Monday, October 12, 2009

Beating cancer -- how to take charge of your cancer cure and outlive the lies of the cancer industry

Here's an example of how backwards health care really is in this country: it's actually front-page news that a cancer center is serving anti-cancer foods in its cafeteria. This is taking place at the Miami Cancer Center at Mercy Hospital. And it's apparently a big deal. Wow! Front-page news. Nation-wide news. Here is a cancer center serving foods that actually prevent cancer. Who woulda thunk it? Just the fact that this is news tells you how backwards the health care system in this country is, because if they're just now serving anti-cancer foods, what on earth have they been serving up until today? Cancer-causing foods?

Today, you can find fast food restaurants, pizza joints and hamburger stands in hospitals all across the country. It should be an embarrassment to organized medicine. It should be an outrage to every patient who enters such an institution. These are supposed to be places of health, yet they are serving people foods with toxic ingredients like sodium nitrate, saturated animal fats, refined white flour in the buns of these hamburgers and MSG in the meats. There's sugar in the tomato sauce, acrylamides in the fried foods, and hardly a speck of life left in the menus of most hospitals. There is truly dangerous food being served right now in cafeterias at cancer centers, hospitals, clinics, and, of course, public schools, all across the country.

Stop killing the hospital patients with junk food

There's a heart surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic who has taken a stand and said, "We want McDonalds out of this clinic. We want these junk food and fast food restaurants out." But the staff there is against him. They say, "We want our junk food. We want our diabetes-promoting, heart disease-promoting, cancer-causing foods. It's our choice." They want this stuff. Gosh, I hate to say it, but have you ever been in a hospital and looked at the health of the nursing staff? I used to volunteer in a nursing home. I have seen it first-hand. These are not the healthiest people in the world, not by a long shot.

I'm sorry if I'm offending anyone with this, especially if you're trying to make a positive difference. I'm not trying to attack any particular individual, but how can we call this health care? How can we call it anything other than a disease care system? It's a sick care system, and the whole system itself is sick. It thrives on sickness. It thrives on keeping people sick by actually feeding them disease-promoting foods as they come into the hospital (and a little more disease-promoting food when they leave the hospital). By the way, right in the middle of your surgery recovery, they're going to bring you more disease-causing foods, right to your bedside. They're going to charge you gourmet meal prices for that food, even while it's loaded with chemicals that will probably make it even harder for your body to recover from whatever surgical procedure you just endured.

How dare they call it medicine

It's just outrageous. Sometimes I get emails from doctors who say I'm outrageous. They say, "How dare you question organized medicine? How dare you think that you know anything about nutrition or healing?" I say back to them, "How dare you claim to be a doctor when you're working in a system that's feeding disease-promoting foods to patients! How dare you claim to be a doctor! On one hand, you claim to have all this medical knowledge, and, on the other hand, you're sick, your staff is sick, your patients are sick and you are feeding them disease-causing foods inside and outside the hospital. You're not even teaching people how to be healthy. How dare you call yourself an M.D. or a doctor! You have no such right."

A medical degree does not give you the right to claim you know how to heal people. You know nothing about healing until you venture outside the bounds of traditional organized medicine and have healed yourself first. If you have a healthy body and mind and a healthy sense of self esteem, and you don't have to step on all the people around you with your over-inflated ego, and if you have the ability to be a healer and share information with people and help uplift people around you, then you can call yourself a doctor, and it doesn't matter what degree you have. You can call yourself a doctor when you are a true healer, not when you have a medical degree and you work in an institution of disease called a hospital or a cancer center.

All hail the cancer center

When I say institutions of disease, I mean it. Look at what they're named -- an institution that's supposed to be treating people with cancer. What's it called? It's called a cancer center, as if it's a center erected to worship cancer. It's a cancer center.

Shouldn't it be called an anti-cancer center? Shouldn't it be called a health or wellness center? Well, no, it's not their focus. Their focus is on cancer. It's called a cancer center, almost as if it's some kind of monument to the disease. I think that all the people whose jobs depend on disease in some way worship the disease. They worship them because those diseases give them job security. The very names of these institutions eliminate any possibility of living in a world free of cancer, because if you have an institution named the Cancer Center, then how in the world can anybody who works there even consider the possibility of curing cancer? Then what would it be? It would be the Empty Cancer Center. It would be the Closed Down Cancer Center.

Shouldn't these institutions really be there to try to help people eliminate cancer? But that's not what all these cancer centers are doing. They are really there to manage these diseases. I say, bring in the alternative healers, and help these people be free of cancer. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to -- clinicians, people trained in herbal medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine, or even those trained in Western medicine -- who are doing some advanced research on cancer. They've cured cancer, or more accurately, they've helped patients cure their own cancers, because cancer is a disease that is actually quite easy to beat, especially if it's caught in the early stages.

This is not a difficult disease to eliminate, but in modern medicine they try to make it complicated. They try to talk about the microbiology of what's happening, at the cellular level, what's happening with the angiogenesis factors and the genetic influences. They try to figure out the biochemistry and physics, but they get lost in all the details. They forget about the big picture, which is, "Hey, we want this patient to be free of cancer. What do we have that really works?"

Many cures for cancer exist right now

At last count, in my own research, I counted 18 cures for cancers -- 18 different cures. They cover all different kinds of cancer: multiple myeloma, brain tumors, leukemia, breast cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer and many others. Eighteen different cures for cancer. Now, the FDA says, "Oh no, you can't claim there's a cure for cancer." And organized medicine says, "Oh no, you can't claim there's a cure. There's no such thing as a cure." Then, if a patient is actually cured using some of these therapies, organized medicine still won't admit they're cured. They don't have the guts to stand up and say that maybe they were wrong, and maybe there is a cure for cancer. They think, "No, no, no, there is no such thing." I don't think any cancer center will admit there is a cure for cancer. They'll say, "No, it's just a permanent remission."

I'm here to tell you that there are cures for cancer. In fact, every day when I go running through the desert, I'm jogging by literally tons and tons of anti-cancer desert plants right outside my back yard. People are being cured of cancer every single day all over the world. They are curing themselves of cancer. It is just that it has been criminalized here in the United States. It has been outlawed because we live in the Dark Ages of modern medicine, in a system of oppression that tries to censor the truth and make curing cancer illegal. It's a system that tries to discredit all these alternative therapies and at the same time, tries to make a fortune managing all of these diseases that are easily preventable and curable if people just turn to therapies like a raw foods diet or the elimination of all animal products and processed foods from their diets.

Remember, it's headline news that this cancer center is serving anti-cancer foods. That tells you just how far behind things are in this country. You would think with all the hundreds of millions of dollars that have gone into cancer research -- this so-called research that's going on to find a cure for cancer -- that with all these doctors who study cancer, all these oncologists trained in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and all this incredible research that the pharmaceutical companies claim to be doing to make your life better... with all this going on, you would think somewhere along the line, somebody would have said, "Gee, maybe we should feed these people some anti-cancer foods."

It's common sense, right? If they put me in charge (which will never happen, so don't worry), I would walk in and scrap that whole menu at the cancer center, and I would give them a menu of serious anti-cancer foods: things like raw, organic vegan foods, loaded with broccoli, sprouts, cauliflower, kale, garlic, beans, berries, raw nuts and the like. After a couple of months of that, and some alternative therapies, those patients would never need to come back. Most of those patients would be free of cancer. Of course, that is one of the many reasons why they would never invite me to come in and do something like that. I would bankrupt these cancer centers by eliminating all their repeat business. I'd send people home cancer-free. And that's bad for business in the cancer industry. Their greatest fear, I believe, is that someone will actually promote a simple cure for cancer. It would wipe out a billion-dollar industry of profit and power.

