Cancer screenings and such

Dr. John Briffa in his post today, here, talks about the statistics regarding mammograms.  We are often given high percentages of lives saved from mammograms.  New studies now tell us the percentage of lives saved is way lower than the 25% number bandied about, perhaps as low as 3%.  Why?  Well, the cancer may have been easily detected by other means and treated successfully at a later date.  The cancer may have been one the woman could die WITH--not of.  Just because a mammogram detected a cancer early does not guarantee that it was life-saving!  But those who sell mammograms don't necessarily want you to hear those statistics.

While we're on this subject, let's ask more questions--like is there a downside to mammograms?  It turns out there are big ones, not the least of which is that mammograms are executed with ionizing radiation.  Ionizing radiation can cause genetic changes that result in cancers!  WHAT?  The diagnostic tool for cancer can cause cancer?  What's with that?

It turns out there are some other problems with this cancer screening tool and others, too, that the purveyors of these tests do not tell you, although these downsides are well known, well documented and you OUGHT to know them!!   How come?  Well, I bet you thought medicine was about helping people be healthier, didn't you?  No, FIRST, medicine is a money making business.  And like all money-making businesses, the thing they're about (making money) takes precedence over all other concerns.

I know, I sound very cynical, don't I?  Perhaps.  And I don't think you should give up doctors and medicine.  What I think is that you darn well ought to know more about what you're signing on for before you do.  For more about the risks of various cancer screening tests -- the ones you don't hear from those who order, execute or profit from these tests, read my e-book, "How to be a Smarter Health Care Consumer" here.

Even more importantly, remember in a culture that promotes fear of cancer, we have a huge body of evidence that all cancers fall into the category of "diseases of civilization."  Indigenous populations all over the earth for millions of years, but even today--when they eat their native diet--do not have cancers of any kind!

I just finished a book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" by Weston Price, written in 1939 after he and his wife traveled the world documenting native populations before and after they were exposed to 'civilized' foods.  We've been sold a huge bill of goods about what's healthy eating--not the least of which is the whole grains crap and the low fat/saturated fat fiasco.  So to wrap up this blog today, let me just say and cancer does not have to be a consideration for modern people, but if you believe conventional wisdom and eat that way (putting toxins in your mouth three times a day) maybe you have good reason to be afraid of cancer and other diseases of civilisation.  But it doesn't have to be so.

Vibrant good health is your birthright, but you have to quit believing what you hear from the Medical Industrial Complex and what the grain growers and vegetable oil producers of the world would have you believe.  Read more, follow the money and enjoy (or return to) your healthy birthright. 

Ellie   http://mindingthemiddleagedmiddle.com