lesscancer

2012-02-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

Looking forward to talking to Alison Rose Levy this Saturday on Connect the Dots on Progressive Radio.

Taking a look at cancer prevention.

Join the Conversation-

Hope to hear from you- send me questions at info@lesscancer.org so I can be sure to cover.

Best
Bill

A Look at Cancer Prevention.

Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

Richard Nixon launched the War on Cancer (not his words) in 1971 and since then we have suffered untold incidences of cancer and spent billions of dollars on research. We live in a time when cancer has become so commonplace that the news of new cases seems almost expected.

Everyone I know is involved with a walk, a run, or a ride to support cancer research. We, as a society, are working each day to find new ways to fund big dollar cures and cancer treatments. While I applaud those efforts - and would have done anything to see my sister and mother cured - the larger issue is that little if anything is being done in the area of reducing risk for developing cancer.

Here's the big secret: getting a handle on reducing risk for developing cancer is going to require everyone to live differently. Shifting to prevention requires us to reorder how our culture prioritizes money, human health and the environment. Put that trio in horse racing terms and it’s a good bet that “money” would be the triple crown winner in today’s order, leaving human health and the environment in the gate. As a culture, we have looked the other way as profit rises above human health and the environment.

The recent news of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reviewing the body of research on environmental factors that may affect breast cancer suggests that the scientific jury is still out on whether exposure to some chemicals contribute in getting the disease.

Does it really take EVEN MORE evidence than the mountains we already have to make smarter, more community-minded healthy choices? While no one can predict who is going to get Cancer, how can we pollute our bodies and the environment and expect anything less than Cancer?

The reality is that we now live in a time when cancer has become so common place, that the news of new cases of cancer seems almost expected. Here’s the headline: cancer is not supposed to be an expected stage of life. Brain cancer has increased by nearly 40%, and leukemia by over 60% in children under 14 Between 1975 and 2004.

Scientists tell us that two-thirds of cancer is thought to come from outside of the body, as opposed to the 1/3 thought to be genetic. We need to reexamine the choices we make and realize if there is the possibility to further understand cancer risks. We know we can limit cancer risks in cases like tobacco, sunlight, viruses, alcohol, obesity and some chemicals. When we work to prevent cancer risks, it impacts human health, the environment and the economy. If we work for Less Cancer in a real way we will have Less Diabetes, Asthma, Heart Disease and Obesity.

It's important to understand the illnesses like childhood obesity lead to increased risk of cancer. Childhood obesity in the United States has more than tripled from the 1970′s through 2004. And no surprise the Department of Health and Human Services report that food and beverage advertisers collectively spend $10 to $12 billion annually to reach children and youth: more than $1 billion is spent on media advertising to children (primarily on television); more than $4.5 billion is spent on youth-targeted public relations; and $3 billion is spent on packaging designed for children.

And what about Asthma? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that asthma costs $3.2 billion each year, accounts for 14 million missed school days, and is the third ranking cause of hospitalization among children younger than 15 years of age.

While we have made in-roads, we still have so much work to do to reduce cancer risks. Lancet Oncology reported on one study, this last September, that the worldwide cost burden for cancer care was $895 billion in 2008, By 2030 there will be at least 22 million new cancer patients, and new cancers are estimated to tack on another $286 billion in costs.

People in the United States live under the false impression that if something is legal, it is safe for humans and the environment. That thought is just naive. We are a country that had Santa Claus and physicians selling cigarettes. The Lorillard Tobacco Co., maker of Kent cigarettes, advertised their product’s “health protection.” That seemed to work because the company reportedly sold about 12 billion Kents. But those same “healthy” Kents contained crocidolite asbestos in filters from about 1952 through 1956. Asbestos is known to cause Mesothelioma - a form of Cancer. The nation's fourth largest tobacco company took out full page ads in the Journal of the American Medical Association. One advertisement mentioned how “thousands” of physicians at a recent AMA convention witnessed “a convincing demonstration the of the MICRONITE FILTER” and included photos.

None of this is about panic, but it is about avoiding those products, corporations and NGO’s that do not support your health or the environment. Support that which supports you.

We have platforms that include non profit cancer organizations providing nutritional information from McDonald's in a way that, to me, looks a lot like advertising for the Golden Arches. You can learn about McDonald's supposedly healthy smoothies, which in some cases have 70 grams of sugar and more calories than a cheeseburger(something they do not really make clear). Other Cancer organizations are partnering with everyone from Kentucky Fried Chicken to Pepperidge Farm. Why Because “PINK” seemingly is the new color of money.

Of the 87,000 chemicals registered for commerce in the United States, only one- tenth have been tested for potential health effects and while we don’t have all the details- for me personally I have seen more than enough to not use many of them if I can help it.

The war on cancer must include the work for prevention in a real way, through action. We have more cancer now than ever before-not less.

2011-12-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

A Look at Cancer Prevention.

Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

Richard Nixon launched the War on Cancer (not his words) in 1971 and since then we have suffered untold incidences of cancer and spent billions of dollars on research. We live in a time when cancer has become so commonplace that the news of new cases seems almost expected.

Everyone I know is involved with a walk, a run, or a ride to support cancer research. We, as a society, are working each day to find new ways to fund big dollar cures and cancer treatments. While I applaud those efforts - and would have done anything to see my sister and mother cured - the larger issue is that little if anything is being done in the area of reducing risk for developing cancer.

Here's the big secret: getting a handle on reducing risk for developing cancer is going to require everyone to live differently. Shifting to prevention requires us to reorder how our culture prioritizes money, human health and the environment. Put that trio in horse racing terms and it’s a good bet that “money” would be the triple crown winner in today’s order, leaving human health and the environment in the gate. As a culture, we have looked the other way as profit rises above human health and the environment.

The recent news of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reviewing the body of research on environmental factors that may affect breast cancer suggests that the scientific jury is still out on whether exposure to some chemicals contribute in getting the disease.

Does it really take EVEN MORE evidence than the mountains we already have to make smarter, more community-minded healthy choices? While no one can predict who is going to get Cancer, how can we pollute our bodies and the environment and expect anything less than Cancer?

The reality is that we now live in a time when cancer has become so common place, that the news of new cases of cancer seems almost expected. Here’s the headline: cancer is not supposed to be an expected stage of life. Brain cancer has increased by nearly 40%, and leukemia by over 60% in children under 14 Between 1975 and 2004.

Scientists tell us that two-thirds of cancer is thought to come from outside of the body, as opposed to the 1/3 thought to be genetic. We need to reexamine the choices we make and realize if there is the possibility to further understand cancer risks. We know we can limit cancer risks in cases like tobacco, sunlight, viruses, alcohol, obesity and some chemicals. When we work to prevent cancer risks, it impacts human health, the environment and the economy. If we work for Less Cancer in a real way we will have Less Diabetes, Asthma, Heart Disease and Obesity.

It's important to understand the illnesses like childhood obesity lead to increased risk of cancer. Childhood obesity in the United States has more than tripled from the 1970′s through 2004. And no surprise the Department of Health and Human Services report that food and beverage advertisers collectively spend $10 to $12 billion annually to reach children and youth: more than $1 billion is spent on media advertising to children (primarily on television); more than $4.5 billion is spent on youth-targeted public relations; and $3 billion is spent on packaging designed for children.

And what about Asthma? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that asthma costs $3.2 billion each year, accounts for 14 million missed school days, and is the third ranking cause of hospitalization among children younger than 15 years of age.

While we have made in-roads, we still have so much work to do to reduce cancer risks. Lancet Oncology reported on one study, this last September, that the worldwide cost burden for cancer care was $895 billion in 2008, By 2030 there will be at least 22 million new cancer patients, and new cancers are estimated to tack on another $286 billion in costs.

People in the United States live under the false impression that if something is legal, it is safe for humans and the environment. That thought is just naive. We are a country that had Santa Claus and physicians selling cigarettes. The Lorillard Tobacco Co., maker of Kent cigarettes, advertised their product’s “health protection.” That seemed to work because the company reportedly sold about 12 billion Kents. But those same “healthy” Kents contained crocidolite asbestos in filters from about 1952 through 1956. Asbestos is known to cause Mesothelioma - a form of Cancer. The nation's fourth largest tobacco company took out full page ads in the Journal of the American Medical Association. One advertisement mentioned how “thousands” of physicians at a recent AMA convention witnessed “a convincing demonstration the of the MICRONITE FILTER” and included photos.

None of this is about panic, but it is about avoiding those products, corporations and NGO’s that do not support your health or the environment. Support that which supports you.

We have platforms that include non profit cancer organizations providing nutritional information from McDonald's in a way that, to me, looks a lot like advertising for the Golden Arches. You can learn about McDonald's supposedly healthy smoothies, which in some cases have 70 grams of sugar and more calories than a cheeseburger(something they do not really make clear). Other Cancer organizations are partnering with everyone from Kentucky Fried Chicken to Pepperidge Farm. Why Because “PINK” seemingly is the new color of money.

Of the 87,000 chemicals registered for commerce in the United States, only one- tenth have been tested for potential health effects and while we don’t have all the details- for me personally I have seen more than enough to not use many of them if I can help it.

The war on cancer must include the work for prevention in a real way, through action. We have more cancer now than ever before-not less.

2011-07-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

Tans are caused by harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or tanning lamps, and if you’ve had one, you’ve sustained skin cell damage.

The Skin Cancer Foundation tells us that a tan, whether you get it on the beach, in a bed, or through incidental exposure, is bad news any way you acquire it. Tans are caused by harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or tanning lamps, and if you’ve had one, you’ve sustained skin cell damage. No matter what you may hear at tanning salons, the cumulative damage caused by UV radiation can lead to premature skin aging (wrinkles, lax skin, brown spots, and more), as well as skin cancer.

Tanning machines emit dangerous ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and frequent tanners using new high-pressure sunlamps may receive as much as 12 times the annual ultraviolet radiation they would receive from regular sun exposure.

UV radiation is a proven human carcinogen and is linked with a higher risk of all forms of skin cancer including potentially deadly melanoma, which is the most common form of cancer among young adults 25-29 years old. On average, indoor tanners are 74 percent more likely to develop melanomas than non-tanners. They are also 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma, the two most common skin cancers.

Who are the scientists?

Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, Md. Ph.D., a Less Cancer Board Member, was the founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the UPMC Cancer Center.

In 1968, Dr. Herberman was a senior investigator in the immunology branch of the National Cancer Institute where he organized a research program related to tumor and cellular immunology. In 1971 he became head of a newly established cellular and tumor immunology section in the laboratory of Cell Biology of the National Cancer Institute. During this period he had responsibility over a research program made up of several investigators who were researching cell mediated immune response to tumors in animal model systems and patients with cancer. As a result of this research, a new category of lymphocytes was discovered and termed natural killer (NK) cells. Since then, much of Dr. Herberman's research has been focused on the characterization of these natural effector cells and on their role in resistance to cancer growth.

Currently Dr. Herberman is Chief Medical Officer for Intrexon Corp., which specializes in innovative approaches to immunotherapy for the treatment and prevention of cancer. Dr. Herberman is responsible for overall leadership of Intrexon’s expanding anti-cancer clinical programs and related regulatory affairs.

What the Scientists Say.

Dr. Herberman is particularly concerned that the incidence of melanoma is rising rapidly and that "burns from UV lights are central contributors to increased risk of melanoma.” He goes on to say that although “low level exposure to UV light either from sun or tanning beds will help maintain levels of Vitamin D, one can readily eat vitamin D-containing foods or nutritional supplements without running the risk of over-exposure to UV. The particular danger is to avoid exposure that will lead to an actual burn because that has been shown to put people at risk many years later for malignant melanomas."

More and More localities are looking at restricting tanning beds for teenagers.

2011-02-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

FEBRUARY 4 NAMED CANCER PREVENTION DAY IN STATE OF VIRGINIA

Resolution SJ 358 passed February 3, 2011 in the Virginia State Senate honoring the work of Less Cancer and naming February 4, 2011, and every succeeding February 4, as Cancer Prevention Day in the state of Virginia.

Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel introduced the resolution and was instrumental in its passage. She said, "It is my honor to undertake the work to establish Cancer Prevention Day in the Commonwealth. The more energy and resources that we direct toward awareness, education and prevention, the more lives we save."

In 2007, Jill was elected to the State Senate of Virginia, representing Winchester, Frederick County, Clarke County, Fauquier County and parts of Loudoun County. She serves on numerous committees and working groups, including the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee, the Committee on General Laws and Technology, and the Privileges and Elections Committee. She has co-chaired the Joint Subcommittee to Study Development and Land Use Tools and is a member of the Rappahannock River Basin Commission.

In 2010, Jill was appointed to the Prison Re-Entry Commission and the Governor's Transportation Workgroup.

Born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley, Jill is a wife, mother, and small business owner. She volunteers her time helping civic and charitable organizations, and she resides in Fauquier County with her husband and children.

Bill Couzens, Founder and President of the nonprofit Next Generation Choices Foundation and the Less Cancer Campaign, has worked to raise awareness for the reduction of cancer risks.

Founded in 2004, Next Generation Choices Foundation partners with communities to create and dispense educational tools that focus on environmental health advocacy and lifestyle choices.

The public charity was formed in response to the escalating cases of cancer and the lack of education and knowledge about potential causes. Couzens has been recognized by Congress in addition to the Commonwealth of Virginia for his work in initiating and creating best practices to reduce pesticide drift in health effected communities such as schools. He has been published in a number of periodicals and has been a speaker on the topic of reducing harmful environmental exposures linked to cancer. Couzens is a frequent blogger whose posts are often seen and read on the World Wide Web.

February 4, Cancer Prevention Day, will be celebrated with a public declaration on the floor of
the state senate.

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 358
Offered January 12, 2011
Prefiled January 12, 2011
Designating February 4, in 2011 and in each succeeding year, as Cancer Prevention Day in
Virginia.
Patron-- Vogel
Referred to Committee on Rules

WHEREAS, cancer is the leading cause of death around the world; and

WHEREAS, during the 10-year period from 1995 to 2004, the rate of new cancer cases in
Virginia increased by 10 percent; and

WHEREAS, the most common cancers in Virginia—prostate, lung, and colorectal for men and
breast, lung, and colorectal for women—are also among the most preventable; and

WHEREAS, the 2008 - 2012 Virginia Cancer Plan developed by the Virginia Cancer Plan
Action Coalition contains specific goals and strategies related to prevention in the hopes of
reducing the rates of cancer in Virginians; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly
designate February 4, in 2011 and in each succeeding year, as Cancer Prevention Day in
Virginia; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit a copy of this resolution to the
Virginia Cancer Plan Action Coalition so that members of the Coalition may be apprised of the of the
sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter; and, be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the Senate post the designation of this day on the General Assembly's website.

2011-01-31T10:36:00.000-08:00

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/organic-farmers-alarmed-obama-deregulation-mutant-alfalfa/story?id=12786580&page=1

posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Organic Panic: Obama Administration Green Lights Mutant Alfalfa
USDA Deregulation of Genetically Modified Hay Threatens Organic Foods, Critics Say

By DEVIN DWYER
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2011

The nation's organic farmers are sounding the alarm after an Obama administration decision they say could destroy their supply chains and drastically limit the choices and availability of some popular consumer foods.

The Department of Agriculture decided last week to allow the widespread, unregulated use of genetically modified alfalfa, commonly known as hay, which is the primary feed for dairy cows and beef cattle across the country.

Opponents argue that he mutant crops, engineered to survive being sprayed with insecticide, could escape from their fields and eventually cross-pollinate with and contaminate neighboring organic crops. That could mean less organic feed for the organic cows that produce a range of organic products.

"Consumers don't eat [genetically modified] alfalfa, of course," said Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," which examines the U.S. farming and food industry. "But it's the main feed for dairy cows. And organic milk, one of the most successful and popular organic foods, could be compromised if the organic cows eat non-organic feed."

Some environmental experts are also concerned that broader planting of herbicide-resistant crops, which are then doused with powerful chemicals, could expedite the spread of "superweeds," which are herbicide-resistant pests that force farmers to potentially use more toxic substances to root them out. ..See Link

2011-01-31T07:27:00.002-08:00

http://mim.io/bb74d

Post By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

See Link

Just Call Me Bob.

Tanning Beds: When perceived beauty and money over take human health.

By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

Bob is a nickname I earned many years ago from family and friends when I was on vacation in Bermuda. My daily routine was breakfast, "bob" in the ocean, lunch, "bob" in the ocean, then dinner and drinks. A perfect day.

Tanning for me was under the guise of swimming; exercise was fine, but tanning ruled. Honestly, who's kidding who? It was all about the tan.

My trips to the sun over the last 30 years were often preempted by trips to the tanning booth where I could build a base so I would not burn when I got to my beach of choice. It seemed practical at the time, and a perfectly reasonable excuse for getting a head start on the process.

Crazy? YES!

While I still enjoy the sun, I have come to understand the benefits of moderation.

Recently I posted a video on the Less Cancer fan page of Facebook that generated a number of comments. It was called Tanning is Out Skin is In by the Melanoma Foundation of New England.

One comment the video received was from a fan of Dr. Mercola – who, also sells tanning beds. Dr. Mercola sells tanning beds with this pitch:

For lack of an effective, convenient solution, most people take the problem of Vitamin D Deficiency lying down. This accounts for the sad state of many people's health. The dangers of low Vitamin D levels, such as depression, autism and even cancer, are just too serious to ignore.

The beds are endorsed by a nonprofit that calls themselves the Vitamin D Council.

Scientists at the Vitamin D Council agree that both children and adults should have a Vitamin D level of 50 ng/ml all year-round. They recommend the use of any Mercola Tanning Systems as a safe and effective way to help you achieve natural levels of Vitamin D. The Council’s aim is to educate the public about Vitamin D deficiency and how to prevent it.

And while Dr. Mercola seems to make sense, my concern is for the escalating incidences of Melanoma.

A Look At The Science.

The Skin Cancer Foundation tells us that tan, whether you get it on the beach, in a bed, or through incidental exposure, is bad news any way you acquire it. Tans are caused by harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or tanning lamps, and if you have one, you’ve sustained skin cell damage. No matter what you may hear at tanning salons, the cumulative damage caused by UV radiation can lead to premature skin aging (wrinkles, lax skin, brown spots, and more), as well as skin cancer.

Tanning machines emit dangerous ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and frequent tanners using new high-pressure sunlamps may receive as much as 12 times the annual ultraviolet radiation they would receive from regular sun exposure.

UV radiation is a proven human carcinogen, and is linked with a higher risk of all forms of skin cancer, including potentially deadly melanoma which is the most common form of cancer among young adults 25-29 years old. On average, indoor tanners are 74 percent more likely to develop melanomas than non-tanners. They are also 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma, the two most common skin cancers.

Recently I had the opportunity to discuss UV risks with Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, Md. Ph.D. A Less Cancer Board Member, Dr. Ronald Herberman was the founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the UPMC Cancer Center.

