Prevention Coalition and Organic Consumers Association warn of major risks to health from the great majority of cosmetics and personal care products.

As the Obama Administration works with Congress to pass comprehensive health care reform legislation this year, President Barack Obama told reporters at the...

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Response To Dr. Susan Love's Post On Breast Cancer

1 Comments | Posted September 15, 2009 | 03:20 PM (EST)


Dr. Susan Love is a distinguished breast cancer surgeon who works in close collaboration with the giant Avon cosmetics and personal care products company. Candidly, she claims no expertise for scientific qualifications on the causes and prevention of breast cancer. Nevertheless, in her September 5, 2009 posting, she challenges...

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The National Cancer Institute Should Delay Its Collaboration With Love/Avon

8 Comments | Posted September 4, 2009 | 02:53 PM (EST)


In August 2009, the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) and the Love/Avon Army of Women announced that they intended to collaborate. Their objective is to develop a computerized initiative to recruit and study women is order to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer....

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A Global Model for Health Care

Posted August 20, 2009 | 03:11 PM (EST)


Imagine a world in which even the remotest inhabitants have access to good health care. That's the vision of Health for Humanity, an international, not-for-profit, Baha'i-inspired organization based in Wilmette, IL. Health for Humanity is founded upon the conviction that humankind constitutes one global family with a common heritage...

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How to Sunbathe Safely

5 Comments | Posted August 13, 2009 | 11:44 AM (EST)


Soon we will see summer's fading days and the seasonal end of our culture's annual fixation with slathering sunscreen products on exposed skin in pursuit of 'safety' or vanity.

You have all heard -- and probably warned your children -- what will happen if they don't use...

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FDA Needs To Dismiss Former Monsanto Counsel

4 Comments | Posted August 11, 2009 | 04:57 PM (EST)


The recent appointment of Michael Taylor as FDA's Senior Food Safety Advisor is of major public health concern.

In 1984, FDA's Deputy Commissioner Taylor, former counsel for Monsanto and the leading national biotech umbrella organization, warned dairy producers and retailers against "hormone-free" labels on milk from cows...

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How To Fight Cancer

1 Comments | Posted August 8, 2009 | 02:23 PM (EST)


Nobelist James Watson's August 5 New York Times Op-Ed "To Fight Cancer, Know Thy Enemy" could not be any more right. However, Watson could not be any more wrong in his belief that new "miracle drugs acting alone or in combination" are the answer. The right answer is to take...

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Safe Breast Self Exam by Young Women vs. Dangers of Mammography

6 Comments | Posted August 5, 2009 | 03:16 PM (EST)


Critics of a Bill promoting training secondary school students to do breast self examinations to detect cancer are ignoring the risks of premenopausal mammography.

On March 26 this year, Representatives Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), supported by other leading Representatives introduced the Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires...

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Nuclear Power Causes Cancer: What Industry Doesn't Want You To Know

Posted August 4, 2009 | 02:02 PM (EST)


Nuclear power, frequently mentioned as one option for meeting future energy needs, would pose a health threat to Americans if a meltdown occurred. But despite meltdowns at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, and many other near-miss accidents, there is another dirty little secret the nuclear industry doesn't want you to...

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An Overdue Ban On A Dangerous Sweetener

36 Comments | Posted August 3, 2009 | 03:01 PM (EST)


Aspartame, first discovered in 1965 by the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle, is an artificial sweetener marketed by Ajinomoto Sweeteners under trademark names including Nutrasweet, Equal and Canderel. After saccharin, aspartame is the commonest sweetener, consumed by over 200 million people worldwide, and represents about 60 percent of the artificial sweetener...

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Another Reason for Health Care Reform: Winning the War on Cancer

3 Comments | Posted July 17, 2009 | 10:11 AM (EST)


The cancer epidemic strikes as many as one in three Americans and takes the
life of one in four. After 37 years of losing the war against cancer (a war that President Nixon originally declared in December 1971), the federal government is utterly failing to protect us from this...

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