Cancer cures from nature

Sometimes people say, "Okay, Mike, let's hear what you've got. You're talking big about this stuff. Name some anticancer foods." That's easy. Let's start with broccoli. Get some raw broccoli in your body. Broccoli sprouts are potent anticancer foods. Let's talk about some nutrition supplements -- selenium, zinc and modified citrus pectin for prostate cancer, for example. Vitamin D is a potent moderator of cancer tumor cell growth, so if you get enough vitamin D in your body, you're going to prevent and even help reverse prostate, cervical and breast cancers. The way you get vitamin D is to get some sunshine on your skin. This is not rocket science, folks. Doctors try to make it sound complicated, but it isn't.

You have anticancer properties in blueberries, and in all of the small fruits – blackberries, raspberries, acai and goji berries from Asia. Then you have onion, ginger and garlic. Garlic is phenomenal as an anti-cancer food. It contains sulphur compounds that just obliterate cancer cells. You've got spirulina, which contains anticancer phytochemicals called phycocyanin, which provide a blue-green color. When injected into breast tumors in laboratory studies in Japan, it's been shown to cause breast tumors to self-destruct. You've got chlorella and oxygen treatments. There is a product out there called Cell Food; when you take it into your body, it creates nascent oxygen and hydrogen. This oxygen helps create an environment in the body in which your body naturally eliminates its own cancerous cells. That's just the tip of the iceberg here.

Then you have traditional Chinese medicine, with some powerful anti-cancer herbs. There's an outstanding book on that by Michael Tierra, who is a master herbalist, and really one of the best herbalist authors out there. He's got a book called Treating Cancer with Herbs. This book teaches you about medicinal mushrooms -- the reishi mushrooms and the shitake mushrooms. Beyond that, we have anti-cancer oils: salmon oil, flax oil and cod liver oil. The list just goes on and on.

I haven't really covered them all, but in addition all those healing foods, there are all the foods you can eliminate from your diet to stop poisoning your body and stop giving yourself cancer. What are those foods? Well, there's sodium nitrate, which is in almost every processed meat product, found in every grocery store in the world, so if you just eliminate processed meats, your cancer risk plummets. You should also eliminate hydrogenated oils and partially-hydrogenated oils, both of which strongly promote cancer.

Eliminate homogenized milk and dairy products. Stop drinking liquids excreted from the glands of other species. (You thirsty pervert...) Eliminate all red meat from your diet. Eliminate all liquid refined sugar, such as soft drinks made of high-fructose corn syrup. Eliminate all food additives, preservatives and artificial colors; eliminate MSG, which is known as monosodium glutamate, yeast extract, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and autolyzed vegetable protein. Eliminate aspartame and sucralose and all the artificial chemical sweeteners. Eliminate white flour; stop barbecuing your meat, because barbecuing meat creates chemicals that cause colon cancer and stomach cancer. Stop cooking your food at extremely high temperatures. Or, better yet, become a live foods vegan. I'm just naming off a few things. You can be cancer-free if you follow the recipe.

Curing cancer is not profitable

So why aren't the cancer centers in this country giving people this recipe? It's freely available. I just named off some of the best strategies out there that are very easy to follow. So why aren't cancer centers giving people this information? Ill tell you why. There's no money in it. A world free of cancer is a world without any paying cancer patients. That's why there's virtually NO effort or investment being spent on the prevention of this disease.

The answers to cancer, to living free of this disease, are right here in front of us, right now. You can walk outside your door and look at nature, and those are the answers to cancer right there. It's not that difficult. It's eating foods of different colors; the rainbow diet. There's an anti-cancer strategy right there. There's another book called, Eat to Beat Cancer that lists all the anti-cancer foods out there, everything from nuts and peanuts to legumes, brown rice, onions, kale, spinach and cauliflower. If you do these things right, you won't have cancer. There's another book by Dr. Gabriel Cousens called Conscious Eating that gives you loads of information on using live foods to eliminate chronic disease (and heal the planet, too).

Cancer is not a matter of luck. Only doctors and pharmaceutical companies want you to think it's a matter of luck. If they can convince you to believe that, then you'll go through life thinking it doesn't matter what you eat, and then you are much more likely to have a poor diet and end up with the disease, which makes them a lot of money.

I am just astonished at what we have in this country -- this system that claims to offer health care is a complete myth. There is no health care. There is just disease management, exploitation and profiteering. That's the system we have in this country today, and the fact that it is headline news that a cancer center is serving anti-cancer foods is proof that we still live in the Dark Ages of modern medicine. We still live in an age of censorship and oppression, distortion and propaganda. The organizations out there pushing the pro-cancer propaganda include every major medical association and disease organization you can name. They also include medical journals that disallow the publication of articles on alternative medicine. These are some of the players who are defending this "Dark Ages" system they call medicine, which is really just a gimmick to turn the human body into a profit-generating machine for Big Pharma.

You were designed to live in a state of perfect health

How do I know all this to be true at a personal level? Because I'm the healthiest I've ever been in my life. I am healthy because I fired my doctor, I swore off prescription drugs and I started teaching myself about health and nutrition. I reversed my disease. I eliminated chronic back pain and I eliminated my borderline diabetes, obesity and depression. I did it all by turning to nature and ignoring all the information from modern medicine, companies, the FDA, the mainstream press, medical schools, cancer centers and everybody else. That information will, in my opinion, lead to a life of chronic pain, degenerative disease, and medical bankruptcy.

If you want to be healthy, you've got to acknowledge your human nature and your interaction with the natural world around you. You have a blueprint for health in you right now. You're supposed to be healthy. That's your DNA. Doctors always talk about DNA as providing a blueprint for disease, which is hogwash. They never tell you about how your DNA actually is designed to keep you at a perfect point of health. That's the whole point of the DNA -- to pass on a blueprint that lets you survive and reproduce. That's basic science, folks. How on earth can doctors think that DNA passed down through hundreds of thousands of generations could have a gene that would cause heart disease? That's ridiculous. They must not know anything at all about natural selection, because if someone caries a gene that kills them, guess what? They don't reproduce. So the genes that you have are genes that have survived and thrived through all of these generations, from healthy ancestry down to today, giving you the gift of a blueprint for perfect health.

The only reason you aren't in perfect health today, and the only reason we aren't healthy as a nation, is because we've gone off the map. We stopped following the blueprint. We changed our environment. We changed our foods, our diet, our levels of stress, our use of toxic products like personal care products, deodorants, shampoos, laundry products and soaps with triclosan and antibacterial chemicals. We started popping prescription drugs like a bunch of crack addicts in this country. Forty percent of the nation now is on prescription drugs. Then when people get sick, we poison them with chemotherapy and radiation, and we call it medicine.

So you want to be healthy? Get back to your nature. Recognize that you have a natural blueprint for being perfectly healthy. Now, as one disclaimer to all this, I want to tell you that it is important to work with a qualified health professional during any major health transition. That should be a naturopathic physician, ideally... or an M.D. who has really educated himself or herself about alternative medicine, nutrition and lifestyle changes. And there are such M.D.s out there. You just have to ask around and find one. You can't just settle for any old M.D., or you might get someone who is a big drug pusher.