In 1968, Dr. Herberman was a senior investigator in the immunology branch of the National Cancer Institute where he organized a research program related to tumor and cellular immunology. In 1971 he became head of a newly established cellular and tumor immunology section in the laboratory of Cell Biology of the National Cancer Institute. During this period he had responsibility for a research program of several investigators related to studies in animal model systems and in patients with cancer, studying the cell mediated immune responses to tumors. As a result of this research, a new category of lymphocytes was discovered in Dr. Herberman's laboratory and termed natural killer (NK) cells. Since then, much of Dr. Herberman's research has been focused on the characterization of these natural effector cells and on their role in resistance to cancer growth.

Currently Dr Herberman is Chief Medical Officer for Intrexon Corp., which specializes in innovative approaches to immunotherapy for the treatment and prevention of cancer. Dr. Herberman is responsible for overall leadership of Intrexon’s expanding anti-cancer clinical programs and related regulatory affairs.

Dr. Herberman is particularly concerned that the incidence of melanoma is rising rapidly and that "burns from UV lights are central contributors to increased risk of melanoma.” He went on to say that although “low level exposure to UV light either from sun or tanning beds will help maintain levels of Vitamin D,one can readily eat vitamin D-containing foods or nutritional supplements without running the risk of over-exposure to UV. The particular danger is to avoid exposure that will lead to an actual burn because that has been shown to put people at risk many years later for malignant melanomas."

Recently teens in Victoria, B.C., and its surrounding municipalities, will no longer be allowed to use tanning beds in the region.

In an 18-1 vote late Wednesday, the Capital Regional District council voted in favor of new regulations that will bar people under the age of 18 from using commercial tanning beds in the British Columbia capital and 12 surrounding municipalities on Vancouver Island.

Those who appear to be under the age of 25 must present proof of age identification to use the tanning beds at the about 40 licensed tanning salons in the region.

Underage customers and salon owners caught in violation could face fines ranging from $250 to $2,000. The bylaw aims to promote and protect the health of children and youth from a recognized carcinogen by restricting minors under the age of 18 years from the “use of ultraviolet (UV) emitting devices in public indoor tanning facilities—other than a physician’s office or medical clinic—for cosmetic purposes," the council said in a release.

The headline here is that we as a culture often look the other way when it comes to money and beauty. “How could I feel so good, look so good, and be at risk for Cancer? Nah! Not me.”

The bottom line is that the longer we “bob” around on the issue – and ignore the clear risks and consequences, the more we are drowning ourselves, and our health, with our ignorance and pride.

We know that UV rays are cancer causing. It doesn’t matter the source, UV rays are a cancer risk.

For me if I want sun and wish to pump up my Vitamin D I take a walk in nature and am now mindful of protecting my skin.

End.

Please Donate to Less Cancer www.lesscancer.org/donate

2011-01-16T09:59:00.000-08:00

Posted by Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDSiDKPAH8s

Check out the Less Cancer Minuet with Holli Thompson health and nutrition coach.

Learn more about Phytonutrients.

2011-01-16T09:45:00.000-08:00

Posted Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

http://www.aolhealth.com/2011/01/14/chemicals-linked-to-diabetes-obesity/

Diabetes and obesity may result from exposure to chemicals and pesticides in cigarette smoke, chemicals in plastic, and arsenic, U.S. government researchers said Thursday.

Michael Gallo, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, reported the results of the recent study during a workshop this week. He said the link between smoking while pregnant and a child's risk of future development of type-2 diabetes and obesity was strong. "It is consistent with our understanding of how diabetes and obesity develop," he told Reuters Thursday.

"Perhaps less recognized is the consistent association with increased risk of offspring being overweight or obese later in life," Dr. Kristina Thayer, director of the National Toxicology Program Center for Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction, told AOL Health. "Maternal smoking during pregnancy is consistently associated with an increased risk of offspring being overweight or obese during childhood, adolescence or adulthood,"

According to Thayer, this pattern is initially detectable in young children and continues through adulthood. It is supported by laboratory findings that monitor animals who are treated with nicotine during development. In addition to smoking during pregnancy, exposure to secondhand smoke and pesticides during both pregnancy and childhood are linked to diabetes and obesity.

See link..

2010-12-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

Posted By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

The Atlantic Home
Tuesday, December 14, 2010

When Detroit Says 'Eat Local,' It Really Means It

By Tracie McMillan

Tracie McMillan - Tracie McMillan is an award-winning food and poverty journalist. She has worked with farmworkers, grill cooks, and produce managers for her first book, Foodless, to be published by Scribner in 2011.

http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/10/when-detroit-says-eat-local-it-really-means-it/65301/

"Just one year old, Brother Nature was founded by Greg Willerer, a former teacher who'd been growing food for market through Grown in Detroit, a cooperative selling excess produce from the city's 1,200 community garden and urban farm plots. Today, he sells to 10 restaurants, ranging from Andy Hollyday's Roast in downtown's Book Cadillac Hotel to the casual Russell Street Deli at Eastern Market, and has had to turn down several more. Next year, Willerer will boost production on his existing plot (just under an acre) through better organization, add three more lots, and be earning more than he did as a teacher."See Link

2010-12-14T17:59:00.000-08:00

Posted by Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

http://www.detnews.com/article/20101214/METRO/12140426/Doctors-call-for-moratorium-on-fast-food-in-Detroit

Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News

"The group says the moratorium is needed because "Detroit's high-fat and meat-heavy diets" have helped cause heart problems. More than 3,400 Detroiters die of heart disease each year, and the city has the fourth-highest rate of heart disease deaths of all U.S. cities, according to the World Health Organization.

In 2008, Los Angeles imposed moratorium on new fast food restaurants with neighborhoods with high obesity rates and numerous stores. In New York City, officials required fast food chains to post calorie counts on menus and displays". See Above Link

2010-09-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Posted By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/2/Obesity/freshman_fifteen_avoided_by_finding_a_heavy_roommate_09242010100.html

A new study presented at a meeting of the American Society of Health Economists reveals that female college students who have heavier roommates are apt to gain less weight than those who room with thinner students.

Co-author of the study, Kandice Kapinos, explained that 144 female freshman students who were randomly assigned roommates were surveyed and asked about the following: their height and weight, their exercise habits, whether or not they were on a diet, and whether or not they took weight loss supplements. See Link

2010-09-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

Posted By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/24/which-school-lunch-bill-is%C2%A0best/

Congress may decide this week between two bills aimed at improving school lunch nutrition. A key target in the battle against child obesity .

One new bill, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which has passed the Senate, would set national dietary guidelines for any food or drink sold in schools. It would increase funding per meal by $.06 so that fresh produce could be included with more frequency. And it would provide nutritional training for people working in school lunch programs. (More on Time.com: New at the School Fete: The Possum Throwing Contest!)

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/24/which-school-lunch-bill-is%C2%A0best/#ixzz10VEmb464

2010-09-17T07:27:00.001-07:00

Posted by Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer
http://askmissa.com/2010/09/17/healthy-lunches-for-kids/

Check out Holli Thompson's fun and easy to do tips for kids lunch boxes.

Holli who is a certified health coach is the talent for both Less Cancer Minuets and for the Movie Healthy Town Detroit. Holli is a Raw Food Chef, has attended the Natural Gourmet Cooking School.

2010-09-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-michael-douglas-20100901,0,5978844.story?track=rss

LA TIMES

Michael Douglas reveals his throat cancer is stage four. What does that mean?

According to Douglas, doctors said his chances of survival are 80%.See Link

Posted By Less Cancer Staff

2010-08-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

Healthy Town Detroit Launches On Itunes

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/healthy-town/id388742594?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Pictured Here is Bill Couzens Founder of the Less Cancer and Healthy Town Campaigns and Next Generation Choices Foundation with Holli Thompson, Health Coach, Founder of Nutritional Style and Reporter for Less Cancer and Healthy Town Detroit. Couzens was the producer for Healthy Town Detroit. A premiere of the movie was shown at an evening viewing at the Eastern Market in Detroit, Michigan-the premiere was the kick off for the Healthy Town Campaign.

Couzens and Thompson spoke on Capitol Hill for two viewings of Healthy Town Detroit. Healthy Town Detroit is the first film in a series that will focus on social entrepreneurs in communities throughout the United States.

The documentary covers organizations working to bridge the numerous environmental health gaps in Detroit through prevention. The film features Earthworks Urban Farm at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Local Motion Green, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, the Kresge Foundation, and Kids Kicking Cancer.

Healthy Town’s mission is to educate and increase awareness for healthy choices to include nutrition and preventable harmful environmental exposures in homes, schools, and work places. Exposures are identified based on research and warnings from current sound science of leading experts in the fields of cancer, human health, and the environment.

2010-08-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

Less Cancer -A Resource for Stand Up to Cancer

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/08/19/stand-up-to-cancer/

Mark your calendars: On Sept. 10 at 8 p.m. ET, the four major TV networks will all air a star-packed Stand Up to Cancer telethon, featuring appearances by Reese Witherspoon, Stevie Wonder, and Queen Latifah alongside cancer survivors like Lance Armstrong and Christina Applegate. Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer, and Brian Williams will serve as joint hosts of the event. The last Stand Up to Cancer benefit in 2008 raised over $100 million for research.

2010-08-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.anticancerbook.com/chefs/bill_couzen.html

Bill Couzens Top Anticancer Chef

BE WELL, by Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

Recipe Ingredients:

Local and Organic if possible
Baby Arugula
Asparagus
Beets
Green Beans
Goat Cheese
Pine Nuts
Shelled- Crushed Pistachio Nuts
Sea Salt
Garlic Powder
Pepper
Brown Rice Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Recipe Instructions:

1) Turn on favorite Music

2) Get a big wood salad bowl and make sure the bowl is rubbed with Virgin Olive Oil.

3) Take well washed chopped Asparagus tips and spears chopped Green Beans let them soak in virgin olive oil, Sea Salt and Pepper for about 30 mins. then pour mixture into pan and saute for 3-6 mins depending on how well you like. If your having salad for a couple of people I like about 2.5 hand-fulls of chopped Asparagus Tips and Green Beans (I like Cast Iron Pans)

4) Remove Green Beans and Asparagus and let drain on a paper towel for a few mins until room temp.

5) Chop the peeled well washed - sliced beets and toss in to pan to saute in a small amount of olive oil for about 5-15 mins on medium heat. Then Remove and let drain on to paper towel.

6) Take washed and dried Baby Arugula lettuce leaves and toss into bowl.

7) Throw on crumbled Goat Cheese, Chopped Beets, Asparagus, and Green Beans.

8) Shake on Pine Nuts

9) Shake on shelled pistachio nuts (I like to crush them re they are are larger tougher nut)

10) I premix Brown Rice Vinegar and Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic powder to taste.

11) Pour dressing on Salad and Toss.

Salad Dressing:

Brown Rice Vinegar, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sea Salt, Peper and Garlic Powder

How is your salad Anticancerous?

Asparagus- Antioxidant
Beets- Antioxidants
Green Beans-Antioxidant
Pine Nuts- Antioxidants
Pistachio Nuts- Antioxidant
Garlic Powder-Antioxidant
Music -Stress Reducer

2010-08-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Posted By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

USDA Selects Massachusetts to Test Ground-Breaking Nutrition Pilot Program
SNAP Recipients to Receive Incentives for Healthy Eating

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2010 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that Hampden County, Mass., will conduct the first-ever Healthy Incentives Pilot (HIP) – an incentives-based program to empower low-income Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables. The 2008 Farm Bill authorized $20 million to research whether incentives for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly the Food Stamp Program) will increase their purchase of healthful foods.

"This pilot project will empower low-income Americans to eat more nutritious food and has the potential to strengthen the SNAP program that serves as a critical safety net to the most vulnerable in our society," said Agriculture Secretary Vilsack. "Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, especially in the place of higher calorie foods, can help move America towards healthier lifestyles and a healthier future."

The Healthy Incentives Pilot will enroll 7,500 randomly selected SNAP households to receive incentives. For every dollar participants spend on fruits and vegetables using their SNAP Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, 30 cents will be added to their benefit balance - thus cutting the cost of fruits and vegetables by almost one-third.

Massachusetts was selected competitively based on its comprehensive pilot proposal that included very thorough and strong design, implementation, staffing and management plans. Hampden County is a mix of 27 urban, rural, and suburban cities with a total of 50,000 SNAP households. The majority of recipients are concentrated in the areas of Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee. Massachusetts will begin operating the pilot in the fall of 2011.

"The Healthy Incentives Pilot is an incredible step towards reducing obesity by encouraging low-income Americans to add more fruits and vegetables to their diets," said USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon. "It's time to move forward with innovative approaches like HIP to get Americans eating more healthily."

Secretary Vilsack also announced the selection of Abt Associates, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. as the independent contractor to evaluate HIP. The evaluation will focus on whether incentives increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables and how participants' overall diets are affected. Researchers will also study HIP effects on the State, retailers and other SNAP stakeholders and assess the feasibility of implementing HIP nationwide.

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will provide Federal oversight of the pilot and evaluation. FNS oversees the administration of 15 nutrition assistance programs. These programs serve one in four Americans over the course of a year and work in concert to form a national safety net against hunger. SNAP, the largest of these programs, helps more than 40 million Americans each month put healthy food on the table. Visit www.fns.usda.gov for information about FNS and nutrition assistance programs.

2010-07-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

Congressman Cummings, Holli Thompson, Bill Couzens at the showing of Healthy Town Detroit at the Rayburn Building on the Hill July 2, 2010

July 3, 2011

Washington, DC
Healthy Town Detroit the Movie- Two Congressional Showings

“Healthy Town Detroit” , the first film in a series focusing on social entrepreneurs in communities throughout the United States. Healthy Town–Detroit documents organizations working to bridge the numerous environmental health gaps in Detroit through prevention. The film features Earthworks Urban Farm at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Local Motion Green, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, the Kresge Foundation, and Kids Kicking Cancer. The short movie Healthy Town–Detroit is part of the New Healthy Town Campaign from Next Generation Choices Foundation.

Bill Couzens, Founder of Next Generation Choices Foundation, produced and directed Healthy Town–Detroit in his first cinematic effort. Known for their Less Cancer and Healthy Town campaigns, this new effort was well received at its premier in Middleburg last night.The foundation’s first project was to reduce harmful pesticide exposures in Virginia Schools. That effort was recognized for its collaboration with the state on recommendations to reduce pesticide drift from health effected communities – primarily schools. Driven by evidenced based science, Couzens was instrumental in educating Virginians on the risk to children of pesticides in their environment. The work of Less Cancer, and now Healthy Town, has raised awareness for prevention.

Healthy Town features on camera contributor, Holli Thompson of Nutritional Style. Holli is a nutrition.

2010-06-30T13:02:00.001-07:00

http://askmissa.com/2010/06/30/healthy-town-detroit-to-be-shown-on-the-hill-by-bill-couzens-and-holli-thompson/

Healthy Town Detroit To Be Shown On The Hill By Bill Couzens and Holli Thompson

By Andrea Rodgers

30. Jun, 2010 0 Comments

I wrote last week about the screening of Healthy Town Detroit at Sheila Johnson’s Market Salamander in Middleburg, Virginia. For those in the District who are interested, Bill Couzens, Founder of Less Cancer and Holli Thompson, the Healthy Town Detroit Host and Founder of Nutritional Style will host another viewing on The Hill this Friday, July 2nd from 12:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. in 2168 Rayburn House Office Building (the Gold Room)

Healthy Town Detroit is the first film in a series focusing on social entrepreneurs in communities throughout the United States. The documentary covers organizations working to bridge the numerous environmental health gaps in Detroit through prevention. The film features Earthworks Urban Farm at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Local Motion Green, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, the Kresge Foundation, and Kids Kicking Cancer. The film series is part of the New Healthy Town Campaign from Next Generation Choices Foundation known for their Less Cancer campaign. See link...

2010-06-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

Check Out Top Anticancer Chef Recipe By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Go to link and Vote and Share with friends.

http://www.anticancerbook.com/chefs/bill_couzen.html

Recipe Ingredients:

Local and Organic if possible
Baby Arugula
Asparagus
Beets
Green Beans
Goat Cheese
Pine Nuts
Shelled- Crushed Pistachio Nuts
Sea Salt
Garlic Powder
Pepper
Brown Rice Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Recipe Instructions:

1) Turn on favorite Music

2) Get a big wood salad bowl and make sure the bowl is rubbed with Virgin Olive Oil.

3) Take well washed chopped Asparagus tips and spears chopped Green Beans let them soak in virgin olive oil, Sea Salt and Pepper for about 30 mins. then pour mixture into pan and saute for 3-6 mins depending on how well you like. If your having salad for a couple of people I like about 2.5 hand-fulls of chopped Asparagus Tips and Green Beans (I like Cast Iron Pans)

4) Remove Green Beans and Asparagus and let drain on a paper towel for a few mins until room temp.

5) Chop the peeled well washed - sliced beets and toss in to pan to saute in a small amount of olive oil for about 5-15 mins on medium heat. Then Remove and let drain on to paper towel.

6) Take washed and dried Baby Arugula lettuce leaves and toss into bowl.

7) Throw on crumbled Goat Cheese, Chopped Beets, Asparagus, and Green Beans.

8) Shake on Pine Nuts

9) Shake on shelled pistachio nuts (I like to crush them re they are are larger tougher nut)

10) I premix Brown Rice Vinegar and Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic powder to taste.

11) Pour dressing on Salad and Toss.

Salad Dressing:

Brown Rice Vinegar, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sea Salt, Peper and Garlic Powder

How is your salad Anticancerous?

Asparagus- Antioxidant
Beets- Antioxidants
Green Beans-Antioxidant
Pine Nuts- Antioxidants
Pistachio Nuts- Antioxidant
Garlic Powder-Antioxidant
Music -Stress Reducer

2010-06-23T09:05:00.001-07:00

BIG NIGHT FOR VIEWING OF HEALTHY TOWN DETROIT

Standing room only for Non-profits first video
Market- Salamander Middleburg Virginia

Key Words
Bill Couzens, Less Cancer, Next Generation Choices Foundation,Holli Thompson, Detroit, Michigan, Middleburg Virginia, Market Salamander, Sheila Johnson,Childrens Hospital of Michigan,Capuchin Soup Kitchen,Kresge Foundation,Kids Kicking Cancer,Prevention, Cancer,Joan Couzens, Anne Couzens,Lisa Richter,David Fukuzawa,
Rabbi G, Vivian Day Stroh,Mary Mueller, Dr Herman B Gray,Melissa Sargent,Local Motion Green,Facebook, Environment, Human Health, Healthy Town,Toxins, Salamander Hospitality

See Transcript and link for trailer below

Middleburg Virginia:

A gem of the famed Salamander Hospitality- Market Salamander (a venture of Sheila C. Johnson, successful entrepreneur and philanthropist)-was the site for the viewing of Healthy Town Detroit. Market Salamander according to its website is known for its support of gastronomic, local, organic and sustainable foods.

