In 1998, former Beatles Sir Paul McCartney lost his beloved wife Linda to breast cancer. At the time, she had been helping him work on his fourth classical album Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart). When Linda died, Paul says in his grief the music stopped and he could not work for a year.

Ecce Cor Meum is an orchestral work in four movements. Interlude is Paul's tribute to Linda. BBC News has quoted Paul as saying, "There is an interlude in the middle of Ecce Cor Meum which is a very sad piece of music. My colleague and I remember actually sitting at the keyboard just weeping when we were doing this piece. It does it to me every time. It was a very, very emotional, very sad time for me, obviously, losing Linda."

Last Sunday was Linda's birthday. The album Ecce Cor Meum, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, was released on Monday. For Paul, the timing of the release of this work is meaningful. If you plan to be in London on November 4, Ecce Cor Meum will be performed live at the Royal Albert Hall.

Ecce Cor Meum is available for sale at Amazon, with short audio samplings of Spiritus; Gratia; Interlude (Lament); Musica and Ecce Cor Meum. Some of the pieces have a delicate haunting sadness and an exquisitely beautiful emotional quality that makes the music superb. Ecce Cor Meum is a moving tribute of love and remembrance.

Jane Plant, one of Britain's leading scientists, a bestselling author, and five-time breast cancer survivor speaks out against the cancer risks of dairy products, and in favor of a cancer prevention plant-based diet. Professor Jane Plant claims that milk contains growth factors and hormones that can promote cancer. Her controversial message that breast cancer can be treated, and even prevented, effectively by simple changes in diet has been met with huge acclaim from hundreds of thousands of sufferers of breast cancer around the world. She has written four books, Your Life In Your Hands - Understanding, Preventing And Overcoming Breast Cancer; Eating for Better Health: The Plant Programme; Understanding, Preventing And Overcoming Osteoporosis and Prostate Cancer - Understand, Prevent And Overcome.

According to Dr. Plant, a plant-based diet and lack of dairy is the norm in Far Eastern countries and the incidence of being diagnosed with breast cancer are half that of western nations. As an example, when Chinese and Japanese women move to Europe or the United States and adopt the western diet, they begin to experience a dramatic increase in breast cancer rates. As a breast cancer survivor, and cancer-free for eleven years, Dr. Plant will take part of The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation White Lies campaign launch as a featured speaker, along with Heather Mills McCartney and Dr. Campbell of The China Study.

In London, on May 24, 2006, The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation will be launching White Lies, a campaign to raise awareness of the health risks of consuming dairy products. Why You Don't Need Dairy, an event to mark the beginning of the campaign, will feature Heather Mills McCartney, wife of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, as a speaker who will call for milk to be dropped from the nation's diet.

Other speakers include Professor Jane Plant CBE, a geochemist, who fought breast cancer three times and went into remission after giving up dairy products. Plant is the author of the best selling books ‘Your Life in Your Hands - Understanding, Preventing and Overcoming Breast Cancer’ and ‘Prostate Cancer.’

On March 1, the foundation called for a total ban on all imports of milk that contain raised levels of a growth hormone linked to cancer. Tests confirmed that milk from the US is being imported into the EU, dosed with the synthetic growth hormone, rBST, recombinant bovine somatotrophin. According to The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation, one of the effects of this hormone in milk is to increase its levels of the naturally-occurring growth hormone IGF-1 as much as fivefold.  IGF-1 has been strongly linked to certain cancers.

In a related post, drinking milk can lead to ovarian cancer, we shared news on a Harvard School of Public Health report which indicated a 19 percent higher risk of ovarian cancer for some women who drink milk. Included in the post is the Nutrition Resource Centre of the Ontario Public Health Association, Non-Dairy Sources of Calcium, available as a PDF document online, with non-dairy food suggestions that offer plenty of calcium.

In 1956, Paul McCartney lost his mother, Mary, to breast cancer. His first wife, Linda McCartney, died on April 17, 1998 from breast cancer.