And if you ever have to go to a hospital or cancer center, take my advice: Bring your own food. You don't want the stuff they're going to feed you; that is, unless you want to stick around the center for a lot longer. If that's the case, then go ahead and eat their hospital food. That will keep you in the hospital a few extra days, probably. But if you want to be healthy and free of disease, or if you want to recover from an injury or some kind of surgical procedure, bring your own food.

Real medicine is taking place at the personal level. It's taking place with education across the internet. It's taking place in the homes of people who are taking charge of their health. That's real medicine and real healing. Be part of it. Be healthy, and help us move out of the Dark Ages of modern medicine and into an era of authentic healing and disease prevention; an age where we can have the majority of the population healthy rather than chronically diseased and addicted to toxic prescription drugs. Be healthy yourself. Set a good example. My name is Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, and I thank you for your interest in this information.

Apricot Seeds Kill Cancer Cells without Side Effects

Are apricot seeds a source for a natural substance that kills cancer cells without destroying the cancer victim's health and wealth? The essential ingredient has been called laetrile or vitamin B 17. If there is any merit to it, why is this information being suppressed? Why are people who have been cured or have cured others being censured and imprisoned? Could be there is something to the claims.

Keep in mind that the cancer industry world wide is estimated at a 200 billion dollar a year industry. There are many in various associated positions within that industry who would be without a job if that cash flow dried up suddenly with the news that there are cheaper, less harmful, and more efficacious remedies available. Big Pharmacy would virtually vanish.

What is B17, or Laetrile Anyway?

In 1952, a biochemist named Dr. Ernst Krebb, Jr. in San Francisco decided that cancer was a metabolic reaction to a poor diet, and a missing nutrient from modern man's diet could be the key to overcoming cancer. His research led to a compound found in over 1200 edible plants throughout nature. That compound is amagdylin,

Amagdylin is found with the highest concentration and necessary enzymes in apricot seed kernels. A primitive tribe, the Hunzas, were known to consume large amounts of apricot seed kernels. The hard pit had to be broken to get into the soft kernels. There was no incidence of cancer with them at all, ever. And they had long, healthy life spans. Laetrile was created by simply extracting amagdylin from the soft apricot kernels, purifying it and putting it into a concentrated form.

Amagdylin is a nitrioloside. Nitriolisides are difficult to categorize since they are in foods but not foods themselves. As a nitrioloside, amagdylin resembled the B complex structures, so Dr. Krebb called it B17 since by that time 16 types of B vitamins had been isolated.

Dr. Krebb injected himself with laetrile to ensure there would be no toxic side effects. He conducted further lab animal and culture experiments to conclude that laetrile would be effective in the treatment of cancer. By the way, the FDA standard for drug safety is known as LD 50, LD stands for lethal dose, and the 50 is the percentage threshold of lab animals poisoned to death by the drug tested. As long as the percentage killed is under 50%, FDA will approve it!

Since laetrile is derived directly from a food substance in nature and not chemically developed in a laboratory, it is impossible to patent. And of course it's not toxic. In other words, just as with all natural healing substances, Big Pharma and the AMA can't make a fortune from the substance and from the remedies for the long term side effects. There have been several testimonies from cancer victims who cured themselves by chewing large quantities of the apricot seeds alone.

The seeds are more available to consumers now than laetrile because in 1971 the FDA banned laetrile. Laetrile is difficult, but not impossible, to purchase. The seeds are actually the soft almond shaped, bitter tasting kernels from inside the pits. A few users prefer extracting those soft kernels from the pits themselves. But the soft kernels are available and inexpensive.

So How Does It Work?

Amagdylin contains four substances. Two are glucose; one is benzaldyhide, and one is cyanide. Yes, cyanide and benzaldyhide are poisons if they are released or freed as pure molecules and not bound within other molecular formations. Many foods containing cyanide are safe because the cyanide remains bound and locked as part of another molecule and therefore cannot cause harm.

There is even an enzyme in normal cells to catch any free cyanide molecules and to render them harmless by combining them with sulfur. That enzyme is rhodanese, which catalyzes the reaction and binds any free cyanide to sulfur. By binding the cyanide to sulfur, it is converted to a cyanate which is a neutral substance. Then it is easily passed through the urine with no harm to the normal cells.

But cancer cells are not normal. They contain an enzyme that other cells do not share, beta-glucosidase. This enzyme, virtually exclusive to cancer cells, is considered the "unlocking enzyme" for amagdylin molecules. It releases both the benzaldyhide and the cyanide, creating a toxic synergy beyond their uncombined sum. This is what the cancer cell's beta-glucosidase enzyme does to self destruct cancer cells.

Amagdylin or laetrile in conjunction with the protective enzymes in healthy cells and the unlocking enzymes in cancer cells is thus able to destroy cancer cells without jeopardizing healthy cells. Chemotherapy, on the other hand, kills a lot of other cells and diminishes one's immune system while killing an undetermined amount of cancer cells.

Those cancer cells tend to return elsewhere because the patient's general health was reduced from the pervasive chemo toxins. The cancer industry has declared the bench mark for curing cancer as being cancer free for 5 years. It's estimated that of those who undergo the AMA big three for curing cancer, surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, no more than 3% make the 5 year cancer free mark. Besides the treatments' debilitating effects, they are much more expensive!

But for someone with cancer, it takes a considerable amount of daily B17 consumption to enable the amagdylin to reach the cancer cells with beta-glucosidase. That's because some of the amagdylin molecules will be neutralized by the normal cells containing rhodanese.

Many practitioners who use laetrile have an 85% cure rate among cancer victims who did not undergo much of the standard cut, burn, and poison that is main-stream - while the cure rate for those who come to laetrile therapy as a last resort after all that conventional medicine could only have a 15% recovery rate. There is a clinic in Mexico that claims a 100 percent cure rate!

The Medical Mafia's Suppression

Since around 1920, practitioners of alternative cancer therapies and remedies and their messengers have been marginalized, harassed, imprisoned, and even killed. Federal agencies have been used to bring about bogus charges or IRS tax liens that are enforced by US Marshals the way Dr. Gary Glum was hassled for even writing books on Essiac Tea. See Natural News article "Essiac Tea: A Cancer Cure Big Pharma Doesn't Want You To Know About." http://www.naturalnews.com/026928_c....

A young Brooklyn man, Jason Vale, was imprisoned because he refused to stop telling others on TV and in lectures how he cured himself of cancer using those nasty apricot pit kernels! Jason is a more recent public example of the Medical Mafia's grip on the legal system regarding B17. Laetrile, which is non toxic, was banned by the FDA in 1971.

Shortly after the 1971 laetrile ban, a practicing physician in San Francisco, Dr. John Richardson, who had been using laetrile successfully on cancer patients, came to his friend G. Edward Griffin, a published investigative journalist, and asked Griffin if he could write up something to help him and others continue using laetrile on their cancer patients.

G. Edward Griffin's research evolved into his groundbreaking book, World Without Cancer. This book not only explained laetrile and chronicled several cancer cures, but Griffin's investigative nose led him down the rabbit hole and into the underbelly of the cancer industry's efforts at keeping alternative cancer cures from the light of day. That's how he discovered that the Sloane-Kettering Cancer Institute had buried documentation from scientists' research, which proved laetrile was "highly effective" at curing cancer.

Griffin received those documents himself from a Dr. Ralph Moss, who had been told to cover up that evidence and claim that laetrile was worthless. He refused and left his position as PR manager with Sloane-Kettering. Since that time in 1977, Dr. Ralph Moss has gone on to write or edit several books on cancer cure options. It's always encouraging to see an insider come out! Someone else filled Dr. Moss's vacant position and lied the lies about laetrile that filled the medical journals.