A standing room only crowd enjoyed the movie and a lively Q&A opportunity afterwards with Bill Couzens, Founder of Less Cancer and the movies produce and food and nutrition guru Holli Thompson who did the reporting for the short movie.

Couzens spoke as founder of Less Cancer and the importance of evidenced based science when advocating for human health and the environment. And that how the models represented are great models for other towns in helping to bridge the critical gap on human health and the environment.

The short movie Healthy Town–Detroit is part of the New Healthy Town Campaign from Next Generation Choices Foundation. The movie slated to come out is Healthy Town Pittsburg.

Couzens, Founder of Next Generation Choices Foundation (home to the Less Cancer Campaign), produced and directed Healthy Town–Detroit in his first cinematic effort. Known for their Less Cancer and Healthy Town campaigns, this new effort was well received at its premier in the Eastern Market of Downtown Detroit.

Couzens, a self described serial entrepreneur is a brand promotions-event marketing consultant. Borrowing 1,000 dollars from his father Couzens Founded the award-winning magazine Equidaie, he sold it to accessories designer Barry Kieselstein- Cord.

Six years ago Couzens founded the Next Generation Choices Foundation in response to the loss of his sister Anne, mother Joan, and several friends. The Foundation’s Less Cancer campaign is world recognized with thousands of members through social media in over 35 countries. Their first project was to reduce harmful pesticide exposures in Virginia Schools. That effort was recognized for its collaboration with the state on recommendations to reduce pesticide drift from health effected communities – primarily schools. Driven by evidenced based science, Couzens was instrumental in educating Virginians on the risk to children of pesticides in their environment. The work of Less Cancer, and now Healthy Town, has raised awareness for prevention. One can hardly open a newspaper without seeing a story on the very issues that Next Generation Choices Foundation has worked so diligently to bring to the forefront of public discussion. Couzens is a frequent blogger and speaker. Born in Detroit, Couzens is a Wayne State University Graduate.

Nutrition guru, Holli Thompson, as interviewer-helps to tell the Healthy Town—Detroit story. A former executive of Tiffany and Co. and Channel, Thompson is a Less Cancer volunteer and the owner of Nutritional Style. She has dedicated herself to the study of achieving health through nutrition, and is a Certified Holistic Health Counselor. She has trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, accredited by SUNY Purchase College, and Cornell University. Thompson is also a certified raw food chef and has attended the Natural Gourmet Cooking School and is skilled in the art of healthy gourmet cooking.

Healthy Town–Detroit documents organizations working to bridge the numerous Environmental Health gaps in Detroit through prevention. The film features Earthworks at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Local Motion Green, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, the Kresge Foundation, and Kids Kicking Cancer.

Run-time: 25 minutes.

COPY AND PASTE LINK TO BROWSER
SEE LINK FOR TRAILER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIYASqPAF6g

FULL TRANSCRIPT
Healthy Town Detroit THE MOVIE
See Trailer below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIYASqPAF6g&feature=player_embedded

Holli Thompson: So Lisa, I've read somewhere, is it possible that there could be 5,000 homeless kids in the city, in Detroit, is that possible?

Lisa Richter: It could be possible. I haven’t heard that fact before but I have heard that, you know, there is some 40,000 people without vacant(ph) water, that there is some 30% unemployment rate, you know, in this city. So I think that that's probably very possible.

Holli Thompson: That’s just unbelievable to me. And there are—how many people are in the entire city? Isn’t it 800,000?

Lisa Richter: Around 800,000-

Holli Thompson: That’s unbelievable.

[Music Playing 0:02:48 - 0:02:54]

Holli Thompson: Here we are in the middle of Detroit, Michigan, inner city and we’re in the huge beautiful garden.

Lisa, this is amazing. What you're doing is incredible. Can you tell us a little bit about the vegetables you're growing and what's coming up now?

Lisa Richter: Yeah, so right now, it's falls. So we've got falls things growing. So we've got spinach, and hardy herbs like parsley and things. We've got broccoli, (00:3:22) it's great time for salad greens and things. And this is our largest garden site here, so it's about three quarters of an acre and this is where most of our production comes from.

Holli Thompson: Right.

Lisa Richter: Yup. So we grow about 6000 pounds of certified organic produce(ph), most of which goes into meals, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.

[Music Playing 0:03:41 - 0:03:49]

It's possible to grow food even this northern climate, and to harvest food year-round. So it's possible without needing to burn any fossil fuels to grow foods, like greens and carrots and then you can store things, like your potatoes and squashes all winter long.

One of the things that we are trying to do is make that food available for folks. So some of it will go right into meals, the kitchen, and then today, for example, we have a market that’s available to anybody in the community to come and to purchase it at reasonable prices.

Holli Thompson: Look at these gorgeous red carrots-

Lisa Richter: Yeah, I love biting in these ones because you can see how, its the purple there and then see you how beautiful orange.

Holli Thompson: Gorgeous.

Lisa Richter: You know, it's just delicious.

Holli Thompson: Yeah, they're so good. What is the temperature in here? It feels coasty(ph) warm.

Lisa Richter: Yeah, it's amazing. I mean even on a winter day, because this is the green house effect. We’re just more talking about what’s global climate change and we’re using it to our benefit here in the structure so that—you know, temperature in here is probably over 75, I would think right now. It's beautiful, I'm almost sweating right now.

[Music Playing 0:04:51 - 0:04:57]

Holli Thompson: Well, I love you little store that you have set up. Can you tell me a little bit about your products and how they are made?

00:05:03

Lisa Richter: We grow all the berries that we use in the jam and that a lot of times, people don’t know that. They're like, “Oh, this is so great, your jam. Where did the berries come from?” I'm like, “We grow them all.” And it feels so awesome because they're processed here at the kitchen. So the sugar that we use is not local, we haven’t been able to find a local organic supplier of sugar, but all of the berries are and we try to use—you know, always use organic sugar and try (00:05:29) fair trade when we are able.

It was started in roughly 1997 by one of the Capuchin friars, Brother Rick Samyn. And he was the client advocate, so he would meet like the folks to soup kitchen who needed more services than just the meal, and he also then works with some of the volunteers in the kitchen and saw a great disconnect between the folks that were actually coming to volunteer and to serve and from the actually food, and felt like there wasn’t this real honoring and knowledge and appreciation of food as something beyond just simply something to shove their mouth go on with their day. That there was something that was actually are life and are being, it was also a spiritual practice that we take in everyday when we eat. And so, he started a small garden that was going to be a sort of an employee type volunteer garden, and the program has shifted and changed and moved over the years.

[Music Playing 0:06:22 - 0:06:38]

Male: Health is a main issue in this country.

Holli Thompson: Exactly.

Male: And the fast food, this country is not a (00:06:43) the point where it is almost beyond, I mean it's like beyond hills(ph). So I mean—so we had to start somewhere.

[Music Playing 0:06:51 - 0:07:02]

(00:07:02), you know, because they needed more than anything.

Holli Thompson: Right.

Male: (00:07:07) wheelchairs, walkers, this (00:07:08) when we come around, it’s like, “Wow, here they come,” you know, because a lot of them, they don’t have opportunities to get around.

[Music Playing 0:07:18 - 0:08:04]

David Fukuzawa: We decided that in the health area, that we weren’t going to focus on support for medical services per se, but we are going to look at these social and environmental factors.

So what are these various environmental factors, especially, when you look at disadvantaged communities? Where you live, really, in many ways determines how healthy you’re going to be. About half the population don’t have easy access to grocery store. They cannot walk within a mile of their homes or get in a car and get easily to a grocery store.

When we showed kids a basket of fresh fruits and vegetables and the kids wanted to know which party(ph) store they got it from, because they didn’t know that they could get to a grocery store.

Holli Thompson: But they knew party stores.

[Music Playing 0:09:01 - 0:09:09]

Interviewee: Obviously, we could go into places like that. The food that you are going to get is not particularly healthy.

One of our branch is to an organization which is brand new called the Fair Food Network. Places where you can’t really get fresh food and trying to create opportunities in the city where people can get fresh food, whether it's a farmer's market or urban gardening or even changing the way that agriculture in the region gets food to the market.

[Music Playing 0:09:50 - 0:10:53]

00:10:53

Holli Thompson: All right, just tell me about shape Down.

Mary Mueller: Okay.

Holli Thompson: I love this idea.

Mary Mueller: Yeah. Shape Down is a program. Again, it's geared towards young people and their parents, and again, it’s a weight management kind of approach, but there's an emphasis not only on healthy eating and good food choices but also on exercise.

With children, a lot of times, you're not putting them on a diet. You want them to have healthy choices, healthy eating habits and then—

Holli Thompson: Get moving.

Mary Mueller: Get moving.

Holli Thompson: Get out and play.

Mary Mueller: Don’t sit in front their TV or that (00:11:29) or whatever, and do some good exercise.

[Music Playing 0:11:32 - 0:11:38]

It's part of a national program (00:11:40) and we're bringing it to children. We get involved with social worker, a physician, a dietician and focus to do exercise. I think therapist.

Holli Thompson: There's been such a huge increase in our country also, in asthma, and I know it's a serious problem facing a lot of kids today. Do you deal with a lot of asthma patients in your outreach?

Mary Mueller: Very much so. We have a really large population of children in this city and in this area that suffer from asthma, which can be a life threatening illness. And any urban area, I think (00:12:20) like any other urban area in terms of high levels of pollution and children who are at risk.

So we see a lot of kids with asthma. We have very active asthma service here in the hospital. We have a specialized clinic, where we try to see the children who are most high risk and use a multidisciplinary approach, social work, dietary, physicians, nurses. Again, our emphasis is on giving them information about the disease and what they can do to manage and control the disease and again, we talk with—in that clinic, we focus a lot on the environmental aspects.

Holli Thompson: And what are some of the environmental aspects about 00:13:08 contributing to asthma?

Mary Mueller: In terms of what the family can control, many things in the household. So for example, carpets and pets and smoking and chemicals that you might use in your home for cleaning, these are all things that we need to help our families and kids to understand they need to avoid in their environment.

Holli Thompson: The Children’s Hospital of Michigan services over or provides care for over a quarter million children a year.

[Playing Music 00:13:53 – 00:14:12]

Rabbi G.: Kids Kicking Cancer is actually celebrating its 10 year this coming 2010. We began with 12 students at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. We teach the children karate.

Female: Hi, I’m Zoe(ph), and I’m going to teach you some karate.

I kick better than you.

Rabbi G.: Really, the martial art is about three words; power, peace, and then we teach them purpose. When you're able to deal with what so many people never can imagine, what you're dealing with, and you're dealing with it, with this power and creating inner peace, people are watching you. And because they are watching you, you’re having an impact in your teaching. So we teach breath work, we teach meditation, guided imagery, how to punch and kick.

00:15:05

But when they go to the pads, the pad becomes however they describe it, their cancer, their sickle-cell, their tumor, their anger, their fear. And in the marshal arts, you learn that when you’re breaking through something, you actually have to image a breaking. If you see in your mind you are hand breaking, don’t do it, it’s not a good idea.

Holli Thompson: Yeah.

Rabbi G.: My first little hero was our daughter. She was diagnosed at age one right before her first birthday with leukemia, with ALL. A number of years after she passed away, we were approached to become involved in a pediatric camping situation(ph) for kids with cancer. I told the guy (00:15:57) little girl who would be our daughter.

Holli Thompson: Right.

Rabbi G.: And he’s a great salesman, it took about five minutes to realize that you can make these kids laugh, and they’re just children. And I did that for many years, for 12 years, I directed this camp.

I can upon on a five-year-old child who is having a support access for chemotherapy, and he was being held down. And now I (00:16:20) the faculty in the medical school here and we teach around(ph) and through other hospitals and clinics about how to deal with pain. But we learn that if a person is afraid, the pain actually goes up significant. A boy is screaming being held down by two big nurses, and when you’re five years old, everybody is big. And he is screaming and it was (00:16:44) I walked into that situation, I just said, “Wait,” but I don’t have a clue, what was I going to say next.

And then I approached the nurse, “Give me five minutes with this child.” And the nurses were—after they leaved, the kid looked at me, like I told you, I was the governor, I just stated execution.

Holli Thompson: Yeah.

Rabbi G.: And I approached this little boy and I said, “You know, I’m a black belt, did you want me to teach you some karate?” (00:17:11) off the table.

I explained to him, “In the martial arts, you learn that it is a message you don’t have to listen to. You can feel this amazing chi, this amazing energy. It doesn’t matter what you call it, and you could blow off the pain. Watch me.” And five minutes later, we were enjoying a very quick tai chi breathing technique together. 20 minutes later, the nurse took out the needle and the little boy looked at her and he said, “Did you do inject(ph).”

Female: These same children teach those breathing and relaxation techniques online.

Female: Let the air pass through your body.

Female: And even inside corporations, helping overworked stressed out employees to relax and breathe through their struggle.

Rabbi G.: We give black belts to children at the end of their lives, and we embroider the child’s name in one end, and master teacher on the other. So we teach the child (00:18:08), teach meditation and the breath work. There is a lot of training involved in that.

Can you teach me what you teach to the kids?

Rabbi G.: Power.

Holli Thompson: Power.

Rabbi G.: Peace.

Holli Thompson: Peace.

Rabbi G.: Purpose.

[Music Playing 00:18:22 – 00:18:38]

Vivian Day: The organization was founded over 10 years ago by woman named Beth Dance. And she had lost her mother to cancer, as did I. And this Local Motion—Local Motion Green was her idea, analyzing the information, breaking it down into simple layman’s terms and then sharing it with the public. And I’m a coach here at the moment as this wonderful woman named Susan Hulbert(ph) and we just sort of stand back and support people like Melissa who have such a deep, deep understanding of the issues.

Melissa Sargent: Our motto has been “A Better Health Through Fewer Toxins,” and so it is my job to convey the people what they can do in their everyday lives to just reduce their exposures to daily toxins.

We teach people how to read labels. And so, when you look at your household cleaner that maybe under your kitchen sink, you will see signal words there that has been designated by the EPA. And so, you will see something such as caution, warning or danger, and caution being less hazard, danger being the most. So we just tell people to look for those signal words and try to get the latest toxic signal word that you can when you’re purchasing or we even show them how to make your own household cleaners with food-based ingredients such as vinegar, baking soda.

00:20:14

Holli Thompson: Most households think only of swallowing. So, well, it’s dangerous only when my child swallows it, but they’re not thinking about how readily things can be absorbed through our skin tissues and through the air we breathe.

Vivian Day: Exactly, think about some of those strongest shower cleaners you can imagine, and that there’s always a remnant left in the shower and then you turn on the hot water and then the steam comes up and the fumes and the remnants of this horrible cleaner, and it really could take in quite a bit.

Holli Thompson: Right.

Vivian Day: And white vinegar and water and a number of other simple household products as you say that can do an equally good cleaning job and not hurt at all.

Holli Thompson: What about all the new and very expensive, I might add, cleaning products that are “green”? You know, there seems to be a lot of new companies coming out with green lines of, you know, cleaning products for every different thing. Is it worth the money? Is it worth doing that or should we just be mixing up vinegar and water?

Melissa Sargent: Well, it’s a personal choice. Some people, they’re very busy and (00:21:22) very busy, but some people would rather take a few moments and mix it up and some people just don’t really want to get their hands dirty or you know, they’ll just buy it off the shelf and that’s what they’re comfortable with. They’re more comfortable with the branded products that they know that is said will do this. And that’s fine, and it’s wonderful if there is more options out there now. And they’re easier to find, you don’t have to go (00:21:46), you can go (00:21:46) but you can also find them in the bigger (00:21:50) store as well.

You can go to our website which is www.localmotiongreen.org, all one word, and hopefully there you will find an abundance of information, not only on green cleaning but we have our green living pages, and that I believe there is about eight different green living pages where you can find a lot of information on a lot of different topics.

Holli Thompson: What I love about this city is that I really feel that the city is coming back, that there are all these great social entrepreneurs like yourself who are doing amazing things for the city and giving back and creating wonderful programs for the people. I mean do you see that, too?

Vivian Day: Absolutely, absolutely. It is a wonderful city. The architecture is fabulous, the Detroit River is beautiful and the people who are in Detroit really, really care about the city.

Holli Thompson: They do. That’s what I’m getting and in fact, people who are here that people who are here, love their city, they want to make it better, they wanted to bring it back, and it really shows, we’re really feeling that today. It’s wonderful.

Vivian Day: Terrific. There is a lot of good energy, and there has always been entrepreneurial spirit in this city. And now the times are the way they are, it really allows that spirit to become reinvigorated and it is very exciting.\

Holli Thompson: It is.

[Music playing 00:23:25 – 00:24:01]

2010-06-17T17:29:00.000-07:00

Healthy Town Detroit THE MOVIE
Showing Market-Salamander
http://www.marketsalamander.com/events/
Middleburg Virginia
June 22,2011
6-7

More about the Healthy Town Campaign
www.healthytown.org

For More about Less Cancer
www.lesscancer.org

FULL TRANSCRIPT
Healthy Town Detroit THE MOVIE
See Trailer below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIYASqPAF6g&feature=player_embedded

Holli Thompson: So Lisa, I've read somewhere, is it possible that there could be 5,000 homeless kids in the city, in Detroit, is that possible?

Lisa Richter: I believe it could be possible. I haven’t heard that fact before but I have heard that, you know, there is some 40,000 people without vacant(ph) water, that there is some 30% unemployment rate, you know, in this city. So I think that that's probably very possible.

Holli Thompson: That’s just unbelievable to me. And there are—how many people are in the entire city? Isn’t it 800,000?

Lisa Richter: Around 800,000.

Holli Thompson: That’s unbelievable.

[Music Playing 0:02:48 - 0:02:54]

Holli Thompson: Here we are in the middle of Detroit, Michigan, inner city and we’re in the huge beautiful garden.

Lisa, this is amazing. What you're doing is incredible. Can you tell us a little bit about the vegetables you're growing and what's coming up now?

Lisa Richter: Yeah, so right now, it's falls. So we've got falls things growing. So we've got spinach, and hardy herbs like parsley and things. We've got broccoli, (00:3:22) it's great time for salad greens and things. And this is our largest garden site here, so it's about three quarters of an acre and this is where most of our production comes from.

Holli Thompson: Right.

Lisa Richter: Yup. So we grow about 6000 pounds of certified organic produce(ph), most of which goes into meals, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.

[Music Playing 0:03:41 - 0:03:49]

It's possible to grow food even this northern climate, and to harvest food year-round. So it's possible without needing to burn any fossil fuels to grow foods, like greens and carrots and then you can store things, like your potatoes and squashes all winter long.

One of the things that we are trying to do is make that food available for folks. So some of it will go right into meals, the kitchen, and then today, for example, we have a market that’s available to anybody in the community to come and to purchase it at reasonable prices.

Holli Thompson: Look at these gorgeous red carrots.

