1. We are thrilled that this Canadian group is taking action to raise awareness about the many things individuals can do to lower their risk of cancer. We know that 80 to 95 percent of cancers have an environmental component, and their are many things we are exposed to that are contributing to risk in addition to smoking.

So where do we start? Hopefully changes will occur at the corporate and governmental levels after the recent Silent Spring study listing 216 chemicals commonly found in our homes that are breast cancer carcinogens in animals. Replace cleaning products with eco-friendly alternatives. With regards to personal products, the Environmental Working Group lists thousand of products with safety ranked 1-10 at www.safecosmetics.org. Always wear gloves when using chemicals and read labels. Unfortunately, products do not have to be labeled if they contain carcinogens outside the state of California. Information on toxicity and carcinogenicity of many household, auto, personal products can be found in the Household Data Base at www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/products.htm.

Lynne Eldridge M.D.
Author, "Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time: Practical Advice for Preventing Cancer"
http://www.avoidcancernow.com

Posted at 3:47PM on May 20th 2007 by Lynne Eldridge M.D.

2. Epigenetic factors are key elements in the development and maintenance of tumors. The epigenome can be influenced by the environment which means that epigenetic modifications that lead to carcinogenesis may be reversible by changing the environment. Chemotherapy tries to destroy every single transformed cell with cytotoxic therapies. Beyond the statistical improbability of this approach, how rational is it when the biological and cellular environment has created and is probably continuing to create epigenetic changes leading to cancer in the first place?

We know that toxins and carcinogens induce important epigenetic alterations that can lead to cancer. Can the removal of toxins and carcinogens reverse the unhealthy epigenetic state? If it can, it will provide a biochemical and genetic basis for what alternative practitioners have been saying for years, that detoxification followed by the creation of a healthy milieu with appropriate diet and supplements benefits cancer patients. Unfortunately, that simple question may go unanswered for some time because most researchers in this area are taking the predictable approach based on reductionism. They believe they can manipulate - often driven by the pharmaceutical industry - this subtle and complex system of changing our epigenome by focusing on singular mechanistic aspects.

Posted at 6:07PM on May 20th 2007 by Gregory D. Pawelski

3. 80 to 95 percent... that is truly frightening. Does this take into account other pollutants such as radiation? My thyroid cancer had to come from somewhere...
Regards,
Richard Day Gore

Posted at 11:59AM on May 21st 2007 by richard day gore

4. Again, we need to be aware how things are worded.
That "80-95% ENVIRONMENTAL Eldridge mentions?

"Most epidemiologists and cancer researchers would agree that the relative contribution from the environment toward cancer risk is about 80-90 percent. When I use the word "environmental," I mean it in a broad sense to include both lifestyle factors such as diet, tobacco, and alcohol, as well as radiation, infectious agents, and substances in the air, water, and soil.

[For example]the estimates for cancer deaths attributable to tobacco have been consistently around 30 percent and the proportion of cancers due to occupations, air and water pollution, medicines, and medical procedures are individually much smaller - most are less than 5 percent."

http://www.cancer.gov/Templates/doc_bench.aspx?viewid=5D17E03E-B39F-4B40-A214-E9E9099C4220&docid=4ED11BF0-C7EB-4797-95F3-049BE19A8FA2

Posted at 12:00PM on May 21st 2007 by hchcec

5. I think it is difficult to quantify cancers due to occupation, air and water..etc. as people tend to move around and change professions. For instance, I used to drive heavy trucks delivering dangerous goods like propane, jet fuel, av gas, gasoline and diesel from '92-'98. I left the industry in '98 and have since entered a different profession and moved many times. In May 06, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since I was told cancer may take a very long time to show itself, the benzene in the fuels as well as other toxins may very well have played a major part in the development of my cancer. By the way, I am the first on either side of my family and had no known risk factors as presented by the cancer agencies.

Yet, no one including the industry knows or even cares. No one is linking the two together or asking what occupations I've had. Even if they did, maybe it was the plastic in the microwave or the fats I ate, or maybe it was the chlorinated water or any such of a zillion things. If I had stayed in the fuel industry perhaps I could then become one of their statistics, but as it stands now I won't be counted. I think it would be very difficult to determine what you got into 5-10yrs ago that developed into cancer today.

Posted at 9:38AM on May 22nd 2007 by jan

6. Inheritance is more than just genes. A new wave of research is unravelling the secrets beyond genes to identify what other biological information parents pass to their offspring, and cells pass on the each when they divide. It seems that it is not just genes that are inherited from one generation to the next but other factors that particularly affect development and disease (like cancer).

Every human being is made up of billions of tiny cells. These cells are constantly dividing and muliplying to replace dead or damaged cells. Within each cell is a complete set of all the genes that make up the coded instructions for the whole organism. Parents pass on their genetic information and assoicated traits to the offspring, and cells pass it on as they divide.

Because of their role in determining the functions and traits of a living organism scientists are researching genes in cell organisms to try and find out what they do. This has led to important discoveries including genes linked to breast cancer in humans.

Genes are sections of DNA. DNA looks a bit like a twisted ladder commonly called a double helix. The double helix DNA is packed into a structure called chromatin which forms chromosomes.

Research into what happens in cells has shown something remarkable. It is not just the genes that influence the traits and functions of an organism but also epigenetic or non-gene factors. These epigenetic factors are features within the cell that can be inherited when cells divide but they don't change the genes themselves. However, epigenetic factors can modify the behavior of genes. Epigenetic factors have important roles in regulating human disease.

Understanding epigenetics is fundamental to unravelling the intricacies of how genes and organisms work. Because of its fundamental nature epigenetics has broad potential implications across all the biological sciences.

Epigenetics links the fields of genetics and developmental biology. Epigenetics is the fundamental biological process by which organisms with two or more different cell types establish patterns of differential gene expression (turns on) that are stable through cell division.

Researchers discovered that chromatin, the complex formed by DNA and histones (proteins that bind strongly to DNA, thereby packaging it in chromosomes) regulate gene expression. This additional layer of regulatory instructions, which are not held in DNA, comprise the epigenetic code.

Epigenetic differences explain why two cloned organisms are not the same or why twins develop illnesses of distinct genetic origin. Epigenics not only adds to our understanding of the relations between the environment and genetics but also provides an explanation of the basic aspects of cell biology. Deciphering and understanding the epigenome will shed light on fundamental processes in cell physiology.

This knowledge will improve our understanding of the development of tumors and other diseases, and may lead to the design of new treatments for these conditions. A new family of epigenetic drugs, designed to reverse the changes in the epigenome that occur during the development of several kinds of cancer, is currently available. Several of these pharmacological agents are now being used to treat some types of leukemia and breast cancer.

Ting AH, et al, Genes Dev. 2006 Dec 1;20(23):3215-31

Szyf M., Bull Cancer. 2006 Sep 1;93(9):961-72

Posted at 9:31AM on May 24th 2007 by Gregory D. Pawelski