And what about those medical journals? Lately, the most prestigious New England Journal of Medicine dropped its standard of not allowing articles contributed to the journal from anyone who was receiving money from Big Pharma, as long as it's less than 10 grand annually. If they didn't drop that standard, there wouldn't be enough articles to fill the journal! Of course, most medical journals are glossy ad forums for Big Pharma anyway.

Both G. Edward Griffin with World Without Cancer and Phillip Day in his book Cancer: Why We're Still Dying to Know the Truth, make it very clear that the cancer industry does not really want a cure. Even non-profit organizations get millions in donations from the brainwashed, huddled masses along with funding for promoting Big Pharma. A non-profit organization can and will have key people working for 6 figure plus annual salaries, by the way.

Doctors mostly do as they are trained and told; medical journals contain false reports and lies. Cancer foundations have breast cancer months or whatever as PR to get people into the disease industry's money mill as early as possible, and at the top, there is Big Pharma. It's all about money and career. Not about public health and "The War on Cancer."

So far in mainstream medicine, it's been a losing battle with more getting cancer than ever. Around 1 out of 3 is destined to get cancer these days, and more are dying from cancer after conventional treatments. Talk about pandemics! All this with lots of cash going their way, enabling some to live a lush lifestyle and others hanging on to their comfy, secure jobs at the expense of our health.

Meanwhile, too many true humanitarian doctors and herbalists and writers concerned with the truth wind up being treated like criminals or nut cases, sometimes with their lives destroyed. That's tragic. And so is the fact that millions suffer and die while being conditioned against using effective and less painless procedures.

Laetrile Treatment

There are many success stories from people using just laetrile or apricot pit kernels. The usual recommendation for prevention is around 5 to 7 over the course of a day. For actual cancer cases use 2 to 3 times that. Some say one kernel for every 10 lbs of body weight. For maintenance after a cure, go back to 5 to 7 per day.

Some laetrile therapists have patients use vitamin B15 tablets and digestive enzymes such as papaya's papain and pineapple's bromalene. Too many apricot pit kernels can create nausea or dizziness. There are no recorded deaths or disabilities from the apricot seeds or laetrile, however. Although some success has been recorded with patients undergoing conventional therapy and using laetrile, it's not recommended. Eventually most of those who combine the two get off the chemo or die anyway.

There are many practitioners and writers who recommend you combine other alternative cancer therapies while taking laetrile or using the apricot pits - especially if you go for it alone at home. It should be obvious to Natural News readers that a foundation of healthy food and less stress is necessary. A fundamental lifestyle change has to be a part of any permanent cancer cure. In addition, a little eclectic mix and match with other alternative therapies seems like a good approach.

For example, Gerson's cancer cure therapy's juicing protocol with the right type of juicer and using coffee enemas to detox the liver could be added with laetrile use. It's hard to go wrong with that healthy combination. See Natural News article on the Gerson Therapy for more details here:
http://www.naturalnews.com/027004_c...

Do your own research by starting with the source links below this article. Those sources are for more than showing the author has done his homework. The author intends for you to use them as a springboard for your own research. Why waste your money and health on toxic remedies when so much is available as alternatives for far less money and negative side effects?

Sunday, August 23, 2009

A Tragic History of Mesothelioma and Asbestos Cancer

Many asbestos cancer experts, attorneys, and mesothelioma sufferers view asbestos as a material developed and used only in the 19th century. But in fact, asbestos was first discovered and named by the ancient Greeks. In this article, we will examine the facts of asbestos use throughout the ages. We will see what was known about the dangers of asbestos cancer, and when mesothelioma and asbestosis began to be recognized as the tragic illnesses they are known to be today.

Asbestos And Mesothelioma: From The Ancient World To The 21st Century

In ancient Rome, asbestos fibers were uses to make clothing flame retardant. In Greece, the fibers were used to make other textiles. In Persia, garments were prized for their ability to be cleaned over a fire, instead of with water. In China, Marco Polo describes similar items that were "washed" by being dropped into flames. These clothes could only have been made from asbestos. After the fall of the Roman Empire and the fade of the great empires of the east, the use of asbestos seemed to stop.

As of 1860, asbestos had appeared again across the United States and Canada, mostly used as insulation within buildings. In 1879, the first commercial asbestos mine appeared in Canada, just outside of Quebec. By the turn of the century, asbestos use was much more common: flame-resistant coatings, concrete, flooring, roofing, acid resistant materials, and lawn furniture all had asbestos components.

With the rise of asbestos use came the first recorded death as a result of mesothelioma asbestos cancer. In 1906, an asbestos miner died of asbestos cancer, but his cause of death was not established until later. However, further instances of mesothelioma -- still diagnosed as an unknown lung disorder -- were observed throughout the early 20th century, particularly in asbestos mining towns.

Libby, Montana is a modern example of a mining town contaminated with asbestos. The EPA has been attempting to clean up Libby for 10 years, but 200 people thus far have died from asbestos exposure, with over 1,000 sickened. The town was contaminated by a nearby vermiculite mine, its residents threatened by waste products and discarded materials from mining operations.

The town of Libby has been stricken by asbestos contamination despite modern day interventions. In the early days, before mesothelioma was recognized or asbestos poisoning considered, towns were even more dramatically impacted. Yet even now, when the dangers of asbestos, as well as its links with mesothelioma, are clear, company negligence still goes unpunished. The company responsible for the mine that contaminated Libby was recently acquitted in a trial centered around the deaths in the town. The mining company will face no penalty, despite the hundreds of asbestos poisoning deaths and thousands of asbestos-related illnesses in Libby.

The First Diagnosis Of Asbestos Cancer, Asbestosis, And Mesothelioma

In 1924, a doctor in England recognized the pattern of illness and made the first diagnosis of asbestos cancer. At the time, it was called asbestosis and the existence of mesothelioma remained unknown. Nonetheless, the initial diagnosis created a wave of laws about asbestos handling -- at least in England. The United Kingdom began regulating ventilation and established asbestosis as an "excusable work related disease" in the 1930s. The United States did not take the same measures until nearly 10 years later.

Around 1930, the medical community was beginning to investigate mesothelioma, at that time a new disease with strange symptoms and little information. They could only observe the symptoms: coughing, shortness of breath, and generalized chest/lung pain. Mesothelioma was not connected to asbestos nor suggested as asbestos cancer until 1940.

What Did Companies Know About The Hazards Of Asbestos Exposure?

The basis of mesothelioma and asbestos cancer legislation is that many asbestos companies knew the material was dangerous, but did not protect workers and customers from these known dangers. Court documents have shown that companies began to learn about asbestos related health hazards as early as 1930, but despite this knowledge, they did nothing to keep workers or consumers safe. Instead, they allowed asbestos use to grow even as diagnoses of mesothelioma and asbestos cancer grew as well.

Although limited through a lawsuit, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule in 1989 that allows only trace amounts of asbestos to appear in modern building materials. Even though lingering asbestos contamination remains and threatens citizens, the modern world now recognizes the dangers of asbestos and no longer uses it as a primary material.

The Dangers Of Natural Asbestos

Although asbestos exposure occurs most commonly through contact with asbestos mines or products made from asbestos, there are also a shockingly large number of so-called asbestos "occurrences" throughout the U.S. These sites are not commonly monitored by the EPA, nor has much been done to clean them up or protect surrounding communities.