Lisa Richter: Yeah, I love biting in these ones because you can see how, it's the purple there and then see you how beautiful orange.

Holli Thompson: Gorgeous.

Lisa Richter: You know, it's just delicious.

Holli Thompson: Yeah, they're so good. What is the temperature in here? It feels coasty(ph) warm.

Lisa Richter: Yeah, it's amazing. I mean even on a winter day, because this is the green house effect. We’re just more talking about what’s global climate change and we’re using it to our benefit here in the structure so that—you know, temperature in here is probably over 75, I would think right now. It's beautiful, I'm almost sweating right now.

[Music Playing 0:04:51 - 0:04:57]

Holli Thompson: Well, I love you little store that you have set up. Can you tell a little bit about your products and how they are made?

00:05:03

Lisa Richter: We grow all the berries that we use in the jam and that a lot of times, people don’t know that. They're like, “Oh, this is so great, your jam. Where did the berries come from?” I'm like, “We grow them all.” And it feels so awesome because they're processed here at the kitchen. So the sugar that we use is not local, we haven’t been able to find a local organic supplier of sugar, but all of the berries are and we try to use—you know, always use organic sugar and try (00:05:29) fair trade when we are able.

It was started in roughly 1997 by one of the Capuchin friars, Brother Rick Samyn. And he was the client advocate, so he would meet like the folks to soup kitchen who needed more services than just the meal, and he also then works with some of the volunteers in the kitchen and saw a great disconnect between the folks that were actually coming to volunteer and to serve and from the actually food, and felt like there wasn’t this real honoring and knowledge and appreciation of food as something beyond just simply something to shove their mouth go on with their day. That there was something that was actually are life and are being, it was also a spiritual practice that we take in everyday when we eat. And so, he started a small garden that was going to be a sort of an employee type volunteer garden, and the program has shifted and changed and moved over the years.

[Music Playing 0:06:22 - 0:06:38]

Male: Health is a main issue in this country.

Holli Thompson: Exactly.

Male: And the fast food, this country is not a (00:06:43) the point where it is almost beyond, I mean it's like beyond hills(ph). So I mean—so we had to start somewhere.

[Music Playing 0:06:51 - 0:07:02]

(00:07:02), you know, because they needed more than anything.

Holli Thompson: Right.

Male: (00:07:07) wheelchairs, walkers, this (00:07:08) when we come around, it’s like, “Wow, here they come,” you know, because a lot of them, they don’t have opportunities to get around.

[Music Playing 0:07:18 - 0:08:04]

David Fukuzawa: We decided that in the health area, that we weren’t going to focus on support for medical services per se, but we are going to look at these social and environmental factors.

So what are these various environmental factors, especially, when you look at disadvantaged communities? Where you live, really, in many ways determines how healthy you’re going to be. About half the population don’t have easy access to grocery store. They cannot walk within a mile of their homes or get in a car and get easily to a grocery store.

When we showed kids a basket of fresh fruits and vegetables and the kids wanted to know which party(ph) store they got it from, because they didn’t know that they could get to a grocery store.

Holli Thompson: But they knew party stores.

[Music Playing 0:09:01 - 0:09:09]

Interviewee: Obviously, we could go into places like that. The food that you are going to get is not particularly healthy.

One of our branch is to an organization which is brand new called the Fair Food Network. Places where you can’t really get fresh food and trying to create opportunities in the city where people can get fresh food, whether it's a farmer's market or urban gardening or even changing the way that agriculture in the region gets food to the market.

[Music Playing 0:09:50 - 0:10:53]

00:10:53

Holli Thompson: All right, just tell me about shape Down.

Mary Mueller: Okay.

Holli Thompson: I love this idea.

Mary Mueller: Yeah. Shape Down is a program. Again, it's geared towards young people and their parents, and again, it’s a weight management kind of approach, but there's an emphasis not only on healthy eating and good food choices but also on exercise.

With children, a lot of times, you're not putting them on a diet. You want them to have healthy choices, healthy eating habits and then—

Holli Thompson: Get moving.

Mary Mueller: Get moving.

Holli Thompson: Get out and play.

Mary Mueller: Don’t sit in front their TV or that (00:11:29) or whatever, and do some good exercise.

[Music Playing 0:11:32 - 0:11:38]

It's part of a national program (00:11:40) and we're bringing it to children. We get involved with social worker, a physician, a dietician and focus to do exercise. I think therapist.

Holli Thompson: There's been such a huge increase in our country also, in asthma, and I know it's a serious problem facing a lot of kids today. Do you deal with a lot of asthma patients in your outreach?

Mary Mueller: Very much so. We have a really large population of children in this city and in this area that suffer from asthma, which can be a life threatening illness. And any urban area, I think (00:12:20) like any other urban area in terms of high levels of pollution and children who are at risk.

So we see a lot of kids with asthma. We have very active asthma service here in the hospital. We have a specialized clinic, where we try to see the children who are most high risk and use a multidisciplinary approach, social work, dietary, physicians, nurses. Again, our emphasis is on giving them information about the disease and what they can do to manage and control the disease and again, we talk with—in that clinic, we focus a lot on the environmental aspects.

Holli Thompson: And what are some of the environmental aspects about 00:13:08 contributing to asthma?

Mary Mueller: In terms of what the family can control, many things in the household. So for example, carpets and pets and smoking and chemicals that you might use in your home for cleaning, these are all things that we need to help our families and kids to understand they need to avoid in their environment.

Holli Thompson: The Children’s Hospital of Michigan services over or provides care for over a quarter million children a year.

[Playing Music 00:13:53 – 00:14:12]

Rabbi G.: Kids Kicking Cancer is actually celebrating its 10 year this coming 2010. We began with 12 students at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. We teach the children karate.

Female: Hi, I’m Zoe(ph), and I’m going to teach you some karate.

I kick better than you.

Rabbi G.: Really, the martial art is about three words; power, peace, and then we teach them purpose. When you're able to deal with what so many people never can imagine, what you're dealing with, and you're dealing with it, with this power and creating inner peace, people are watching you. And because they are watching you, you’re having an impact in your teaching. So we teach breath work, we teach meditation, guided imagery, how to punch and kick.

00:15:05

But when they go to the pads, the pad becomes however they describe it, their cancer, their sickle-cell, their tumor, their anger, their fear. And in the marshal arts, you learn that when you’re breaking through something, you actually have to image a breaking. If you see in your mind you are hand breaking, don’t do it, it’s not a good idea.

Holli Thompson: Yeah.

Rabbi G.: My first little hero was our daughter. She was diagnosed at age one right before her first birthday with leukemia, with ALL. A number of years after she passed away, we were approached to become involved in a pediatric camping situation(ph) for kids with cancer. I told the guy (00:15:57) little girl who would be our daughter.

Holli Thompson: Right.

Rabbi G.: And he’s a great salesman, it took about five minutes to realize that you can make these kids laugh, and they’re just children. And I did that for many years, for 12 years, I directed this camp.

I can upon on a five-year-old child who is having a support access for chemotherapy, and he was being held down. And now I (00:16:20) the faculty in the medical school here and we teach around(ph) and through other hospitals and clinics about how to deal with pain. But we learn that if a person is afraid, the pain actually goes up significant. A boy is screaming being held down by two big nurses, and when you’re five years old, everybody is big. And he is screaming and it was (00:16:44) I walked into that situation, I just said, “Wait,” but I don’t have a clue, what was I going to say next.

And then I approached the nurse, “Give me five minutes with this child.” And the nurses were—after they leaved, the kid looked at me, like I told you, I was the governor, I just stated execution.

Holli Thompson: Yeah.

Rabbi G.: And I approached this little boy and I said, “You know, I’m a black belt, did you want me to teach you some karate?” (00:17:11) off the table.

I explained to him, “In the martial arts, you learn that it is a message you don’t have to listen to. You can feel this amazing chi, this amazing energy. It doesn’t matter what you call it, and you could blow off the pain. Watch me.” And five minutes later, we were enjoying a very quick tai chi breathing technique together. 20 minutes later, the nurse took out the needle and the little boy looked at her and he said, “Did you do inject(ph).”

Female: These same children teach those breathing and relaxation techniques online.

Female: Let the air pass through your body.

Female: And even inside corporations, helping overworked stressed out employees to relax and breathe through their struggle.

Rabbi G.: We give black belts to children at the end of their lives, and we embroider the child’s name in one end, and master teacher on the other. So we teach the child (00:18:08), teach meditation and the breath work. There is a lot of training involved in that.

Can you teach me what you teach to the kids?

Rabbi G.: Power.

Holli Thompson: Power.

Rabbi G.: Peace.

Holli Thompson: Peace.

Rabbi G.: Purpose.

[Music Playing 00:18:22 – 00:18:38]

Vivian Day: The organization was founded over 10 years ago by woman named Beth Dance. And she had lost her mother to cancer, as did I. And this Local Motion—Local Motion Green was her idea, analyzing the information, breaking it down into simple layman’s terms and then sharing it with the public. And I’m a coach here at the moment as this wonderful woman named Susan Hulbert(ph) and we just sort of stand back and support people like Melissa who have such a deep, deep understanding of the issues.

Melissa Sargent: Our motto has been “A Better Health Through Fewer Toxins,” and so it is my job to convey the people what they can do in their everyday lives to just reduce their exposures to daily toxins.

We teach people how to read labels. And so, when you look at your household cleaner that maybe under your kitchen sink, you will see signal words there that has been designated by the EPA. And so, you will see something such as caution, warning or danger, and caution being less hazard, danger being the most. So we just tell people to look for those signal words and try to get the latest toxic signal word that you can when you’re purchasing or we even show them how to make your own household cleaners with food-based ingredients such as vinegar, baking soda.

00:20:14

Holli Thompson: Most households think only of swallowing. So, well, it’s dangerous only when my child swallows it, but they’re not thinking about how readily things can be absorbed through our skin tissues and through the air we breathe.

Vivian Day: Exactly, think about some of those strongest shower cleaners you can imagine, and that there’s always a remnant left in the shower and then you turn on the hot water and then the steam comes up and the fumes and the remnants of this horrible cleaner, and it really could take in quite a bit.

Holli Thompson: Right.

Vivian Day: And white vinegar and water and a number of other simple household products as you say that can do an equally good cleaning job and not hurt at all.

Holli Thompson: What about all the new and very expensive, I might add, cleaning products that are “green”? You know, there seems to be a lot of new companies coming out with green lines of, you know, cleaning products for every different thing. Is it worth the money? Is it worth doing that or should we just be mixing up vinegar and water?

Melissa Sargent: Well, it’s a personal choice. Some people, they’re very busy and (00:21:22) very busy, but some people would rather take a few moments and mix it up and some people just don’t really want to get their hands dirty or you know, they’ll just buy it off the shelf and that’s what they’re comfortable with. They’re more comfortable with the branded products that they know that is said will do this. And that’s fine, and it’s wonderful if there is more options out there now. And they’re easier to find, you don’t have to go (00:21:46), you can go (00:21:46) but you can also find them in the bigger (00:21:50) store as well.

You can go to our website which is www.localmotiongreen.org, all one word, and hopefully there you will find an abundance of information, not only on green cleaning but we have our green living pages, and that I believe there is about eight different green living pages where you can find a lot of information on a lot of different topics.

Holli Thompson: What I love about this city is that I really feel that the city is coming back, that there are all these great social entrepreneurs like yourself who are doing amazing things for the city and giving back and creating wonderful programs for the people. I mean do you see that, too?

Vivian Day: Absolutely, absolutely. It is a wonderful city. The architecture is fabulous, the Detroit River is beautiful and the people who are in Detroit really, really care about the city.

Holli Thompson: They do. That’s what I’m getting and in fact, people who are here that people who are here, love their city, they want to make it better, they wanted to bring it back, and it really shows, we’re really feeling that today. It’s wonderful.

Vivian Day: Terrific. There is a lot of good energy, and there has always been entrepreneurial spirit in this city. And now the times are the way they are, it really allows that spirit to become reinvigorated and it is very exciting.\

Holli Thompson: It is.

[Music playing 00:23:25 – 00:24:01]

00:24:01

2010-06-17T17:19:00.000-07:00

Transcription for Healthy Town Detroit THE MOVIE
Healthy Town Detroit is a movie produced by Next Generation Choices Foundation-

SEE LINK FOR TRAILER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIYASqPAF6g

[Music Playing 0:00:00 - 0:00:15]

Lisa Richter: So we grow about 6,000 pounds certified organic produce(ph), most of which goes into meals, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.

We grow all the berries that we use in the jam and that a lot of times, people don’t know that. They're like, “Oh, this is so great, your jam. Where did the berries come from?” I'm like, “We grow them all.”

Rabbi G.: When you're able to deal with what so many people never can imagine, what you're dealing with, and you're dealing with it, with this power and creating inner peace, people are watching you. And because they are watching you, you’re having an impact in your teaching.

Holli Thompson: You do. Can you teach me what you teach to the kids?

Rabbi G.: Power.

Holli Thompson: Power.

Rabbi G.: Peace.

Holli Thompson: Peace.

Rabbi G.: Purpose.

David Fukuzawa: About half the population don’t have easy access to grocery store. We decided that in the health area, that we weren’t going to focus on support for medical services per se, but we are going to look at these social and environmental factors.

Mary Mueller: We have a really large population of children in this city, and in this area that suffer from asthma, which could be a life threatening illness. But there is an emphasis not only on healthy eating and good food choices but also on exercise.

Melissa Sargent: Our motto has been “A Better Health Through Fewer Toxins,” and so it is my job to convey the people what they can do in their everyday lives to just reduce their exposures to daily toxins.

Vivian Day: Analyzing the information, breaking it down into simple layman’s terms and then sharing it with the public.

[Music Playing 00:01:58 - 00:02:05]

00:02:05

2010-05-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

Less Cancer Founder Bill Couzens Launches Movie Healthy Town–Detroit

The short movie Healthy Town–Detroit is part of the New Healthy Town Campaign from Next Generation Choices Foundation.

Bill Couzens, Founder of Next Generation Choices Foundation, produced and directed Healthy Town–Detroit in his first cinematic effort. Known for their Less Cancer and Healthy Town campaigns, this new effort was well received at its premier in the Eastern Market of Downtown Detroit.

Couzens, a self described serial entrepreneur. Founded the award-winning magazine Equidaie, he sold it to accessories designer Barry Kieselstein- Cord. As a brand promotions and event consultant, Couzens has worked with everything from product lines to televised events for fortune 500 Companies and private individuals. Six years ago Couzens founded the Next Generation Choices Foundation in response to the loss of his sister Anne, mother Joan, and several friends. The Foundation’s Less Cancer campaign is world recognized with thousands of members through social media in over 35 countries. Their first project was to reduce harmful pesticide exposures in Virginia Schools. That effort was recognized for its collaboration with the state on recommendations to reduce pesticide drift from health effected communities – primarily schools. Driven by evidenced based science, Couzens was instrumental in educating Virginians on the risk to children of pesticides in their environment. The work of Less Cancer, and now Healthy Town, has raised awareness for prevention. One can hardly open a newspaper without seeing a story on the very issues that Next Generation Choices Foundation has worked so diligently to bring to the forefront of public discussion. Couzens is a frequent blogger and speaker. Born in Detroit, Couzens is a Wayne State University Graduate.

Nutrition guru, Holli Thompson, as interviewer-helps to tell the Healthy Town—Detroit story. A former executive of Tiffany and Co. and Channel, Thompson is a Less Cancer volunteer and the owner of Nutritional Style. She has dedicated herself to the study of achieving health through nutrition, and is a Certified Holistic Health Counselor. She has trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, accredited by SUNY Purchase College, and Cornell University. Thompson is also a certified raw food chef and has attended the Natural Gourmet Cooking School and is skilled in the art of healthy gourmet cooking.

Healthy Town–Detroit documents organizations working to bridge the numerous Environmental Health gaps in Detroit through prevention. The film features Earthworks at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Local Motion Green, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, the Kresge Foundation, and Kids Kicking Cancer.

Run-time: 25 minutes.

SEE LINK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIYASqPAF6g

The movie was produced with Go Fetch Media.

The goal of the campaigns for Less Cancer and Healthy Town is to provide tools to individuals and communities in entrepreneurial and creative ways.

The board of Directors of Next Generation Choices Foundation include board of directors include WILLIAM U COUZENS, Founder & President JOHN M. COUZENS, GREG LAM, Vice President,THOMAS SHERMAN MD, Treasurer, MARYANN DONOVAN PhD MPH,RONALD B. HERBERMAN MD,MILES M. O'BRIEN, VERONIQUE PITTMAN

--

2010-05-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

Posted by the Next Generation Choices Foundation- Healthy Town Campaign

Healthy Town- Detroit THE MOVIE

DETROIT
Wednesday, May 19th, 7-9p
Eastern Market's Shed 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIYASqPAF6g

A short movie that is part of the New Healthy Town Campaign from Next Generation Choices Foundation.

Bill Couzens, Founder of Next Generation Choices Foundation known for their campaigns Less Cancer and Healthy Town is also the movies producer/director.

Healthy Town-Detroit documents organizations working to bridge the numerous Environmental Health gaps in Detroit through prevention. The film features Earthworks at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Local Motion Green, Childrens Hospital of Michigan, the Kresge Foundation and Kids Kicking Cancer. Run-time: 25 minutes.

The goal of the campaigns for Less Cancer and Healthy Town is to provide tools to
individuals and communities in entrepreneurial and creative ways.

For More information please email info@lesscancer.org

Please Note:
On the third Wednesday of every month Eastern Market Corporation, Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit and Detroit Evolution partner to present DETROIT ABIDES - A FREE Movie Night in Eastern Market. Detroit Abides screens a movie on a sustainable topic, explores the topic at the local level through discussion and support from regional groups and businesses, and creates a space to meet like-minded people from all walks of life & grow an active, healthy community. For this casual event, please bring a comfortable seat. Shed 5 is located at the corner of Russell and Alfred St. Parking is available in the lots adjacent to the Shed.

2010-05-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

Rachel Carson Homestead Celebrates World Environment Day

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Pittsburgh Pa

E. O. Wilson, two-time Pulitzer prize winner, world-renowned entomologist and one of the scientists who provided research data to Rachel Carson while she was writing Silent Spring, will receive the Rachel Carson Legacy Award at a ceremony following our World Environment Day Biodiversty symposium at the Carnegie Natural History Museum on May 27, 2010.

http://www.rachelcarsonhomestead.org/RachelCarsonsLegacy/2010RachelCarsonLegacyEvents/tabid/130/Default.aspx

2010-04-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

What Came First the Chicken or the Cancer?

By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

The advertising, publicity, and public reaction surrounding the Kentucky Fried Chicken “Buckets for the Cure” campaign to benefit Susan G. Komen For the Cure is immense – even though the two organizations seem like an unlikely match. And while I am eager to see a cure for cancer, I am more interested in seeing cancer stopped at the cause. I am interested in seeing us not only win the battles, but the war. Winning the war translates into not just more cases of cured cancer, but Less Cancer all together – stopping cancer at the root. We need to be taking a new look at the way we work to stop cancer before it even becomes cancer.

