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Book Review: Pelicans, Coconuts & Butterflies – Ani Kaspar
 Pelicans, Coconuts & Butterflies “Pelicans, Coconuts and Butterflies” is a breast cancer survivor’s story by new author Ani Kaspar. I have read dozens of cancer survivor’s books and articles over the last 21 years. When I came across Ani Kaspar’s account on Facebook I had just met with a friend whose wife was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. I noted Pelicans, Coconuts and Butterflies was Ani’s account of dealing with her own personal breast cancer challenge and thought the book may be a great gift for my friend’s wife.
When received I sat down to review Ani’s story prior to posting it off to my friend. I was not prepared for the marvelous personal accounts of diagnosis, facing of daily challenges and the ultimate triumph incorporated into Ani’s story of her struggles. Ani Kaspar’s ability to show her human side, intertwined with the spirituality required in chapter after chapter left me unable to sit the book down. I can only describe her story telling abilities as masterful.
The bonus is after 20 plus years of cancer education I was learning useful medical information without being preached to or taught in a scholarly way. The cancer tips, facts and figures were so skillfully intertwined into Ani’s story that picking them up was second nature. Hopefully, you can tell I’m giving Pelicans, Coconuts and Butterflies my unqualified endorsement and suggesting it be in everyone’s library, cancer patient or not. Continue reading Pelicans, Coconuts & Butterflies
The American Cancer Society: Running WITH the Money and AWAY From the Cure – Part 2
by guest blogger: Tony Isaacs
THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY AND THE PESTICIDE AND CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES
 Tony Isaacs - Guest Blogger Previously in this series we looked at the cozy relationship between the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the chemical industry, including how that industry had been the source of both board members and major donations. A stark example of the influence chemical makers wielded with the ACS came in the spring of 1993 when the ACS helped attack an upcoming documentary about pesticide dangers.
Shortly before PBS was due to broadcast the documentary on “Frontline”, a draft of the script was leaked to the powerful public relations firm Porter-Novelli. Porter-Novelli had notable clients on both sides of the fence, including the ACS as well as Ciba-Geigy, DuPont, Monsanto, Burroughs Wellcome, American Petroleum Institute, the Center for Produce Quality, the USDA, the NCI, plus other National Institutes of Health.
Porter-Novelli first crafted a rebuttal to help the manufacturers quell public fears about pesticide-contaminated food. Next, Porter-Novelli called up another client, the ACS, for whom Porter-Novelli had done pro bono work for years. The rebuttal that Porter-Novelli had just sent off to its industry clients was faxed to ACS Atlanta headquarters. Then it was circulated internationally by e-mail so that the 3,000 regional ACS offices could use it to help field calls from the public after the show aired. Continue reading ACS’s Failure – Part 2
 National Cancer Institute Leave it to the National Cancer Institute and The American Cancer Society, to grab a fist full of studies accomplished by what they call the “Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers” to get Pdazzler’s dander up.
Here is the headline being spread far and wide by these “false prophets” claiming to lead the charge to find a cure for cancer.
“Hopes Dashed That Vitamin D Reduces Cancer Risk” The NCI goes on to say “the studies show no protective effect against non-Hodkin’s lymphoma, or cancer of the endometrium, esophagus, stomach, kidney, ovary or pancreas”.
Someone has to call these people out and inform readers (not inquisitive enough to dig out the information on their own) the information presented proves nothing about Vitamin D’s effects at preventing, curing or causing those or any other cancers. Continue reading NCI Hatchet Job – AGAIN!
 Retinyl Palmitate & Cancer Retinyl Palmitate is contained in over 500 brands of sunscreen. For years scientific studies have been incriminating retinyl palmitate as being a carcinogen or cancer causing agent. Sunday, June 13th, New York Senator Chuck Shumer asked the FDA to quit stalling and release information from these studies so the American public would be made aware.
Source: (Reuters – June 13) – A senator on Sunday called on the FDA to reveal findings on a possible link between a chemical found in most sunscreens and skin cancer. Continue reading Sunscreen Anyone?
by: Thomas N Seyfried and Laura M Shelton
Abstract
Emerging evidence indicates that impaired cellular energy metabolism is the defining characteristic of nearly all cancers regardless of cellular or tissue origin. In contrast to normal cells, which derive most of their usable energy from oxidative phosphorylation, most cancer cells become heavily dependent on substrate level phosphorylation to meet energy demands. Evidence is reviewed supporting a general hypothesis that genomic instability and essentially all hallmarks of cancer, including aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect), can be linked to impaired mitochondrial function and energy metabolism. A view of cancer as primarily a metabolic disease will impact approaches to cancer management and prevention.
Introduction
 Professor Thomas Seyfried Cancer is a complex disease involving numerous tempo-spatial changes in cell physiology, which ultimately lead to malignant tumors. Abnormal cell growth (neoplasia) is the biological endpoint of the disease. Tumor cell invasion of surrounding tissues and distant organs is the primary cause of morbidity and mortality for most cancer patients. The biological process by which normal cells are transformed into malignant cancer cells has been the subject of a large research effort in the biomedical sciences for many decades. Despite this research effort, cures or long-term management strategies for metastatic cancer are as challenging today as they were 40 years ago when President Richard Nixon declared a war on cancer [1,2].
Confusion surrounds the origin of cancer. Contradictions and paradoxes have plagued the field [3-6]. Without a clear idea on cancer origins, it becomes difficult to formulate a clear strategy for effective management. Although very specific processes underlie malignant transformation, a large number of unspecific influences can initiate the disease including radiation, chemicals, viruses, inflammation, etc. Indeed, it appears that prolonged exposure to almost any provocative agent in the environment can potentially cause cancer [7,8]. That a very specific process could be initiated in very unspecific ways was considered “the oncogenic paradox” by Szent-Gyorgyi [8]. This paradox has remained largely unresolved [7]. Continue reading Cancer as a metabolic disease
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