An asbestos "occurrence" is defined as a place where asbestos has been observed, but not mined or prospected for mining. These veins of asbestos can be shallow enough that asbestos dust rises into the air, making the name "occurrences" misleading - they're more like "hazards." There are 205 such documented occurrences throughout the eastern part of the U.S., and most of these have been discovered through anecdotal evidence rather than active surveys. The government has helped to clean up commercial asbestos use, but they have done little to control the dangers of exposure to the material in its natural state. Even when not manufactured or milled, asbestos and its fibers can cause mesothelioma, asbestos cancer, asbestos poisoning, and all the other horrific conditions that can result from the disease.

Mesothelioma and Asbestos Cancer Today

Although asbestos has been regulated for 20 years, mesothelioma lawsuits are still being filed today because of the long incubation period of the disease. The cancer frequently requires 20-50 years between exposure and the manifestation of symptoms, meaning that many workers who handled asbestos during the height of its use are only just starting to show symptoms. Sadly, the numbers of lawsuits are only expected to increase. Asbestos cancer is tragic, and has been tragic throughout history. But today we can fight back against the companies that failed to protect us, and we can know that the world is safer for our children.

The Pros and Cons of Asbestos Encapsulation

sbestos has been banned in many forms since the late 1980s, but certainly not all of them. A bigger issue has been what to do about asbestos that still is present in structures. Removal is messy and potentially dangerous, so a process known as encapsulation has become popular. In this article, we take a look at the pros and cons of it.

Asbestos is a tremendously effective fire resistant material and also very heat resistant. As a result, it makes a great insulator and fire break in structures. For this reason, it was heavily used in all manner of structures beginning particularly in World War II. Of course, this was before asbestos was found to cause major health problems including multiple types of cancer.

Asbestos is rarely used in building materials anymore. That is good news for new construction, but what about older structures? Many still have asbestos in them. Removal is expensive and messy, so many owners now go with encapsulation processes. As the name suggests, the areas of asbestos are encapsulated with a sturdy material. This keeps any asbestos from becoming airborne and causing a host of health problems.

The major benefits of encapsulation are readily apparent. First, the offending asbestos material remains in place and dangerous fibers are not kicked up during the destruction process. Second, the fire resistant benefits of asbestos remain in place since the material is still in the building. Third, the cost of encapsulating is almost always much cheaper than removing the material.

What about cons? There really aren't too many. The most frequent issue that arises is inadvertent exposure. If a building is damaged in an earthquake, tornado or other natural disaster, the asbestos can be exposed and create a dangerous situation. The same goes for a large fire where firemen are cutting away parts of the building without realizing they are infested with asbestos.

All and all, encapsulation has become all the rage these days with asbestos risk exposure. The short term results appear positive and it only is an issue of seeing whether the process holds up over time to determine whether this is finally a solution to the "old asbestos" problem.

Advanced Mesothelioma Symptoms

Mesothelioma symptoms tend to develop gradually, and earlier symptoms are often confused for illnesses that are more amenable to treatment. For example, the cough, difficulty breathing, and chest pain experienced in pleural mesothelioma is often seen in lung infections such as pneumonia. Typically, once symptoms are more pronounced the cancer is fairly advanced and treatment becomes less effective.

In advanced pleural mesothelioma, chest pain and pain under the ribcage may become more pronounced; back pain may also be present. Coughing may be present; blood may also be coughed up. Hoarseness and swelling of the face and arms may be seen. Patients may also experience muscle weakness and sensory loss. In advanced peritoneal mesothelioma, abdominal symptoms become more pronounced. These include a swelling or lump in the abdomen, abdominal distension due to a collection of fluid in the abdominal cavity, abdominal pain, constipation due to bowel obstruction, nausea and vomiting, and appetite loss. If there is a lot of abdominal fluid, breathing may become increasingly difficult. The feet may become swollen. In advanced pericardial mesothelioma, coughing, worsening breathlessness, palpitations and chest pain may be experienced.

In all types of malignant mesothelioma, generalized symptoms such as fever, unexplained weight loss and fatigue are usually present. Patients with advanced mesothelioma are usually offered palliative treatment to reduce the discomfort from their symptoms. Pleural or abdominal fluid collections may be drained, and substances that prevent further formation and collection of fluid may be placed in the pleural or abdominal cavities. Surgery or radiotherapy may reduce some of the obstructive symptoms, and radiotherapy may be used to reduce pain. One or more anti-cancer drugs may also be used. A number of clinical trials are ongoing to find better ways to provide symptomatic relief to people with advanced malignant mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma Symptoms provides detailed information on Advanced Mesothelioma Symptoms, Clinical Mesothelioma Symptoms, Mesothelioma Diagnosis: An Introduction, Mesothelioma Stomach Symptoms and more. Mesothelioma Symptoms is affiliated with Pleural Mesothelioma Information.

Mesothelioma What is it?

Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos. In this disease, malignant cells develop in the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers most of the body's internal organs. Its most common site is the pleura (outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall), but it may also occur in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity), the heart,[1] the pericardium (a sac that surrounds the heart) or tunica vaginalis.
Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or they have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber in other ways. It has also been suggested that washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos can put a person at risk for developing mesothelioma.[2] Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking, but smoking greatly increases risk of other asbestos-induced cancer.[3] Compensation via asbestos funds or lawsuits is an important issue in mesothelioma (see asbestos and the law).
The symptoms of mesothelioma include shortness of breath due to pleural effusion (fluid between the lung and the chest wall) or chest wall pain, and general symptoms such as weight loss. The diagnosis may be suspected with chest X-ray and CT scan, and is confirmed with a biopsy (tissue sample) and microscopic examination. A thoracoscopy (inserting a tube with a camera into the chest) can be used to take biopsies. It allows the introduction of substances such as talc to obliterate the pleural space (called pleurodesis), which prevents more fluid from accumulating and pressing on the lung. Despite treatment with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or sometimes surgery, the disease carries a poor prognosis. Research about screening tests for the early detection of mesothelioma is ongoing.
Signs and symptoms
Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 20 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos. Shortness of breath, cough, and pain in the chest due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space are often symptoms of pleural mesothelioma.
Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma include weight loss and cachexia, abdominal swelling and pain due to ascites (a buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity). Other symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma may include bowel obstruction, blood clotting abnormalities, anemia, and fever. If the cancer has spread beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body, symptoms may include pain, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face.These symptoms may be caused by mesothelioma or by other, less serious conditions.
Mesothelioma that affects the pleura can cause these signs and symptoms:Chest wall pain Pleural effusion, or fluid surrounding the lung Shortness of breath Fatigue or anemia Wheezing, hoarseness, or cough
Blood in the sputum (fluid) coughed up (hemoptysis)In severe cases, the person may have many tumor masses. The individual may develop a pneumothorax, or collapse of the lung. The disease may metastasize, or spread, to other parts of the body.