Despite Richard Nixon’s efforts in 1971 to launch the War on Cancer, the problem has not been solved and in fact has multiplied. Nearly a lifetime and countless billions later, identifying and treating cancer has become its own economy. While I am grateful that so many researchers are looking for the cure, we are living in a time of unprecedented increases in the number of friends and family battling cancer or dealing with the issues that cancer survivorship brings.

Michale Pollan in his book Food Rules An Eaters Manual (Penguin) says, “If it came from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t. It’s not food if it’s served through the window of your car. It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language.” Think Big Mac, Cheetos or Pringles.

While there is no evidence to say chicken causes cancer – we do know that some fast/processed foods can contribute to illnesses such as obesity. During the last two decades, the percentages of obese adults and children have been steadily increasing and, in turn, increased the risk for health effected outcomes including coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Obesity also increases the risk of cancers of the breast, Endometrium (the lining of the uterus), colon, kidney, and esophagus (NCI).

We live in a time when cancer has become so commonplace that the news of new cases seems almost expected. Everyone I know is involved with a walk, a run, or a ride to support cancer research. We as a culture are working every day to find new ways to fund big dollar cures and cancer treatments. While I applaud those efforts, and would have done anything to see my sister and mother cured, the larger issue is that little if anything is being done in the area of cancer prevention.

Recently at a bank drive-thru window I was offered the opportunity to buy a candy bar with the profits going toward a cancer cure. David Servan-Schreiber, MD, Ph.D, author of Anticancer: A New Way of Life is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and cofounder of the Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Servan-Screiber’s book discusses concerns about sugar as a food that feeds cancer. So why are we selling candy bars to fund the cancer cure? It doesn’t make sense. We as a society can’t seem to move away from the “break and fix” model of healthcare.

We are willing to race for a cure, but are not willing to work diligently to eliminate or reduce the exposures that cause it.
The problem isn’t just the fast foods we are consuming in record quantities, but the grocery choices we make in the store when shopping for our families.

Dr. Maryann Donovan, Director the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cancer Institute (CEO-UPCI) says that “consumers do need to become more selective when shopping for all products but especially food. Scientists at the CEO-UPCI have measured contaminants in canned food at levels that can cause biological effects in laboratory studies. There are a number of published studies showing that some ingredients in products that we use in our homes, schools and communities are toxic and some have been shown to cause cancer in laboratory studies. Examples of possible food contaminants can include pesticide residues or bisphenol A. (BPA), a component of the resin that lines some cans and can leach into food.”

Food choice presents an opportunity to make change and begin the process of providing healthy choices for your family, but especially for young children.

It is important to protect children. By making better food choices we can reduce their exposure to a host of unhealthy ingredients and contaminants. It is important to remember that children are not small adults, rather they are a developing version of an adult. Simply put, children are under construction. They are unfinished and their developing systems are quite fragile. We know, for instance, that in children the brain continues to develop into their twenties, and this makes their brains potentially more vulnerable to toxicants. They also breathe much more rapidly, so they take in more toxins through their lungs. For children, depending on the exposure, some of the first body systems to show negative health effects can be their neurological and respiratory systems.

Our society has lost its grip on the problem because of greed and a general malaise and acceptance of cancer as a fact of life. Real progress will only happen when we address issues in behavior and choices. For example, there are foods that are not only not nutritious, but in some cases toxic. So when do we get the back bone to push back, make the tough choices, and do what is right – and not only what is profitable?

According to a Scientific American article (2-17-2010), about 133 million Americans have one or more so-called chronic conditions, which can include obesity and diabetes. According to a House bill introduced in July 2009 and currently in committee, there is a need to increase overall federal funding for healthcare. Wayne Giles, director of the CDC's Division of Adult and Community Health, notes that some 75 percent of U.S. health care spending goes toward "treating patients with chronic disease." As the authors of the bill hasten to point out, "The vast majority of these diseases are preventable." These conditions also account for about 70 percent of deaths in the U.S.

It’s going to take more than branding a bucket of chicken with a pink ribbon to beat cancer. We’re in a war, and we need to do more than dress up the potential enemy.

2010-04-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

Dr Maryann Donovan to Speak at Endicott College

Endicott College, Beverly Ma

Students and Public Welcome.

No Admission

http://www.upci.upmc.edu/ceo/events/endicott.cfm

Healthy Choices Healthy Lives

“Exploring the Connections between Environment, Health, and Disease”

Monday, April 12th at 7pm

Endicott College
Little Theatre (located on main campus)
376 Hale St
Beverly, MA O1915

Maryann Donovan, PhD, MPH

Maryann Donovan, PhD, MPHDr. Maryann Donovan is the Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (CEO-UPCI) and the Associate Director for Research Services at University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI).

Established in 2004, the CEO-UPCI is the first cancer institute-academic medical center-based interdisciplinary program in the world. They are focused on improving the scientific understanding linking environmental exposures to adverse health outcomes, providing outreach and education to help reduce exposures and cancer risk, and informing public policy.

Dr. Donovan, a cellular and molecular biologist, has spent more than 30 years in academia. In her early research she published the first studies demonstrating that a biological control agent still used commercially today was not toxic to non-target species. Subsequently, as a human molecular geneticist, she studied the molecular regulation of hemoglobin switching, coagulation disorders and breast tumor metastasis. She also co-directed the first cancer molecular diagnostic lab at the University of Pittsburgh/University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, developing and validating assays to improve cancer diagnosis.

2010-03-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Resisting the Reality of Cancer Prevention

By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer a Campaign of Next Generation Choices Foundation

When my sister Anne died six years ago, she was one of many individuals in my life who had fought the battle. Of the four homes I frequented on the block where we grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, three of the mothers died of cancer before I was out of high school. My mother was the oldest to go; she died at 69.

Some of the children of those families have also faced cancer. The first died from lung cancer in her early 40’s. My sister had pancreatic cancer. I had a non-cancerous tumor on my spine called a schwannoma, also known as an acoustic neuroma, when I was in my 40’s. One dear childhood friend who lived nearby died of inflammatory breast cancer at the age of 40. Sadly, cancer was a very present member of our community.

Like so many, I experienced a great deal of loss while I was relatively young. The pain I felt when Anne died, however, was different. It was complex and hit me at my level; she was part of me.

Grief and loss placed me in auto drive and plunged me into an affair with cancer facts, figures, research, evidence, and the thoughts of cancer experts from around the world. I asked myself, was cancer to be an expected stage of life for everyone?

The result of my search led to a path that was entirely unexpected. It developed into a passionate calling that has informed my life. With few resources, but lots of faith, I founded the Next Generation Choices Foundation which has become home to the Less Cancer Campaign.

Despite Richard Nixon’s efforts in 1971 to launch the War on Cancer, the problem has not been solved and in fact has multiplied. Nearly a lifetime and countless billions later, identifying and treating cancer has become its own economy. While I am so grateful that so many researchers are looking for the cure, we are living in time of unprecedented increases in the number of friends and family battling cancer or dealing with the issues that cancer survivorship brings.

In my small Virginia town of just over 600, there are at least 5 people I can think of (myself included) within a thirty-mile radius who have acoustic neuromas/schwannoma, a rare and often benign tumor. The small country day school that my children attended had less than 300 students, and yet within one year – or what seemed like a matter of months – our community lost three parents to cancer. Friends in the area have young children fighting cancer – and others have lost their children to the disease.

Unfortunately, the experience of my life and my community are not unique- it in fact is increasingly becoming the norm.

We live in a time when cancer has become so commonplace that the news of new cases seems almost expected. Everyone I know is involved with a walk, a run, or a ride to support cancer research. We as a culture are working every day to find new ways to fund big dollar cures and cancer treatments. While I applaud those efforts, and would have done anything to see my sister and mother cured, the larger issue is that little if anything is being done in the area of cancer prevention.

We as a society are willing to race for a cure, but are not willing to work diligently to eliminate or reduce the exposures that cause it.

Last spring when the American Cancer Society (ACS) came out with a new campaign called “More Birthdays,” they also made use of the Less Cancer phrase in a variety of ways. While at some level I was flattered, my concern has always been that their application strays drastically from our Less Cancer message.

The use of our name speaks to its relevance, but the powerful and well-financed American Cancer Society is ultimately changing the focus of the Less Cancer Campaign that was established years earlier.

The goal of Next Generation Choices Foundation and the Less Cancer Campaign has always been cancer prevention. If truth be told, the ACS “More Birthdays” campaign is not about less cancer, but more treated cancer, since age is the greatest risk factor.

I recognize that both organizations care passionately about the cause, but it is vitally important to recognize that each is approaching it from a completely different direction. The ACS “More Birthdays” campaign as I understand it supports more treated cancer, and the goal is to provide more funds to cancer treatment organizations to support the development of better therapies.

I am compelled to speak about this issue because the American Cancer Society is one of the wealthiest non-profits working today. They are well funded by all the cancer treatment and cure corporations in addition to other large companies. They have become the standard – and a comfortable and easy choice as far as corporate contributions are concerned. Their goal, however, is different than ours. The primary goal of the Less Cancer campaign is found in its name: Less Cancer. Our message is focused on identifying environmental risk factors and lifestyle choices with an emphasis on reducing exposures and decreasing incidence of cancer.

When I wrote Sheffield Hale, Chief Counsel for the American Cancer Society, on July 20 of 2009, I wrote that I was surprised that they had adopted this campaign slogan that appropriated the well known brand of the Less Cancer campaign. I was especially concerned that they were utilizing the message of Less Cancer to mean something different than what we had intended, and as a result, changing the meaning of our Less Cancer message. My interest in reaching out was to ensure that the good work of each organization was protected by clearly defining unique goals.

Our small organization has done very well raising awareness for cancer prevention around the world. Our desire is to continue that work. Less Cancer is not about more birthdays, but more birthdays cancer free in a world with less cancer.

The American Cancer Society is in a different league. Their funds will ensure that the Less Cancer message is used to their advantage – even if it is at the expense of another organization working the problem from a different angle. If they don’t redirect their advertising efforts, soon people will recognize the Less Cancer message as the moniker of an organization that is working toward more birthdays, and more treated cancer – instead of less cancer.

Just today I was given the opportunity at a bank drive thru window to buy a candy bar with the profits going toward a cancer cure. David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, author of Anticancer: A New Way of Life is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and cofounder of the Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Servan-Screiber’s book discusses concerns about sugar as a food that feeds cancer. So why are we selling candy bars to fund the cancer cure? It doesn’t make sense. We as a society can’t seem to move away from the “break and fix” model of healthcare.

The American Cancer Society More Birthdays campaign can now be found on an iPhone application. A person can somehow blow into their phone and birthday candles on a cake will be extinguished. While I am sure there is a recipe for healthy birthday cakes out there, the jury is still out on the cancer risk associated with cell phones. With this in mind, Maine's state legislature could soon vote on a bill making their northeast U.S. state the first to require that cellular phones carry warnings of a possible link between mobile phone radiation and brain cancer.

When does it stop?

When do we make a change in our behaviors and our environment and ask those wearing the cancer cure hats to really take on cancer prevention?

Why do we make choices based on a lack of evidence – and assume that a lack of science translates to safe?

When do we move from the financial model and actually work from a place not motivated by profit – but rather prevention?

Profit models should not dictate healthcare. Our society has lost its grip on the problem because of greed and a general malaise and acceptance of cancer as a fact of life. Real progress will only happen when we address issues in behavior and choices. For example, there are foods that are not only not nutritious, but in some cases toxic. So when do we get the back bone to push back, make the tough choices, and do what is right – and not only what is profitable?

According to a Scientific American article (2-17-2010), about 133 million Americans have one or more so-called chronic conditions, which can include obesity and diabetes. According to a House bill introduced in July 2009 and currently in committee, there is a need to increase overall federal funding for healthcare. Wayne Giles, director of the CDC's Division of Adult and Community Health, notes that some 75 percent of U.S. health care spending goes toward "treating patients with chronic disease." As the authors of the bill hasten to point out, "The vast majority of these diseases are preventable." These conditions also account for about 70 percent of deaths in the U.S.

The Less Cancer campaign refuses to accept these facts as fate – and is working for a day when communities and families cease to expect that people they love will be diagnosed with cancer. We are working so that the Anne’s of the world don’t just celebrate more birthdays, but celebrate them healthy, having never experienced cancer in the first place.

--

2010-02-28T08:47:00.000-08:00

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2010_record&page=E230&position=all

Extensions of Remarks

By the Honorable Frank R. Wolf of Virginia

February 24, 2010

Next Generation Choices Foundation:

Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, like so many Americans, my family and I have been touched by cancer. I have worked over the years in Congress as a member of the Congressional Cancer Caucus as well as my service on the Appropriations Committee to support measures to help fight cancer, including historic increases in research funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). I have always believed that ensuring adequate funding for medical research on diseases such as cancer is an important priority for the federal government.

There is another important component in the fight against cancer being lead today, Madam Speaker, by Bill Couzens, one of my constituents from Middleburg, Virginia. He heads a grassroots nonprofit organization – the Next Generation Choices Foundation – that he founded over six years ago, to build awareness for cancer prevention by reducing environmental exposures both known and suspected to be linked with cancer. After the loss of his sister and several close friends, he felt the need to create an organization that would focus on the root causes of the worldwide cancer epidemic and increase awareness on ways to reduce exposures and choices linked with human health and the environment. He says he learned that there are healthy choices that can be made by individuals and communities to work toward a world with less cancer, including nutritional food options for families.

Next Generation Choices in turn has formed the Less Cancer Campaign, which has grown to become a worldwide leader in cancer prevention awareness, with over 10,000 members, friends, and fans on Facebook. The reach of the Less Cancer Campaign has been wide; numerous other organizations have followed its lead and collaborated to fan the flame for cancer prevention around the globe. These combined efforts have raised awareness for Less Cancer, not just here in America, but around the world.

The Less Cancer and new Healthy Town campaigns are working to help guide communities and individuals on understanding the importance of making strong choices, and providing information on options and resources available to assist them in making healthy decisions. While most often pointing to options for the consumer, the organization in some rare cases has provided food cards, information for healthy food choices, and even shoes for children who need to get out and move, run and play.

Mr. Couzens personal experience inspired his passion to help lessen the grip of cancer on society, he also understood the importance of working with scientists and physicians who have a depth of work in evidenced-based science. Next Generation Choices board of directors includes Ronald B. Herberman, M.D., founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, associate vice chancellor for cancer research, Hillman professor of oncology, and professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Herberman is an internationally recognized tumor immunologist who has made major discoveries in his field and has fostered the application of this information to novel approaches in cancer therapy, diagnosis and prevention. The phenomenon of natural killer (NK) cell-mediated cytotoxicity against tumors was first discovered in Dr. Herberman's laboratory at the National Cancer Institute in the early 1970s. In addition to his pioneering investigation of NK cells, Dr. Herberman has played a leading role in multiple areas of tumor immunology.

Other leaders in science and medicine on the board are Maryann Donovan, Ph.D., the director of the Center for Environmental Oncology, and Thomas M. Sherman, M.D., a gastroenterologist. The board also includes professionals in industry and business. Greg Lam and John Couzens both contribute from their years in business and nonprofit management. Miles M. O'Brien is a 26-year broadcast news veteran. Based in New York City, he owns a production company that creates, produces, and distributes original content across all media platforms. For nearly 17-years he worked as a correspondent, anchor, and producer for CNN based in Atlanta and New York. At various times he was CNN's science, space, aviation, technology, and environment correspondent. Also on the board is Veronique Pittman, a trustee of The Rainforest Foundation and Round Hill Hotels and Villas, and a partner with Rainforest Native, which imports fair-trade ecological products from the Amazon rain forest. In addition, she sits on the Leadership Council of the Green Schools Alliance and is an Advisory Board member of the Sustainable Acai Project and Global Goods Partners.

Next Generation Choices, Less Cancer, and Healthy Town are closely associated with cancer prevention, but also work to reduce all illnesses associated with human health and the environment. As Mr. Couzens has said, “When communities and individuals work to make healthier choices, great strides toward preventing cancer and other illnesses including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity can be made. By educating people and unifying individuals and programs – transformation will occur for the next generation.”

Madam Speaker- the fight against cancer will take the work of individuals, communities, businesses and governments, and we salute the effort of Bill Couzens and Next Generation Choices as they raise awareness on ways we can all be involved to help prevent cancer.

2010-02-17T16:24:00.000-08:00

http://action.freshthemovie.com/o/5958/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=18535

Community Screening of FRESH the Movie
February 24, 2010
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM

We Are What We Eat... Presented by Center for Environmental Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (CEO-UPCI) Rachel Carson Homestead Association Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC Learn about options and choices to improve health, support a healthier environment and to save money! We are all exposed to a complex "stew" of man-made chemicals in our water, in our food, in the air, and in personal care products. The potential for health effects resulting from the accumulation of more than 40 years of environmental pollution by some contaminants draws our attention to the unintended consequences - to our health and the environment - resulting from the synthetic materials we use every day. This series of Healthy Choices Workshops will look at the science and provide you with better options for making healthier decisions in your selection of personal care products, performing home and garden maintenance, reducing contaminants in your food and water. Knowledge is power. Becoming better informed about the products you purchase will help to bring safer products to the marketplace. Our expert speakers include: Maryann Donovan, Ph.D., MPH, Director, Center for Environmental Oncology-UPCI Judith Focareta RN, MEd, Coordinator Environmental Health Initiatives, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC Patricia DeMarco, Ph.D., Executive Director, Rachel Carson Homestead Association Moderator: Bill Couzens, Advisor to the Center for Environmental Oncology; Founder of Less Cancer Campaign and Next Generation Choices Foundation Audience Q&A Please register for event http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2pn9evb56c40bca

2010-01-28T20:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.freshthemovie.com/2010/01/26/cafe-boulud-palm-beach/

Café Boulud – Palm Beach
Guest Bloggers
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Guest Blogger: Bill Couzens, Founder of LessCancer.org

Café Boulud – Palm Beach opened its doors in 2003. Its location in the historic Brazilian Court, a 1920’s Spanish styled Palm Beach landmark turned luxury boutique hotel, is in the heart of Palm Beach and moments away from the famed Worth Avenue. Café Boulud’s cuisine is not unlike its New York City sister restaurant Café Boulud NEW YORK where classic French dishes are prepared with ingredients sourced from the seasonal specialties available at local markets.

Chef-Owner Daniel Boulud is a seasoned restaurateur with five restaurants; one in New York City, one in Palm Beach, FL and three abroad with plans to open additional locations in Miami, London and Singapore in the coming year. Chef Boulud is also an accomplished author having published several books, including Cooking with Daniel Boulud (1993), Daniel Boulud’s Café Boulud Cookbook (1999), Daniel Boulud Cooking in New York City (2002),Daniel’s Dish, Entertaining at Home with a Four Star Chef (2003), Letters to a Young Chef (2003), Braise: a Journey Through International Cuisine (2006).