Tumors that affect the abdominal cavity often do not cause symptoms until they are at a late stage. Symptoms include: Abdominal pain Ascites, or an abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdomen A mass in the abdomen Problems with bowel function Weight loss In severe cases of the disease, the following signs and symptoms may be present:Blood clots in the veins, which may cause thrombophlebitis Disseminated intravascular coagulation, a disorder causing severe bleeding in many body organs Jaundice, or yellowing of the eyes and skinLow blood sugar level Pleural effusion Pulmonary emboli, or blood clots in the arteries of the lungs Severe ascites A mesothelioma does not usually spread to the bone, brain, or adrenal glands.
Pleural tumors are usually found only on one side of the lungs.
DiagnosisCT scan of a patient with mesothelioma, coronal section (the section follows the plane that divides the body in a front and a back half). The mesothelioma is indicated by yellow arrows, the central pleural effusion (fluid collection) is marked with a yellow star. Red numbers: (1) right lung, (2) spine, (3) left lung, (4) ribs, (5) descending part of the aorta, (6) spleen, (7) left kidney, (8) right kidney, (9) liver.Diagnosing mesothelioma is often difficult, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other conditions. Diagnosis begins with a review of the patient's medical history. A history of exposure to asbestos may increase clinical suspicion for mesothelioma. A physical examination is performed, followed by chest X-ray and often lung function tests. The X-ray may reveal pleural thickening commonly seen after asbestos exposure and increases suspicion of mesothelioma. A CT (or CAT) scan or an MRI is usually performed. If a large amount of fluid is present, abnormal cells may be detected by cytology if this fluid is aspirated with a syringe. For pleural fluid this is done by a pleural tap or chest drain, in ascites with an paracentesis or ascitic drain and in a pericardial effusion with pericardiocentesis. While absence of malignant cells on cytology does not completely exclude mesothelioma, it makes it much more unlikely, especially if an alternative diagnosis can be made (e.g. tuberculosis, heart failure).If cytology is positive or a plaque is regarded as suspicious, a biopsy is needed to confirm a diagnosis of mesothelioma. A doctor removes a sample of tissue for examination under a microscope by a pathologist. A biopsy may be done in different ways, depending on where the abnormal area is located. If the cancer is in the chest, the doctor may perform a thoracoscopy. In this procedure, the doctor makes a small cut through the chest wall and puts a thin, lighted tube called a thoracoscope into the chest between two ribs. Thoracoscopy allows the doctor to look inside the chest and obtain tissue samples.If the cancer is in the abdomen, the doctor may perform a laparoscopy. To obtain tissue for examination, the doctor makes a small incision in the abdomen and inserts a special instrument into the abdominal cavity. If these procedures do not yield enough tissue, more extensive diagnostic surgery may be necessary.
There is no universally agreed protocol for screening people who have been exposed to asbestos. Screening tests might diagnose mesothelioma earlier than conventional methods thus improving the survival prospects for patients. The serum osteopontin level might be useful in screening asbestos-exposed people for mesothelioma. The level of soluble mesothelin-related protein is elevated in the serum of about 75% of patients at diagnosis and it has been suggested that it may be useful for screening.[4] Doctors have begun testing the Mesomark assay which measures levels of soluble mesothelin-related proteins (SMRPs) released by diseased mesothelioma cells.
StagingStaging of mesothelioma is based on the recommendation by the International Mesothelioma Interest Group.[6] TNM classification of the primary tumor, lymph node involvement, and distant metastasis is performed. Mesothelioma is staged Ia–IV (one-A to four) based on the TNM status.

PathophysiologyThe mesothelium consists of a single layer of flattened to cuboidal cells forming the epithelial lining of the serous cavities of the body including the peritoneal, pericardial and pleural cavities. Deposition of asbestos fibres in the parenchyma of the lung may result in the penetration of the visceral pleura from where the fibre can then be carried to the pleural surface, thus leading to the development of malignant mesothelial plaques. The processes leading to the development of peritoneal mesothelioma remain unresolved, although it has been proposed that asbestos fibres from the lung are transported to the abdomen and associated organs via the lymphatic system. Additionally, asbestos fibres may be deposited in the gut after ingestion of sputum contaminated with asbestos fibres.Pleural contamination with asbestos or other mineral fibres has been shown to cause cancer. Long thin asbestos fibers (blue asbestos, amphibole fibers) are more potent carcinogens than "feathery fibers" (chrysotile or white asbestos fibers).[8] However, there is now evidence that smaller particles may be more dangerous than the larger fibers. They remain suspended in the air where they can be inhaled, and may penetrate more easily and deeper into the lungs. "We probably will find out a lot more about the health aspects of asbestos from [the World Trade Center attack], unfortunately," said Dr. Alan Fein, chief of pulmonary and critical-care medicine at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. Dr. Fein has treated several patients for "World Trade Center syndrome" or respiratory ailments from brief exposures of only a day or two near the collapsed buildings.

Mesothelioma development in rats has been demonstrated following intra-pleural inoculation of phosphorylated chrysotile fibres. It has been suggested that in humans, transport of fibres to the pleura is critical to the pathogenesis of mesothelioma. This is supported by the observed recruitment of significant numbers of macrophages and other cells of the immune system to localised lesions of accumulated asbestos fibres in the pleural and peritoneal cavities of rats. These lesions continued to attract and accumulate macrophages as the disease progressed, and cellular changes within the lesion culminated in a morphologically malignant tumour.
Experimental evidence suggests that asbestos acts as a complete carcinogen with the development of mesothelioma occurring in sequential stages of initiation and promotion. The molecular mechanisms underlying the malignant transformation of normal mesothelial cells by asbestos fibres remain unclear despite the demonstration of its oncogenic capabilities. However, complete in vitro transformation of normal human mesothelial cells to malignant phenotype following exposure to asbestos fibres has not yet been achieved. In general, asbestos fibres are thought to act through direct physical interactions with the cells of the mesothelium in conjunction with indirect effects following interaction with inflammatory cells such as macrophages.
Analysis of the interactions between asbestos fibres and DNA has shown that phagocytosed fibres are able to make contact with chromosomes, often adhering to the chromatin fibres or becoming entangled within the chromosome. This contact between the asbestos fibre and the chromosomes or structural proteins of the spindle apparatus can induce complex abnormalities. The most common abnormality is monosomy of chromosome 22. Other frequent abnormalities include structural rearrangement of 1p, 3p, 9p and 6q chromosome arms.Common gene abnormalities in mesothelioma cell lines include deletion of the tumor suppressor genes:
Asbestos has also been shown to mediate the entry of foreign DNA into target cells. Incorporation of this foreign DNA may lead to mutations and oncogenesis by several possible mechanisms:
Inactivation of tumor suppressor genesActivation of oncogenesActivation of proto-oncogenes due to incorporation of foreign DNA containing a promoter regionActivation of DNA repair enzymes, which may be prone to errorActivation of telomerase
Prevention of apoptosis
Asbestos fibers have been shown to alter the function and secretory properties of macrophages, ultimately creating conditions which favour the development of mesothelioma. Following asbestos phagocytosis, macrophages generate increased amounts of hydroxyl radicals, which are normal by-products of cellular anaerobic metabolism. However, these free radicals are also known clastogenic and membrane-active agents thought to promote asbestos carcinogenicity. These oxidants can participate in the oncogenic process by directly and indirectly interacting with DNA, modifying membrane-associated cellular events, including oncogene activation and perturbation of cellular antioxidant defences.Asbestos also may possess immunosuppressive properties. For example, chrysotile fibres have been shown to depress the in vitro proliferation of phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes, suppress natural killer cell lysis and significantly reduce lymphokine-activated killer cell viability and recovery. Furthermore, genetic alterations in asbestos-activated macrophages may result in the release of potent mesothelial cell mitogens such as platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) which in turn, may induce the chronic stimulation and proliferation of mesothelial cells after injury by asbestos fibres.
EpidemiologyIncidenceAlthough reported incidence rates have increased in the past 20 years, mesothelioma is still a relatively rare cancer. The incidence rate is approximately one per 1,000,000. The highest incidence is found in Britain, Australia and Belgium: 30 per 1,000,000 per year. For comparison, populations with high levels of smoking can have a lung cancer incidence of over 1,000 per 1,000,000. Incidence of malignant mesothelioma currently ranges from about 7 to 40 per 1,000,000 in industrialized Western nations, depending on the amount of asbestos exposure of the populations during the past several decades.It has been estimated that incidence may have peaked at 15 per 1,000,000 in the United States in 2004. Incidence is expected to continue increasing in other parts of the world. Mesothelioma occurs more often in men than in women and risk increases with age, but this disease can appear in either men or women at any age. Approximately one fifth to one third of all mesotheliomas are peritoneal.Between 1940 and 1979, approximately 27.5 million people were occupationally exposed to asbestos in the United States. Between 1973 and 1984, there has been a threefold increase in the diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma in Caucasian males. From 1980 to the late 1990s, the death rate from mesothelioma in the USA increased from 2,000 per year to 3,000, with men four times more likely to acquire it than women. These rates may not be accurate, since it is possible that many cases of mesothelioma are misdiagnosed as adenocarcinoma of the lung, which is difficult to differentiate from mesothelioma.

Risk factors
Working with asbestos is the major risk factor for mesothelioma. A history of asbestos exposure exists in almost all cases. However, mesothelioma has been reported in some individuals without any known exposure to asbestos. In rare cases, mesothelioma has also been associated with irradiation, intrapleural thorium dioxide (Thorotrast), and inhalation of other fibrous silicates, such as erionite.Asbestos is the name of a group of minerals that occur naturally as masses of strong, flexible fibers that can be separated into thin threads and woven. Asbestos has been widely used in many industrial products, including cement, brake linings, roof shingles, flooring products, textiles, and insulation. If tiny asbestos particles float in the air, especially during the manufacturing process, they may be inhaled or swallowed, and can cause serious health problems. In addition to mesothelioma, exposure to asbestos increases the risk of lung cancer, asbestosis (a noncancerous, chronic lung ailment), and other cancers, such as those of the larynx and kidney.The combination of smoking and asbestos exposure significantly increases a person's risk of developing cancer of the airways (lung cancer, bronchial carcinoma). The Kent brand of cigarettes used asbestos in its filters for the first few years of production in the 1950s and some cases of mesothelioma have resulted. Smoking modern cigarettes does not appear to increase the risk of mesothelioma.Some studies suggest that simian virus 40 (SV40) may act as a cofactor in the development of mesothelioma.

ExposureAsbestos was known in antiquity, but it wasn't mined and widely used commercially until the late 1800s. Its use greatly increased during World War II. Since the early 1940s, millions of American workers have been exposed to asbestos dust. Initially, the risks associated with asbestos exposure were not publicly known. However, an increased risk of developing mesothelioma was later found among shipyard workers, people who work in asbestos mines and mills, producers of asbestos products, workers in the heating and construction industries, and other tradespeople. Today, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets limits for acceptable levels of asbestos exposure in the workplace, and created guidelines for engineering controls and respirators, protective clothing, exposure monitoring, hygiene facilities and practices, warning signs, labeling, recordkeeping, and medical exams. By contrast, the British Government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states formally that any threshold for mesothelioma must be at a very low level and it is widely agreed that if any such threshold does exist at all, then it cannot currently be quantified. For practical purposes, therefore, HSE does not assume that any such threshold exists. People who work with asbestos wear personal protective equipment to lower their risk of exposure.
Environmental exposures
Incidence of mesothelioma had been found to be higher in populations living near naturally occurring asbestos. For example, in central Cappadocia, Turkey, mesothelioma was causing 50% of all deaths in three small villages — Tuzköy, Karain and Sarıhıdır. Initially, this was attributed to erionite, a zeolite mineral with similar properties to asbestos, however, recently, detailed epidemiological investigation showed that erionite causes mesothelioma mostly in families with a genetic predisposition.

OccupationalExposure to asbestos fibres has been recognized as an occupational health hazard since the early 1900s. Several epidemiological studies have associated exposure to asbestos with the development of lesions such as asbestos bodies in the sputum, pleural plaques, diffuse pleural thickening, asbestosis, carcinoma of the lung and larynx, gastrointestinal tumours, and diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura and peritoneum.The documented presence of asbestos fibres in water supplies and food products has fostered concerns about the possible impact of long-term and, as yet, unknown exposure of the general population to these fibres. Although many authorities consider brief or transient exposure to asbestos fibres as inconsequential and an unlikely risk factor, some epidemiologists claim that there is no risk threshold. Cases of mesothelioma have been found in people whose only exposure was breathing the air through ventilation systems. Other cases had very minimal (3 months or less) direct exposure.Commercial asbestos mining at Wittenoom, Western Australia, occurred between 1945 and 1966. A cohort study of miners employed at the mine reported that while no deaths occurred within the first 10 years after crocidolite exposure, 85 deaths attributable to mesothelioma had occurred by 1985. By 1994, 539 reported deaths due to mesothelioma had been reported in Western Australia.Para-occupational secondary exposure
Family members and others living with asbestos workers have an increased risk of developing mesothelioma, and possibly other asbestos related diseases. This risk may be the result of exposure to asbestos dust brought home on the clothing and hair of asbestos workers. To reduce the chance of exposing family members to asbestos fibres, asbestos workers are usually required to shower and change their clothing before leaving the workplace.Asbestos in buildings
Many building materials used in both public and domestic premises prior to the banning of asbestos may contain asbestos. Those performing renovation works or DIY activities may expose themselves to asbestos dust. In the UK use of Chrysotile asbestos was banned at the end of 1999. Brown and blue asbestos was banned in the UK around 1985. Buildings built or renovated prior to these dates may contain asbestos materials.