Boulud credits much the restaurants’ success to his world–class team. One such invaluable team member is Chef Zach Bell, Executive Chef of Cafe Boulud-Palm Beach, recognized by StarChefs in 2008 as a Rising Star Chef and twice nominated for “Best Chef: South” by the James Beard Foundation.

Chef Bell makes it a practice to visit local farms and markets to personally inspect the local foods the restaurant will be serving. Local vendors Chef Bell shops with include:

Deep Creek Ranch for beef and lamb as they do not use hormones or other growth stimulants or routine antibiotic treatment.

Wild Ocean Seafood Market providing some of freshest local seafood.

Green Cay Produce CSA in Palm Beach County and as well as Swank Produce for hydro-natural lettuces, greens, micro greens tomatoes, beans, baby beats and carrots. According to their website, Swank Produce does not use fungicides, herbicides, or pesticides. This is important re the unintended consequences of pesticides that can cause harm to humans, animals, or the environment.

Erickson Farm
The Erickson family manages the tropical fruit, spice and vegetable farm. Mangoes are their specialty and they are grown with the philosophy that includes alternative practices instead of the use of pesticides and herbicides by using the effective organic solutions available and implementing cultivation techniques that aid in pest and weed control when possible.

In addition to making every effort to shop local, organic ingredients, Chef Zach has a house rule of no corn syrup in any ingredient – including the ketchup – and so the restaurant no longer uses purchased ketchup but rather cooks its own from scratch.

Most notably Café Boulud has joined in the supporting The Glades to Coast Convivium, a chapter of the slow food movement that includes Broward and Southern Palm Beach Counties. Slow Food is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.

Palm Beach and the surrounding counties are mostly noted for the production of tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, cucumbers and squash–though it is often difficult for consumers to find local produce for sale in neighborhood supermarkets which rely on larger farms that ship produce nationwide. However, large increases in the population during the winter months coincide with the growing season, opening possibilities for local marketing of produce. Every Saturday the Palm Beach farmer’s market promotes locally-grown fresh fruits, just-picked vegetables, fresh seafood, meats and poultry, dairy products, specialty teas and coffees, fresh-cut local and imported flowers, specialty foods, foods to go, pies, and breads.

“Beyond the obvious benefits in freshness, quality, and flavor, eating seasonally and sourcing food locally can be make important contributions to reducing carbon emissions. The local farms that are additionally certified organic and the markets that sell organic foods also have great potential for reducing exposures to pesticides and other chemicals, benefiting both the environment and human health” according to Dr. Maryann Donovan, Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Devotees of Daniel Boulud will not only find comfort in Cafe Boulud’s exquisite fare and quality but they will discover that standards for buying local, organic and eliminating corn syrup from the restaurant is one best practice in working towards healthy people and healthy communities.

2010-01-12T16:43:00.001-08:00

Please Join the LESS CANCER FAN PAGE

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LESS-CANCER/230768007012?ref=mf

Lets get behind prevention and work for a world with Less Cancer-

2010-01-06T21:12:00.000-08:00

WORKING TOWARD A WORLD OF LESS CANCER --

If your interested in prevention and a world with Less Cancer - Please Join Less Cancer's Fan Page on Face Book-

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LESS-CANCER/230768007012?ref=ts

2010-01-06T21:05:00.000-08:00

FOR A WORLD OF LESS CANCER JOIN THE LESS CANCER FAN PAGE ON FACEBOOK

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LESS-CANCER/230768007012?ref=ts

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

2010-01-02T10:06:00.001-08:00

BECOME A FAN OF LESS CANCER ON FACEBOOK
LESS CANCER FOR ALL-

Please help in the work for a world with Less Cancer by becoming a fan of Less Cancer on Facebook-

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/LESS-CANCER/230768007012?ref=nf

You can also join by friending Bill Couzens on Facebook Less Cancer Founder

2009-12-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

Posted by Less Cancer

From the Movie Fresh Website and blog

Bill Couzens Guest Blogger

http://www.freshthemovie.com/2009/12/16/ayrshire_farm%E2%80%A8/

Ayrshire Farm   A Model of Sustainability that Raises the Bar to Protect the Environment and Human Health

By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

Ayrshire Farm, Upperville, Virginia has a long rich history, as early as 1821. The present Farm was purchased in 1912 by Brig. Gen. James A. Buchanan of Washington, D.C. The historic property of approximately 800 acres was purchased from his descendants in 1996 by Sandy Lerner.

Since Ayrshire’s rebirth in 1996, Lerner has brought back the farm’s roots by early-on subscribing to farming practices that, at the time, seemed by many to herald back to practices from a time gone by. As it turns out Ayrshire was ahead of the curve, using farming practices for the new century, practices that would prove to enhance the environment and human health.

In the later half of the 20th century, with the development and uses of chemical pesticides, Lerner recognized the importance of returning to organic practices because of the healthy results they yield.

Organic farming can be especially important for reducing pesticide exposures according to Dr. Maryann Donovan, Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Donovan says “having certified organic farms is an asset to any community for a number of reasons. For example, organic farms reduce exposures to pesticides that may contribute to ill health and they also provide a local source of healthy and nutritious foods. Clearly this is beneficial for both the environment and human health.”

Ayrshire Farm supplies other local outlets but also supplies two of Lerner’s brainchildren, the Home Farm Store, in Middleburg, Virginia and Hunters Head Tavern in Upperville,Virginia once known as the Carr House dating back to 1750. The Home Farm Store is Ayrshire Farm’s gourmet retail shop, and offers USDA certified organic, certified humanely raised and handled, pasture-based meat and poultry.

The vegetable production efforts begin in the greenhouse, where vegetables and herb seedlings are started and specialized greens are grown for Hunters Head Tavern during the cooler seasons.

Among the rare breeds are Shire horses, Scottish Highland cattle, Ancient White Park Cattle, Gloucestershire Old Spot Pigs, and several breeds of free-range chickens, turkeys. Pheasants and wild turkeys can be found in the Farm woodlands areas, which are being replanted and managed so as to provide “wildlife corridors” among the various habitat areas. Native trees, plants and grasses are being re-introduced as woodland cover, hedgerows, and fodder crops.

Ayrshire’s goal today is to make livestock and crop production self-sufficient and profitable. Additionally, Ayrshire is committed to achieving these goals by farming with humane, organic, and sustainable methods; preserving genetic variation in their herds of rare breeds, and contributing to seed pools for heirloom plants.

The Farms mission from their website so appropriately states “Farm sustainably and profitably, promoting the benefits of locally produced, humanely raised meats and organic produce to the consumer, our community, and our children through education, outreach and example”.

Ironic that so many practices about Ayrshire Farm date back from time gone by and yet everything they practice depends on our future and the future of the next generation’s health and environment.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Guest Bloggers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Key Words Bill Couzens, Sandy Lerner, Ayrshire Farm, Detroit, Grosse Pointe, Less Cancer, Next Generation Choices Foundation, Cancer University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Maryann Donovan, PhD, Center for Environmental Oncology, Donovan, Farm, Home Farm Store, Middleburg, Virginia, Upperville, Hunters Head, Environment,Human Health, Organic, USDA Certified Organic,

2009-11-26T10:20:00.000-08:00

Living Thanks.

By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

When we leave ourselves open to all that is possible we have the opportunity to have miracles touch our lives.

It has been my experience that often miracles wear a mask..and that I am not always certain of the miracle until after the fact.

The power of the miracle does not come with, the long driveway and big gates...

Frequently miracles blend into the invisible...they blend into the landscape of our everyday lives.

In the work for Less Cancer..I am blessed to have a front row seat to many types of people and the miracles that they and sometimes I experience and that I am also witness too.

The more I leave myself open - the more I strive to not judge- the more doors open to experience the many types of miracles life provides.

When I practice living thanks -really living life from a place of gratitude- I in turn am allowed to recognize miracles.

As I look to my heart in gratitude to family and friends I also recognize the many who have joined hands for a world with Less Cancer-

With Love, Happy Thanksgiving.

2009-11-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

Posted By The Less Cancer Team

http://www.freshthemovie.com/2009/11/17/you-are-what-you-eat/

By: Bill Couzens
Bill Couzens is the Founder of Less Cancer

In the work to raise awareness for unnecessary and preventable exposures that may contribute to health effects including cancer, food should be considered. Consumers must move away from the practice of pulling foods off the shelf with little knowledge of what they and their families eating.

Scientists have documented many examples of environmental exposures that are known to increase cancer risk include: smoking, UV light, asbestos, some pesticides, hormones, metals, vinyl chloride, gasoline, and small particulates from automobile and coal-fired power plants, to name a few.

What about contaminants in food?

Dr Maryann Donovan from the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburghs Cancer Institute (CEO-UPCI) says that “consumers do need to become more selective when shopping for all products but especially food. Scientists at the CEO-UPCI have measured contaminants in canned food at levels that can cause biological effects in laboratory studies. There are a number of published studies showing that some ingredients in products that we use in our homes, schools and communities are toxic and some have been shown to cause cancer in laboratory studies. Examples of possible food contaminants can include pesticide residues or bisphenol A (BPA), a component of the resin that lines some cans and can leach into food”.

SEE LINK http://www.freshthemovie.com/2009/11/17/you-are-what-you-eat/

Key Words Dr. Maryann Donovan, Center For Environmental Oncology, University Of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Couzens, Health,Pittsburgh,Cancer,

2009-11-18T05:08:00.000-08:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Please see link and story...SMART WRITER..want to learn more about the Less Cancer work please email info@Lesscancer.org or join Less Cancer on Facebook

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=e56504ed

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/health/14patient.html?_r=3&ref=health

Patient Money
Path to Alternative Therapies Is Littered With Obstacles

By WALECIA KONRAD
Published: November 13, 2009

WHEN Diane Klenke was told five years ago that she had pancreatic cancer, she was given three months to live. “The doctor told me to go home and put my affairs in order and that was it,” Ms. Klenke now 52, remembered. READ MORE
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/health/14patient.html?_r=3&ref=health

2009-11-17T19:51:00.000-08:00

http://www.freshthemovie.com/blog/

Bill Couzens is the Founder of Less Cancer

In the work to raise awareness for unnecessary and preventable exposures that may contribute to health effects including cancer, food should be considered. Consumers must move away from the practice of pulling foods off the shelf with little knowledge of what they and their families eating. SEE LINK ON FRESH THE MOVIE WEBSITE

2009-11-17T12:53:00.000-08:00

Next Generation Choices Foundation Pick two Virginians for The Annie Awards

An award for excellence in the work towards a world of Less Cancer in Memory of Anne M Couzens.

November 17 2009

Middleburg, Virginia Next Generation Choices Founder and President Bill Couzens announced this years esteemed 2009 Annie Awards go to two Virginians Matt Carson and Holli Thompson.

Matt Carson

Matt Carson is of an author from Rappahannock County Virginia. Carson's recent works include The Attic, A Christmas Story and most recently On A Hill They Call Capital. In 2009 he ran as an independent candidate for Virginia House of Delegates, 30th District seat loosing to the Republican incumbent.

After graduating, Carson founded SiteWhirks Inc., a multiple-awarded Web Development company in Warrenton. He has a wife and 2-year-old daughter.

Next Generation Choices Foundation is the organization that founded the Less Cancer Campaign now over 5,000 members globally on Facebook has been instrumental in reaching the masses on the issue of cancer prevention.

Less Cancer in a two word search on Google is often #1 in a search returning over 120 million and on Yahoo #1 in over 180 Million

Bill Couzens, Founding President of Next Generation and the Less Cancer Campaign said Matt Carson has been instrumental in helping to make the Less Cancer Campaign as successful as it is offering his expertise in marketing and communications.

On behalf of our board of directors we are especially grateful and proud of Matt's contributions to Next Generation and the Less Cancer campaign.

Holli Thompson

Holli Thompson is a Vice President for Chanel turned nutrition and health coach to corporate, community and business leaders who understand that health, energy and focus is their most important asset in achieving their goals -- in and out of the office. She is the founder of Nutritional Style, a company offering Health Coaching, Seminars, Public Speaking, Workshops and Events.

Holli has been instrumental in helping the Less Cancer campaign get to new levels. Not only is Holli has been the founding host to Youtube's Less Cancer Channel and in a matter of weeks had well over 1,000 views of the Less Cancer tapes. Holli has worked
tirelessly on fund raising and advancement strategies for Less Cancer and has spoken and traveled far and wide for the cause including Capital Hill.

Holli works from her offices in Middleburg, Va and New York City and has clients throughout the east coast and DC Metro area.

She lives on a farm in Middelburg, VA with her husband of 15 years and 9 year old son.

Holli's unique background allows for her to understand and convey messages concerning human health, life style circumstances and the environment. Bill Couzens said that "Holli's work as a Health Coach gives her a special understanding and an ability to communicate concepts on human health and prevention.

Last year the Annies went to Linda Sally and Lilla M. Ohrstorm.

2009-11-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

7th Generation- Brockovich

Million Baby Crawl

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/23/erin-brockovich-seventh-g_n_331935.html

Children are not small adults; rather they are a developing version of an adult. Simply put, children are under construction. They are unfinished and their developing systems are quite fragile. We know, for instance, that in children the brain continues to develop into their twenties, and this makes their brains potentially more vulnerable to toxicants. They breathe muchmore rapidly so they take in more toxins through their lungs. An exposure that might have little negative effect on an adult can be deadly for a child. For children, depending on the exposure, some of the first systems to show negative health effects can be the neurological and respiratory systems.

The effects of environmental exposures on children are of particular concern when we consider the rising incidence of pediatric cancers. Never before has there been so much cancer in children-

2009-10-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

Post By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer
Community Screening of FRESH the Movie
Grosse Pointe War Memorial

November 05, 2009
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Address
Grosse Pointe War Memorial
32 Lakeshore Drive
Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 20118

Comments from Less Cancer Founder Bill Couzens and Holli Thompson, Less Cancer corespondent Please visit Less Cancer on the web at www.lesscancer.org or www.youtube.com/lesscancer Please join Less Cancer on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=e56504ed

Detroit, Local Motion,Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe War Memorial, Couzens, Detroit, Health, Couzens, Holli Thompson, Nutritional Style,Bill Couzens, William U. Couzens, FRESH, Movie Fresh, Screeening

2009-10-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

A Better Idea...Newark Rx

Heinz Family Philanthropies Helps to Bridge Critical Gap

Created in response to the growing health care need in the Newark area, NewarkHealthPlus is a pilot program dedicated to providing non-hospital based primary medical care to low-income people without health insurance. Utilizing the services of physician partners in the community, the goal of NewarkHealthPlus is a simple one –to create a medical home for people without health care coverage so that they do not need to use hospital Emergency Departments for basic, primary medical care.

Individuals who are uninsured and have no access to primary medical care are referred to the NewarkHealthPlus program. Dr. Thomas Ortiz and the Forest Hill Family Health Associates will be the first medical home for 400 of these uninsured Newark residents. We have negotiated a capitated payment plan (a specific monthly amount paid to the practice to care for 400 uninsured adults over the next 12 months). The cost of their medical care, as well as costs for other uninsured patients using Forest Hill Family Health Associates, is being underwritten by our project partners.

As of today, we already have 100 adults enrolled. We expect to be at capacity by late December 2009 or by mid January 2010.

NewarkHealthPlus and Clinical Laboratory Services:

To ensure that patients who need specific clinical testing have access, we have partnered with LabCorp (Laboratory Corporation of America). LabCorp has agreed to cover all outpatient lab testing for the 400 adults enrolled in NewarkHealthPlus. This is an annualized value of $500,000.

Newark Rx

NewarkRx is innovative pilot programs created to help low-income, uninsured residents of Newark obtain critically needed, often life-sustaining, prescription medications. NewarkRx will improve patient health outcomes and promote positive and preventive health care service utilization by instituting a streamlined, efficient, and cost-effective process for delivering more medications to a greater number of people.

NewarkRx is a partnership between the City of Newark, the Heinz Family Philanthropies/PS2, PhRMA, the American Heart Association, inVentive Health, IMMAC (Institute for Medication Management and Access) and Welvista. This program was designed as one-stop resource for medication access and participants will be qualified based on financial need: income at or below 200% of Federal Poverty Guidelines and no prescription drug coverage. Medications will be provided at no cost either to the client or to the prescribing health care provider.

We are beginning to run newspaper ads in local African American and Hispanic newspapers and soon we will launch a church-based effort to enroll eligible patients. Giving away free medications is a VERY labor intensive process that requires multiple strategies.

For the duration of the program, we estimate that over $1.6 million in name brand prescription drugs will be dispensed to patients that really need them. This figure does not include the money that will be saved when get on the drugs they need and stay on them thereby reducing hospitalizations and Emergency Room visits.

How can you help? By going to www.newarkrx.org you can make an online donation to help ensure that uninsured children and adults living in Newark receive the needed medications and medical they need. One hundred percent of your contribution is dedicated to helping people with the cost of medical care and/or prescription drugs. And, different from every program, ours is completely transparent – we will show each donor how each donated dollar is spent. The best part – none of your donation is used for the administration of the program. The Heinz Family Philanthropies is underwriting all of the administrative costs for these programs.

2009-09-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=8675699

Green Tea Linked to Less Stomach Cancer in Women

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As if you needed another reason to drink green tea: Japanese women, but not Japanese men, who regularly drink 5 or more cups daily appear about 20 percent less likely to develop stomach cancer, study findings hint.

Researchers have studied green tea in cancer prevention because they suspect that the drinks antioxidants may protect against the deadly disease. In particular, it may include compounds that fight bacteria that have been linked to stomach cancer.

However previous studies were inconsisten, researchers write their report in the journal Gut. To get a better sense of green tea's potential effects, Dr. M. Inoue, at the National Cancer Center in Tokyo, examined six older studies.

Together, these studies involved more than 219,000 men and women 40 years and older, who were followed from about 7 years to more than 11 years. Overall, about four in five of the participants reported drinking green tea daily, with about a third drinking five or more cups per day.

During follow-up, about 2500 of the approximately 100,000 men and about 1000 of the more than 118,000 women in the studies developed stomach cancer.

SEE LINK

2009-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Posted Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

http://www.popeater.com/2009/09/18/patrick-swayze-memoir-book/?icid=webmail|wbml-aol|dl4|link2|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popeater.com%2F2009%2F09%2F18%2Fpatrick-swayze-memoir-book%2F

See Link

Swayze Memoir: No to Painkillers, Yes to 'An Amazing Ride'

Popeater Staff

In a quest to remain mentally sharp, Patrick Swayze turned away painkillers while enduring rigorous chemotherapy treatments during much of his battle with pancreatic cancer, his soon-to-be-released memoir, 'The Time of My Life,' will reveal. That, along with the actor's reaction and stoic acceptance of his disease, are just some of topics found in the book, according to excerpts highlighted by NBC's 'Today' and the NY Daily News. 'Life,' out Sept. 29, was co-written with wife Lisa Niemi.

Swayze died Monday evening in Los Angeles. Funeral plans have not been set, however fans will stage a memorial this weekend in the small North Carolina town where the actor's biggest film, 'Dirty Dancing' was filmed. Excerpts from 'The Time of My Life,' after the jump.

Discovering the Cancer:
"I had been having some digestive trouble, mostly acid reflux and a kind of bloated feeling, for a few weeks ... I've had a sensitive stomach my whole life, so I hadn't thought much of it, but lately I just couldn't shake the constant discomfort ... My doctor told me my chances of surviving for more than a few months weren't high and I had no reason to doubt him."

Disbelief ...
"I had been excited about the upswing my life was on ... Now it all seemed like a cruel joke. I couldn't be dying -- I had too much to live for!"

... And Acceptance:
"I began thinking to myself, I've had more lifetimes than any 10 people put together, and it's been an amazing ride. So this is okay."

No Painkillers:
"I continued with chemotherapy all the way through the shoot [for his TV show, 'The Beast']. But I never took any painkillers since they dull not only your pain but also your sharpness."

Thanking the Love of His Life:
"How grateful I am that you chose to love me. I know that because of you, I've found my spirit. I saw the man I wanted to be. You are my woman, my lover, my mate and my lady. I loved you forever, I love you now and I will love you forever more. SEE LINK

Couzens, Detroit, Less Cancer, Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Next Generation Choices Foundation, Bill Couzens, Middleburg. Virginia

2009-09-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.marinij.com/lifestyles/ci_13330228

Posted by Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Dr. Dustin Ballard: Is there connection between cell phones and cancer?

Can you guess when the following passage was written: "For three decades the medical controversy over the part played by smoking in the rise of cancer of the lung has been largely kept from public notice"?

This was the lead to Roy Norr's 1952 expos , "Cancer by the Carton." For years prior to its publication, evidence that cigarettes were a health hazard had been accumulating. But, cigarettes were also a big part of American life, and when the Marlboro Man and his industry assured consumers there was nothing to worry about, they kept on smoking.

So, when do you think this label was placed on cigarette cartons: "Caution: Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health"?

It took 14 more years. By then, millions of Americans had developed lung cancer and heart disease. With the benefit of hindsight, we can call the cigarette story a classic, cautionary tale that demonstrates how long it takes to firmly establish and publicize a link between an environmental exposure and a disease. This is especially true when the disease is one, like cancer, that usually takes many years to develop. Hence, many public health experts preach a precautionary principle; if we think something in the environment might be dangerous, we should limit exposure.

In the last year I've diagnosed three patients with brain cancer. This, in and of itself, is unusual; brain cancer occurs in about six out of 100,000 people. But what made this particularly surprising was that these patients were
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all relatively young (in their 40s) and otherwise healthy. Beyond that, they shared a common habit; years of talking on cellular phones for hours a day. In one case, the patient's cellphone use was significant enough for him to ask me if I thought his phone caused his cancer. Now, I know it is dangerous to extrapolate large-scale causality from the circumstances of a handful of patients, but this cluster of diagnoses has me scratching my head.

For more than a decade, researchers have searched for a connection between electromagnetic radiation (EMR) exposure from cell phones and brain cancer. We know that low-level EMR, such as the radio frequencies emitted by cell phones, can cause headaches, auditory disturbances and short-term memory loss. EMR has also been implicated in DNA changes that may be precursors to cancer, and a recent study demonstrated that men who use cell phones more than four hours a day have significantly lower sperm quality than those who do not. As for cell phones and brain cancer, we have been awaiting the publication of what was supposed to be the definitive study - the multiyear, multinational and multimillion dollar "Interphone" study. Heavily subsidized by the telecom industry, it involves 14,000 subjects and spans 2000 to 2006. We've already had a preview of the data, without clear evidence of a cellphone-cancer link. But, before you disconnect your landline and toss it out the window, consider this:Ê

- Lennart Hardell, a Swedish researcher, has grouped the preliminary Interphone analysis with outside studies and observed a 280 percent increased risk of cancer in people using their digital cell phones for greater than an hour a day for 10 years.

- An international group of established researchers recently released a report, "Cell phones and brain tumors: 15 reasons for concern," which detailed numerous flaws with the Interphone study design, including the fact that the study did not enroll children or young adults - populations suspected to be at greater risk from radiation exposure. I asked Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, founding and long-term director of the prestigious University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute about the report. He wrote:

"I find this critique, focused on design flaws in the Interphone study, to be well argued. I believe it will be very important for another, better-designed study to be performed. Some of the major concerns about the Interphone design could be avoided if the cellphone service providers would cooperate and provide information from their billing records about the extent of cellphone use by participants in the study. In the meanwhile, I continue to be quite concerned about the overall evidence for potential increased risk for brain tumors that has been associated with frequent use of cell phones for more than 10 years, particularly by children or young adults."

Ê- Despite the fact that more than 80 percent of Americans own cell phones, there is no U.S. federally funded effort to study their potential health effects. This will likely be discussed at Sen. Arlen Specter's Senate hearings with cellphone researchers scheduled for this week.

So, with the results of Interphone in dispute prior to publication and with approximately 4 billion cellular phone users worldwide, including hundreds of millions of children and young adults, how concerned should we be? Concerned enough to change behavior.

Cell phones may not be physically addictive like nicotine, but for some people they are an addiction of convenience and communication. Those who spend their days with a cellphone glued to their ear or who allow their teenager to sleep with a phone under her pillow (so she can be sure to respond to any urgent midnight text messages) might want to consider the lesson of "Cancer by the Carton" - by the time we reach consensus regarding cell phones and cancer, it may be too late.

See Link

2009-09-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.thedailymail.net/articles/2009/09/13/news/doc4aab308574b19157372373.txt

Posted by Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Brockovich takes on Lafarge

Erin Brockovich fields a question from Patrick Farrell, a retired employee of the LaFarge Cement Plant in Ravena, about the potential impact a lawsuit could have in closing the plant and eliminating jobs in the region. Colin DeVries/Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
Environmental advocate speaks on impact of plant’s emissions
By Colin DeVries
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
Published: Saturday, September 12, 2009 7:43 PM EDT
RAVENA — Erin Brockovich — the environmental activist whose success has been immortalized with an Academy Award-winning performance by Julia Roberts — was the main attraction for a packed high school auditorium Friday, delivering an address on the effects of a neighboring cement plant’s toxic emissions.

Brockovich, hired as a consultant by the Manhattan-based law firm Weitz and Luxenberg, joined a trio of environmental health experts to inform the audience at Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School about the dangers of the Lafarge Cement Plant across the street and how to mitigate its impact.

“Tonight is about awareness,” she said. “And that’s very important because if you are not aware of what’s going on, if you are not being provided information, you cannot protect your family and your health — and those are the greatest gifts you will ever have.”

She stressed that her duty was to collect information from the community living in the shadow of the plant and use it to determine the next course of action.

*
No lawsuit, she said, was pending and it was unclear whether there was ever going to be a lawsuit against the cement manufacturer.

Brockovich, whose likeness and body of work has been portrayed in a film bearing her name, was the impetus of a $333 million settlement against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 1996. She haphazardly discovered — while working on a pro bono real estate case as a file clerk — that more than 600 residents of Hinkley, Calif., were suffering from health effects due to Chromium 6 exposure. She revealed that the toxin had been leaking into the groundwater from a PGE compressor station since the 1960s.

That victory led to the hit movie and an Oscar for Julia Roberts’ performance as her.

Now she travels the world fighting for the rights of those affected by the detriment of industry.

Her presence in Ravena was the result of several e-mails by local residents who had contracted a rare strain of cancer — human sarcoma — which may be linked to the toxic emissions from the LaFarge plant, which was ranked fourth in the nation as the worst mercury polluter in 2007. Now she hopes to begin a grassroots effort that will inspire a change.

“What we have to do is work collectively, so you can protect what’s most valuable to you,” she said to the crowd. “You have a choice. You can look the other way or you can choose to do something about it.”

Data on how the LaFarge plant has impacted the region’s health is sparse but the purpose of the meeting was to assist in gathering that information and implementing a solution to evident problems.

Three experts were on hand to support Brockovich’s effort with scientific evidence and analyses of the toxins emitted by the plant.

According to a toxic release inventory for 2007 compiled by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, 174 pounds of mercury, 41,610 pounds of lead, and 100 pounds of arsenic were emitted by the plant in that year. Air pollutants included: 1145 tons of particulates, 14,804 tons of sulfur dioxide, 5,328 tons of nitrogen oxide, 140,000 pounds of ammonia and 120,000 of hydrochloric acid.

There are a slew of health effects that are a result of exposure to these toxins, both individually and collectively. In children, problems with development, autism, behavior, the immune system, allergies and severe illness are paramount. There is also a significant correlation between exposure to these toxins and heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, cancer, allergies, autoimmune and psychiatric diseases.

“I think that we’re pretty much an endangered species right now,” said Dr. Mark Hyman, a medical doctor who treats numerous patients with environmentally-related illnesses. “The planet will survive. The Earth will go on. The reason for that is the Earth has tremendous regenerative capacities, but once our species poisons itself it may not come back.”

Hyman said though that the effects of toxic exposure are not reversible. There are treatments out there to help those affected, but the real solution lies more in prevention rather than rescue.

“If we do something about this,” Hyman said. “If we change what’s happening in our communities, if we work together with industry to bring about changes that lower emissions, reduce exposures and help clean our environments and help improve our health, then we can have better outcomes.”

He presented a study that showed that regulatory intervention actually had a reduction in mortality and a 15-percent increase in life expectancy.

Several concerned citizens raised concern over the exorbitant costs of testing for these toxins, as well as the impact a lawsuit might have on the more than 200 jobs the plant provides.

“I think a lot of people think that when I arrive, ‘Wow. There’s going to be another $333 million settlement and somebody’s going to come along and Ravena’s gonna be the next Hinckley and their gonna make a movie about me,” Brockovich responded. “That is not what I’m about. I’m certainly not in favor of destroying industry.”

In 19 years of being an environmental activist, she said, no company has been driven out of business from a lawsuit.

“I’m not here tonight to finger point,” she said. “That’s really not my job. I’m here tonight to help you.”

A Harvard University educator, Dr. Michael Bank, was also on hand to present his proposal on studying the effects on a 75-kilometer area surrounding the plant. Bank said he will study not only the smoke stack but the several quarries in the region, as well as the toxins effect, both individually and collectively.

“We’re dealing with a chemical mixture here,” Bank said. “We have to recognize we’re dealing with a lot of uncertainties dealing with this mixture.”

The Community Advocates for Safe Emissions, or CASE, was distributing questionnaires for attendants to fill out, which will help them collect critical health data. CASE, a citizens advocacy group formed in 2008, has been active in informing the surrounding communities about the dangers from the plant and what they can do about it. Visit them online at www.case-ny.org.

The most important thing that Brockovich wished people attending would take from the town hall-style meeting — aside from awareness — is to know that it is not a monetary mission against big industry.

“Morality over money is the way of the future,” she said. “I hope companies like LaFarge will come out and do the right thing by all of you.”

See Link

T

2009-09-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/09/grim-statistics-aside-pancreatic-cancer-researchers-look-to-the-future.html

Posted By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

Grim statistics aside, pancreatic cancer researchers look to the future
September 14, 2009 | 6:58 pm

Swayze With Patrick Swayze's death today comes a highly public reminder that the cure rate for pancreatic cancer is abysmal. This year, an estimated 42,470 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease. And an estimated 35,240 will die.

Smoking can increase risk, as can obesity, diabetes, family history and other factors. But there simply aren't obvious signs of the disease in its early stages, and detection can often come too late. (Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer earlier this year; hers was indeed caught fairly early.)

The disease is broken down into two basic types: exocrine tumors and endocrine tumors, as the American Cancer Society explains. Exocrine tumors are the most common and are usually malignant. Endocrine tumors are much more rare and the malignancy rate is more complex. (Steve Jobs was diagnosed with the endocrine type several years ago.)

The National Cancer Institute offers a good overview of the disease. Of special note, it includes a link to clinical trials.

Besides studying genetic factors and trying to improve detection, researchers are trying to improve the effectiveness of the drugs now commonly used to treat cancer of the pancreas -- and to devise new therapies as well.

Here's an overview of new treatment approaches, according to the American Cancer Society. Included targeted therapies that attack only specific types of cells or vessels, immune therapies that bolster the body's ability to fight the disease and more.

Similarly, the Lustgarten Foundation offers descriptions of the Pancreatic Cancer Genome Project and the Pancreatic Cancer Biomarker Initiative specifically. The former identified specific mutations and signaling pathways and is expected to shape research for years to come. The latter aims to find new detection and screening options.
See Link

2009-09-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/09/depression-linked-to-earlier-death-when-cancer-is-diagnosed.html

Posted by Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Depression linked to earlier death when cancer is diagnosed

The image of the feisty optimist beating cancer and, conversely, the brooding pessimist being marched off by the grim reaper are commonly invoked when someone we know has gotten a cancer diagnosis. It's a cornerstone of America's can-do medical culture: with the right attitude and the tools at hand, we can lick it, yes we can.

"He's a fighter. He never loses hope. He'll beat it," we predict. "After her husband died, she seemed to have lost the will to live. So when the cancer came along, it just took her," we tell ourselves.

Sadly, the equation seems to be only half right -- bad news for those who go into cancer, or respond to a difficult diagnosis, with deep and persistent sadness, anxiety or irritability. A comprehensive analysis of past studies on cancer survival and depression has found that, all other things held equal, those who suffer depressive symptoms after they are diagnosed are about 25% more likely to die of their disease than those who do not show signs of depression. And for those who are actually diagnosed with major or minor depression in the course of their cancer treatment, the risk of dying from their disease increased by 39%.

The study, which is called a meta-analysis because it aggregates the findings of a large number of similarly designed studies, is published today in Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society.

The latest study linking cancer outcomes to states of mind comes less than two years after another study -- this one also published in Cancer -- found that among a large population of clinical trial subjects with head and neck cancers, those who reported greater emotional well-being as they dealt with their illness were no more likely to live longer than those whose mental state was less positive.

That earlier study prompted its author, University of Pennsylvania psychologist James Coyne, to suggest that patients be allowed to deal with their diagnosis in their own fashion, rather than be prodded by loved ones to "think positive" in the hopes that such thinking would make the cancer yield.

See Link

2009-09-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE58E02O20090915

Dirty Dancing" star Patrick Swayze dead at 57
Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:21pm EDT

By Dan Whitcomb and Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Patrick Swayze, who went from Broadway dancer to Hollywood star in box-office hits like "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost," died on Monday after a two year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

Swayze died at home with his family at his side, his publicist said.

He became a pop culture icon with 1987's "Dirty Dancing," which defied Hollywood expectations to become one of the most-watched movies of all time.

Swayze played the swaggering dance instructor Johnny Castle in the film opposite Jennifer Grey's sheltered teenager Frances "Baby" Houseman, who becomes smitten with him while on vacation at a New York resort during the 1960s.

Swayze was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, one of the most deadly forms of the disease, in January 2008. He said at the time that the cancer had already spread to his liver.

But the actor and former dancer vowed to fight the disease and had treatment with an experimental drug. He then surprised Hollywood by filming a new detective series for television called "The Beast" in which he played the grueling lead role. The series was broadcast earlier this year.

"Dirty Dancing," which was made for a modest budget and almost scrapped by its studio, became a massive box-office hit, earning Golden Globe nominations for both stars and spawning the Oscar-winning hit single "(I've Had) The Time of My Life."

Producers did not have high hopes for the film but it reaped $64 million at the U.S. box office and $214 million worldwide.

Swayze co-wrote and performed the song "She's Like the Wind" for the movie's soundtrack, which went to No. 3 on the pop music charts. The film remained widely popular more than two decades later and recently spawned a stage musical version.

In 1990 "Ghost" was an even bigger hit than "Dirty Dancing" with a domestic box office take of more than $217 million and $505 million around the world.

Swayze starred as Demi Moore's deceased lover, Sam, in the tear-jerker romance, which was nominated for a best film Academy Award.

Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar for her supporting role as a spiritual medium who helps Sam communicate with his girlfriend from beyond the grave. Goldberg said it was Swayze who convinced director Jerry Zucker to cast her.

Swayze was born in Houston on August 18, 1952, and was introduced to performing early. His father was a champion rodeo cowboy and his mother owned a ballet studio.

Swayze trained in dance from a young age and performed for New York City ballet companies before moving to Broadway.

His breakout roles came in 1983's boyhood drama "The Outsiders" and 1984's "Red Dawn" in which he and future "Dirty Dancing" co-star Grey played teenagers fighting invading Russians.

After "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost," Swayze suffered several career setbacks, including a battle with alcohol.

Attributing some of his problems with drinking to his sudden fame and the Hollywood lifestyle, he moved back to Texas with wife Lisa Niemi but worked in such films as "The Green Dragon" See Link

2009-09-09T09:17:00.001-07:00

I wanted everyone to check out Less Cancer's youtube for Farmers Market-please check out www.youtube.com/lesscancer-There are some amazing farms featured including Ayrshire Farm in Upperville Virginia-

Bill Couzens Founder, Less Cancer

2009-09-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

PLEASE CHECK OUT LESS CANCERS YOU TUBE CHANNEL AND PASS IT ON

http://www.youtube.com/lesscancer

2009-09-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/sep/03/monsanto-water-greenwash

Fred Pearce's Greenwash
Monsanto? Sustainable? Water bully, I'd say …

The maligned GM-crops agricultural giant may try to portray a green image, but its 'water-efficient maize' simply doesn't wash in Molokai

The agricultural giant Monsanto may well still be the world's most hated company. The company that brought the world Agent Orange, the defoliant of choice in the Vietnam War, followed up a decade ago with a strident push to flood the world with genetically modified crops. It alienated millions – and even its friends and rivals among GM supporters blamed Monsanto's belligerence for putting back the cause by many years. But I'm going to ignore GMs and talk about water. And belligerence.

In part, no doubt, to help salvage its GM-tarnished reputation, Monsanto now makes great play of its efforts to help engineer a second green revolution built around "sustainability".

Sustainability is a much-abused term and it infiltrates almost every corner of the company's website. But to be fair they do try and define what the word means for its business. The company promises that its "sustainable yield initiative" will "reduce by one-third per unit produced the aggregate amount of key resources such as land, water and energy, required to grow crops by 2030."

Many analysts now see water, rather than land, as the key limitation on growing food to feed future world population of nine billion in the coming decades. So a third more crop for the same amount of water is a valuable goal. The company trumpets especially its work to engineer more water-efficient maize.

Of course, despite the company's public pledge to "share knowledge and technology" the companys corporate aim is to make sure that farmers buy Monsanto-patented water-efficient seeds by the trillion.