Treatment
Treatment of malignant mesothelioma using conventional therapies in combination with radiation and or chemotherapy on stage I or II Mesothelioma have proved on average 74.6 percent successful in extending the patients life span by five years or more [commonly known as remission][this percentage may increase or decrease depending on date of discovery / stage of malignant development] (Oncology Today, 2009). Treatment course is primarily determined by the staging or development. This is unlike traditional treatment such as surgery by itself which has proved only be 16.3 percent likely to extend a patient's life span by five years or more [commonly known as remission]. Clinical behavior of the malignancy is affected by several factors including the continuous mesothelial surface of the pleural cavity which favors local metastasis via exfoliated cells, invasion to underlying tissue and other organs within the pleural cavity, and the extremely long latency period between asbestos exposure and development of the disease.
SurgerySurgery, by itself, has proved disappointing. However, research indicates varied success when used in combination with radiation and chemotherapy (Duke, 2008) A pleurectomy/decortication is the most common surgery, in which the lining of the chest is removed. Less common is an extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), in which the lung, lining of the inside of the chest, the hemi-diaphragm and the pericardium are removed.
RadiationWikibooks has a book on the topic of Radiation Oncology/Lung/Mesothelioma
For patients with localized disease, and who can tolerate a radical surgery, radiation is often given post-operatively as a consolidative treatment. The entire hemi-thorax is treated with radiation therapy, often given simultaneously with chemotherapy. This approach of using surgery followed by radiation with chemotherapy has been pioneered by the thoracic oncology team at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston.[18] Delivering radiation and chemotherapy after a radical surgery has led to extended life expectancy in selected patient populations with some patients surviving more than 5 years. As part of a curative approach to mesothelioma, radiotherapy is also commonly applied to the sites of chest drain insertion, in order to prevent growth of the tumor along the track in the chest wall.Although mesothelioma is generally resistant to curative treatment with radiotherapy alone, palliative treatment regimens are sometimes used to relieve symptoms arising from tumor growth, such as obstruction of a major blood vessel. Radiation therapy when given alone with curative intent has never been shown to improve survival from mesothelioma. The necessary radiation dose to treat mesothelioma that has not been surgically removed would be very toxic.[edit] ChemotherapyChemotherapy is the only treatment for mesothelioma that has been proven to improve survival in randomised and controlled trials. The landmark study published in 2003 by Vogelzang and colleagues compared cisplatin chemotherapy alone with a combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed (brand name Alimta) chemotherapy) in patients who had not received chemotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma previously and were not candidates for more aggressive "curative" surgery.[19] This trial was the first to report a survival advantage from chemotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma, showing a statistically significant improvement in median survival from 10 months in the patients treated with cisplatin alone to 13.3 months in the combination pemetrexed group in patients who received supplementation with folate and vitamin B12. Vitamin supplementation was given to most patients in the trial and pemetrexed related side effects were significantly less in patients receiving pemetrexed when they also received daily oral folate 500mcg and intramuscular vitamin B12 1000mcg every 9 weeks compared with patients receiving pemetrexed without vitamin supplementation. The objective response rate increased from 20% in the cisplatin group to 46% in the combination pemetrexed group. Some side effects such as nausea and vomiting, stomatitis, and diarrhoea were more common in the combination pemetrexed group but only affected a minority of patients and overall the combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin was well tolerated when patients received vitamin supplementation; both quality of life and lung function tests improved in the combination pemetrexed group. In February 2004, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved pemetrexed for treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. However, there are still unanswered questions about the optimal use of chemotherapy, including when to start treatment, and the optimal number of cycles to give.Cisplatin in combination with raltitrexed has shown an improvement in survival similar to that reported for pemetrexed in combination with cisplatin, but raltitrexed is no longer commercially available for this indication. For patients unable to tolerate pemetrexed, cisplatin in combination with gemcitabine or vinorelbine is an alternative, or vinorelbine on its own, although a survival benefit has not been shown for these drugs. For patients in whom cisplatin cannot be used, carboplatin can be substituted but non-randomised data have shown lower response rates and high rates of haematological toxicity for carboplatin-based combinations, albeit with similar survival figures to patients receiving cisplatin.
In January 2009, the United States FDA approved using conventional therapies such as surgery in combination with radiation and or chemotherapy on stage I or II Mesothelioma after research conducted by a nationwide study by Duke University concluded an almost 50 point increase in remission rates.ImmunotherapyTreatment regimens involving immunotherapy have yielded variable results. For example, intrapleural inoculation of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in an attempt to boost the immune response, was found to be of no benefit to the patient (while it may benefit patients with bladder cancer). Mesothelioma cells proved susceptible to in vitro lysis by LAK cells following activation by interleukin-2 (IL-2), but patients undergoing this particular therapy experienced major side effects. Indeed, this trial was suspended in view of the unacceptably high levels of IL-2 toxicity and the severity of side effects such as fever and cachexia. Nonetheless, other trials involving interferon alpha have proved more encouraging with 20% of patients experiencing a greater than 50% reduction in tumor mass combined with minimal side effects.Heated Intraoperative Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy
A procedure known as heated intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy was developed by Paul Sugarbaker at the Washington Cancer Institute. The surgeon removes as much of the tumor as possible followed by the direct administration of a chemotherapy agent, heated to between 40 and 48°C, in the abdomen. The fluid is perfused for 60 to 120 minutes and then drained.This technique permits the administration of high concentrations of selected drugs into the abdominal and pelvic surfaces. Heating the chemotherapy treatment increases the penetration of the drugs into tissues. Also, heating itself damages the malignant cells more than the normal cells.Notable people who died from mesothelioma
Mesothelioma, though rare, has had a number of notable patients. Hamilton Jordan, Chief of Staff for President Jimmy Carter and life long cancer activist, died in 2008. Australian anti-racism activist Bob Bellear died in 2005. British science fiction writer Michael G. Coney, responsible for nearly 100 works also died in 2005. American film and television actor Paul Gleason, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Principal Richard Vernon in the 1985 film The Breakfast Club, died in 2006. Mickie Most, an English record producer, died of mesothelioma in 2003. Paul Rudolph, an American architect known for his cubist building designs, died in 1997.
Bernie Banton was an Australian workers' rights activist, who fought a long battle for compensation from James Hardie after he contracted mesothelioma after working for that company. He claimed James Hardie knew of the dangers of asbestos before he began work with the substance making insulation for power stations. Mesothelioma eventually took his life along with his brothers and hundreds of James Hardie workers. James Hardie made an undisclosed settlement with Banton only when his mesothelioma had reached its final stages and he was expected to have no more than 48hrs to live. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd mentioned Banton's extended struggle in his acceptance speech after winning the 2007 Australian Federal Election.Steve McQueen was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma on December 22, 1979. He was not offered surgery or chemotherapy because doctors felt the cancer was too advanced. McQueen sought alternative treatments from clinics in Mexico. He died of a heart attack on November 7, 1980, in Juárez, Mexico, following cancer surgery. He may have been exposed to asbestos while serving with the U.S. Marines as a young adult—asbestos was then commonly used to insulate ships' piping—or from its use as an insulating material in car racing suits.[22] (It is also reported that he worked in a shipyard during World War II, where he might have been exposed to asbestos.[citation needed])United States Congressman Bruce Vento died of mesothelioma in 2000. The Bruce Vento Hopebuilder is awarded yearly by his wife at the MARF Symposium to persons or organizations who have done the most to support mesothelioma research and advocacy.After a long period of untreated illness and pain, rock and roll musician and songwriter Warren Zevon was diagnosed with inoperable mesothelioma in the fall of 2002. Refusing treatments he believed might incapacitate him, Zevon focused his energies on recording his final album The Wind including the song "Keep Me in Your Heart," which speaks of his failing breath. Zevon died at his home in Los Angeles, California, on September 7, 2003.Christie Hennessy, the influential Irish singer-songwriter, died of mesothelioma in 2007, and had stridently refused to accept the prognosis in the weeks before his death.[23] His mesothelioma has been attributed to his younger years spent working on building sites in London. Bob Miner, one of the founders of Software Development Labs, the forerunner of Oracle Corporation died of mesothelioma in 1994.Scottish Labour MP John William MacDougall died of mesothelioma on August 13, 2008, after fighting the disease for two years. Canberra journalist and news presenter, Peter Leonard also succumbed to the condition on 23 September 2008.
Terrence McCann Olympic gold medalist and longtime Executive Director of Toastmasters, died of mesothelioma on June 7, 2006 at his home in Dana Point, California.Notable people who have lived for some time with mesothelioma
Although life expectancy with this disease is typically limited, there are notable survivors. In July 1982, Stephen Jay Gould was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma. After his diagnosis, Gould wrote the "The Median Isn't the Message"[27] for Discover magazine, in which he argued that statistics such as median survival are just useful abstractions, not destiny. Gould lived for another twenty years eventually succumbing to metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung, not mesothelioma. Author Paul Kraus was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in July 1997. He was given a prognosis of less than a year to live and used a variety of complementary modalities. He continues to outlive his prognosis and wrote a book about his experience "Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers: A Patient's Guide" [28] in which he presented his philosophy about healing and the decision making that led him to use integrative medicine.