But you would expect Monsanto to be especially sensitive about how it manages water in its own farming operations, and particularly to show concern for how neighboring farmers are facing up to water shortages. Wouldn't you?

The scene shifts to the Hawaiian island of Molokai. This isan old stomping ground of Monsanto's. It is the largest employer and the island is sometimes known as "the birthplace of biotechnology" and "the Silicon valley of the seed corn industry".

This is where Monsanto does a lot of its research into GM crops such as maize, and where it grows many of the seeds it sells to farmers round the world.

Nature on Molokai has suffered badly from the invasion of Monsanto and other big-farm companies. In recompense, Monsanto puts money into a Nature Conservancy programme on the island to "preserve biodiversity and protect water sources".

The company has nonetheless gained a bad reputation there as a water bully. As a local journalist wrote there last year in the Molokai Dispatch, "Monsanto's thirst for more water" threatens its future on the island. "Like most large corporations, Monsanto's number one priority is to maximise profits. In this case it means planting as many acres as possible, and using a lot of water," wrote Todd Yamashita.

Recently, during a drought that emptied reservoirs and forced the local irrigation company to demand 20% water cutbacks from local farmers, Monsanto insisted on the right to take more water and lobbied for a new aquifer to be tapped.

In law, two-thirds of the water from the Molokai irigation system should go to homestead farmers. In practice big landowners, especially Monsanto, take 84% of the irrigation system's water consumption. Monsanto alone, according to Yamashita, takes almost twice as much water as all 200 homesteaders.

So I think I have this right. In the cause of develoing crops that will allow the world's farmers to use less water, Monsanto is so overusing the water in its own backyard that local farmers are have resorted to legal action to get their water back. As the Molokai Dispatch's headline has it: "Monsanto could be its own worst enemy."

Monsanto may have had a PR makeover, with its website featuring wind mills and lot of happy farmers tending healthy and well-watered crops.

But the reality down on the farm doesn't seem to have changed so much.

2009-09-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

Post By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

EPA's Failure To Publicize Drinking Water Data Prompts Agency, Congress To Rethink Policies

Huffington Post Investigative Fund | Danielle Ivory
First Posted: 09- 4-09 06:09 PM | Updated: 09- 4-09 08:33 PM

There is some evidence that Congress -- and the Environmental Protection Agency -- are rethinking their policies on a commonly used weed-killer after disclosures that the EPA failed to notify the public about high levels of the herbicide in drinking water.

As the Investigative Fund revealed last week, the herbicide atrazine has been found at levels above the federal safety limit in drinking water in at least four states. The chemical has been studied for its potential link to breast cancer, prostate cancer, and birth defects, and the EPA considers it to be a potential endocrine disruptor. It is banned in the European Union.

The Natural Resources Defense Council published a report on atrazine levels last week, and the New York Times weighed in with an article on growing questions about the herbicide's health effects.

The Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee has asked the EPA for a comprehensive briefing next week on the agency's failure to publicize results of tests that showed high levels of atrazine. The committee also is asking the EPA to develop a specific plan for reporting this data to the public in the future.

A senior committee staffer confirmed today that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and her staff plan to meet with "key players" at the EPA next week to discuss their data on atrazine.

"This is a top priority for us," the staff member said. "We're not goin to shy away from this. People have a right to know what is in their drinking water, particularly when the EPA's data suggests that there could be a health concern."

For five years, the EPA has been collecting weekly tests of drinking water in about 150 watersheds, primarily in the Midwest, where farmers spray the herbicide on cornfields and other crops. The agency, however, never acted on the results. Nor had it ever published the data -- until tonight. EPA officials say they have now decided to make the test results available on their Web site.

The Investigative Fund obtaned the data this summer through a public records request and published it last week.

2009-09-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

Posted By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irr2jgfIYRV7s2GVuAn-5xtCBq-wD9AGK8185

FDA: Merck's Gardasil stops genital warts in boys

By MATTHEW PERRONE (AP) – 10 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Merck's blockbuster vaccine Gardasil, which isalready used to prevent cervical cancer in women, also stops viruses that cause genital warts in men, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

In documents posted online, the FDA said the vaccine prevented genital warts in males 90 percent of the time.

The vaccine works by blocking the two strains of the human papilloma viru, or HPV, which causes irregular growth and rare types of cancer in male genitals.

Merck has asked the FDA to approve Gardasil for boys and men ages 9 to 26.

A panel of vaccine advisers will weigh in on the new use next week. The FDA is not required to follow the group's advice, though it usually does.

A 4,000-patient study conducted by Merck compared patients taking Gardasil to patients taking a sham treatment for three years.

Merck had originally asked the FDA to approve the vaccine for prevention of both genital warts and precancerous growths on the penis and anus. However, reviewers said the number of those growths was too small to evaluate.

The Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company and the FDA agreed to "evaluate a less broad indication focusing only on genital warts," the FDA documents state.

Side effects with the vaccine were mild, such as pain and swelling at the injection site.

Gardasil was approved for women in 2006 and had sales over $1 billion last year.

About 6 million people in the U.S. each year contract HPV, which usually causes no symptoms and clears up by itself. While there are about 40 strains of the virus that are spread through sexual contact, only about 15 cause cancer in men and women.

Cancer of the penis and anus are extremely rare, with less than 2,000 cases reported annually.

"When I talk to people I often say the burden of these diseases in men is understated and unrecognized," said Dr. Richard Haupt, Merck's head researcher for Gardasil. "Gardasil is highly efficacious and we should see an impact on men's health because of that."

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Related articles

2009-09-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

Bill Couzens,Founder Less Cancer

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10323649-266.html

September 2, 2009 4:00 AM PDT
Researchers seek funds to study cell phone safety
by Marguerite Reardon

Are cell phones safe? For years, studies have provided conflicting conclusions. Today, there is still no clear answer. But experts agree on one thing: more research is needed to find out the answer.

In an effort to raise awareness among consumers and to urge government leaders to allocate more funding for research, an international group of researchers is gathering in Washington, D.C. laterthis month to present study findings and to lobby government officials.

The issue has already gained the attention of at least one important congressional leader. On September 14, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and the former ranking minority leader for the Senate's Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, will chair a hearing questioning scientists involved in the latest research. Researchers are hopeful that Specter, who was instrumental in increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health from $12 billion to nearly $30 billion and has long championed funding for cancer research, will introduce legislation that specifically asks for more funding for research in this area. But so far Specter hasn't indicated one way or another if he will try to get money allocated specifically for cell phone health-related research.

"There is cause for concern," said Dr. Henry Lai, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, who has been studying the effects of cell phone radiation on humans since 1980. "But to prove that cell phones cause cancer or other health problems will take more work. At this point the biological research suggests that long term use can have some adverse health effects, with brain cancer being one of those effects."

The conference, which runs September 13 to 15, is being sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, National Research Center for Women & Families, The International Commission for Electromagnetic Safety, The Flow Fund Circle, and the Environmental Health Trust.

Researchers from around the globe are expected to attend the event, including leading scientists from Western and Northern Europe, where cell phones have been used for much longer than they have in the U.S. Some of these researchers, including Devra Davis, professor of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh and the primary organizer of the conference, are likely to testify at the Senate hearing.

Longtime debate
For years, researchers and scientists have debated whether radiation from radio frequencies used to wirelessly transmit phone calls could adversely affect the health of cell phone users. And as more people throughout the world use cell phones and make these devices an integral part of their lives, concerns have grown as to long-term public health issues.

In the U.S. alone, more than 270 million Americans or more than 87 percent of the U.S. population, now owns a cell phone, according to 2008 data compiled by the CTIA, the wireless industry's trade association.

Experts say the concern over cell phone use stems from a form of radiation that's produced when these wireless devices communicate with cell towers using radio frequency. High-frequency radiation, such as the kind that's used in X-rays, is known to cause cancer in high doses.

Cell phones emit much lower frequency radiation, but it's unknown whether these milder forms of RF can cause adverse biological changes to humans. But the fact that cell phones are often held close to the body either right alongside the head or in a pocket, has caused some concern among researchers who believe that radio frequency energy is being absorbed into the body and can cause damage to cells or even alter cell phone users' DNA. Even holding a phone 10 millimeters away from your head could decrease the exposure of RF radiation to the body by about 100 times, Davis said.

So far the research seems to be split in terms of the risk of this radiation exposure. An ongoing multinational initiative known as Interphone, has yielded mixed results so far. Meanwhile, some studies have found no correlation at all between cellphone use and brain tumors.

But a handful of studies that have looked at the long-term effects of using cell phones suggest that people who use a cell phone for at least an hour each day over a 10-year period are at an increased risk of developing brain tumors. This research also suggests that these tumors are more likely to be on the side of the head where the phone is most often used.

More recently, researchers have grown particularly concerned about the adverse effects that cell phone usage could have on children. Some Swedish research indicates that children are five times more likely to get brain cancer if they use mobile phones, but other research efforts have found results inconclusive.

The kid factor
One reason for concern is the fact that children who start using cell phones at a young age will inevitably be exposed for a longer period of time over their entire lifetime to cell phone radiation. But researchers are also concerned about the risk of cell phones with children, because children's nervous systems are not fully developed. Also their brains contain more fluid than brains of adults, which allows for deeper penetration of radiation. And finally, children's skulls are not as thick as those of adults.

"The reality is that the head of a child is different in terms of density of the bone and the amount of fluid in the brain than that of an adult," Davis said. "And we know that the more fluid there is an object, the more deeply the radio signal can penetrate."

Because cell phones have only really been used widely since about the 1990s, research on long-term health effects is limited. But research on the effects on children is even more scarce.

Still, there has been enough concern among public health officials in various parts of the world to warrant warnings.

For example, the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), a government regulatory body located in the home country of Nokia, the largest cell phone maker in the world, is urging parents to restrict cell phone use for children, suggesting parents encourage kids to text rather than talk.

"Although research to date, has not demonstrated health effects from mobile phone's radiation, precaution is recommended for children as all of the effects are not known," the agency's Web site reads.

France has even proposed banning advertisements encouraging children younger than 12 to use cell phones. And it has also warned parents that children under six are particularly at risk. Legislation in France would also make it illegal to sell a mobile phone without earphones, and the government is looking into limiting the amount of radiation that a phone is allowed to emit.

FDA's stance
The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. does not go as far as issuing a warning. But the agency recommends minimizing any potential risk by using hands-free devices and keeping cell-phone talk to a minimum.

The Federal Communications Commission in the U.S. also requires manufacturers to report the relative amount of RF absorbed into the head by any given cell phone. This number is known as the SAR, or specific absorption rate, and the agency publishes those figures for consumers to review. CNET has used this information to publish its cell phone radiation level chart.

But researchers such as Davis say more needs to be done.

"The big question to me is why has Finland, the land of Nokia, issued a warning?" she said. "Why has France issued the same warning? And why has Israel, which doesn't even have a Clean Air Act, issued a warning on a government Website about children using cell phones? And in the U.S. we have no such warnings."

The wireless industry itself has resisted warnings or restrictions for its products. And it often points to research indicating that there is no link between cancer or other harmful health effects and cell phone use.

"The peer-reviewed scientific evidence has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices do not pose a public health risk," the CTIA said in a statement. "In addition, there is no known mechanism for microwave energy within the limits established by the FCC to cause any adverse health effects. That is why the leading global heath organizations such as the American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute, World Health Organization, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration all have concurred that wireless devices are not a public health risk."

No government funding
While they have stopped short of issuing warnings, U.S. government agencies along with other governmental agencies such as the European Union, have said that more studies are needed to determine whether there are any health risks associated with cell phone usage.

But the big problem in the U.S. is that there is no government funding available for such research.

"There has been zero money available for research on the effects of cell phone radiation for about the last 10 years," Lai said. "So there has really been no independent research done in the U.S. for at least a decade. Research is being done in Europe or the Far East, such as in China or Japan or in Israel. Even Canada has made some money available for research."

Because there has been no money available in the U.S., Lai, who was a pioneer in studying the biological effects of cell phone radiation on humans, has turned his research attention toward studying medical applications for electro magnetic fields.

"Fifteen years ago, we were at the cutting edge of this research," he said. "But now in the U.S., we are not involved in the study of the epidemiology of cell phone use at all. We are like a Third World country."

This is likely what Sen. Specter, who is a cancer survivor himself and a champion for medical research funding, will try to rectify through the Senate hearings that will take place on Capitol Hill later this month.

Researchers, suchas Davis and Lai, say their goal is not to demonize the cell phone industry or even suggest that the government ban the use of cell phones. But they believe that the public needs to be aware of the risks associated with using these devices and that more research is needed to identify these risks and to come up with ways to make them safer.

And while these researchers cant say definitively that cell phones pose a public health issue today, they fear that without careful study and modification, these devices could cause an epidemic of cancer and other health problems in the future, since it can take decades for cancer and other maladies to manifest.

"Cell phones are very useful," Lai said. "So I'm not saying we should throw them away. But we need to face the reality that there could be some adverse effects that come up in the next 10, 20 or 30 years. And we need to find ways to prevent or modify phones to make these devices less harmful. But to do that, we first need to understand how radiation affects us. And we need the money to conduct this research."

2009-07-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

Posted Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/are-your-hormones-making_b_233596.html?show_comment_id=27316362#comment_27316362

"When I put cigarettes down 13 years ago-
Jelly Beans have been my drug of choice-
Sugar for me is a daily battle -
Only recently I have been focused on in reducing in sugar a serious way-
I had wished I had faced this issue earlier."

Bill Couzens

2009-07-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

Posted Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samuel-s-epstein/another-reason-for-health_b_237558.html

Another Reason for Health Care Reform: Winning the War on Cancer

Samuel S. Epstein

Cancer prevention expert, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois in Chicago

The cancer epidemic strikes as many as one in three Americans and takes the
life of one in four. After 37 years of losing the war against cancera war that President Nixon originally declared in December 197i the federal government is utterly failing to protect us from this menace. This year, 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer. 562,000 people --over 1,500 every day -- will die. SEE LINK

While more cured cancer is one answer- it is not a solution for stopping cancer at the cause-

The progress for the war on cancer has be imbalanced-

When we see increased incidences of cancer not related to smoking it is a headline for looking at cancer in a different way-

Though grateful for the cure ----cancer should not be an expected stage of life-

I have great hope we can do this differently-I look forward to a world of Less Cancer- not more treated cancer.

2009-06-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

Posted by Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

www.lesscancer.org

http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/-brs/628447.html

FRIDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- Cases of invasive breast cancer in the United States have declined overall, but the decrease is significantly less marked in poor women who live in rural areas, possibly due to differences in the use of hormone therapy (HT), a new study suggests.

Researchers at the Northern California Cancer Center studied national breast cancer incidence data for the years 1997 to 2004 to compare rates in rural and urban areas and poor and rich areas of the country.

"Between 2001 and 2004, incidence rates of invasive breast cancer declined more than 8 percent in the United States," study leader Christina Clarke said in a news release. "One possible explanation for this is widespread discontinuation of and/or failure to initiate HT. Because this cessation of HT use was more pronounced in rich/urban areas, we wanted to see if there was a corresponding difference in breast cancer incidence between these areas and poor/rural parts of the country." SEE LINK

2009-06-27T11:08:00.000-07:00

Posted by Bill Couzens

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

www.lesscancer.org

A look back
Less Cancer picked as a Huff Post pick
Bill Couzens asking for a World of Less Cancer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-swift/emladies-who-launchem-mom_b_100917.html
Lesscancer

HuffPost's Pick

Good post Amy Swift!

There are many opportunities to eliminate unnecessary and preventable environmental exposures that either are suspected and or known to be linked to cancer.

Never before have we had more cancer.

This year 1.4 million people will be hearing the devastating news that they to have cancer.

Scientist tell us that 70-80% of all cancer is linked to the environment (as opposed to heredity); meaning that most all cancer comes from outside of our bodies. This of course reflects some behaviors to include smoking.

However, cancer is not an unlucky roll of the dice, but rather is manufactured.

Everyday more than 1,500 men, women and children die of cancer in the U.S.

This year two classrooms of children and or approximately 46 school children every school day in this country will be diagnosed with cancer.

I think it can be different, I think we can have a world of less cancer.

But beyond what I think- there is sound science and data that suggests it can be different. There can be less cancer.

While the cure can never be underestimated-we must expand our view of cancer to include prevention.

There are things we can do in our own homes, schools and work to remove and or reduce those everyday items we assume are safe.

We are in a place where all of us can make change with the choices we make.

2009-06-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

Posted by Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

www.lesscancer.org

http://www.examiner.com/x-14760-EPA-Examiner~y2009m6d26-The-relationship-between-manganese-and-cancer-mortality-rates

The relationship between manganese and cancer mortality rates
June 26, 10:04 PM
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The metal manganese, like many other substances, is present in the air we breathe and in the water we drink. On the whole, that’s a good thing – it’s an essential nutrient for the human body.

But if we get too much, bad things can happen; exposure to high levels of manganese can affect the nervous and reproductive systems, and it’s one of the toxics being scrutinized in the EPA’s study of air around schools.

It doesn’t qualify as a carcinogen, though, with the EPA saying there’s not enough evidence to show it causes cancer.

But there’s new evidence this month, in the form of research published in Biological Trace Element Research.

The article, Environmental Manganese and Cancer Mortality Rates by County in North Carolina: An Ecological Study, by John G. Spangler and Jeffrey C. Reid, shows an apparent relationship between cancer deaths and concentrations of manganese in air and water.

What Spangler and Reid’s research shows is that as low levels of manganese in the air increase – but remain relatively low – a population’s (in this case, people in North Carolina) cancer mortality rate decreases. And as moderate levels of manganese in groundwater increase, a population’s cancer mortality rate increases.

Specifically, N.C. residents who live in counties with the highest concentration of manganese in the air (0.01510μg/m3) have an 8% lower chance of dying from cancer than those who live in counties with the lowest concentration of manganese in the air (0.00001μg/m3), while N.C. residents who live in counties with the highest concentration of manganese in the groundwater (346μg/l) have a 21% higher chance of dying from cancer than those who live in counties with the lowest concentration of manganese in the groundwater (3μg/l). Note how much higher the manganese concentration in water is than in air.

Hopefully I made that simple enough to follow; these number-heavy studies make my head spin. But basically, it appears to boil down to this: Breathing in low levels of manganese helps fight off cancer (this confirms what science already understood, that is, that manganese is good for us), while ingesting elevated levels of manganese raises the risk of cancer.

I spoke with one of the authors – Dr. John Spangler, Professor of Family Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine – to get some insight. Dr. Spangler brought his article to my attention after reading my earlier Examiner.com posts.

“What makes this research important, to me,” Spangler explained, “is that it indicates there is a relationship in the air and water with manganese: in smaller amounts it’s helpful in the air because it’s necessary; a little in the environment is healthy. But higher rates may be dangerous.”

“The most profound thing is the 48% increase in certain kinds of cancer deaths that can occur – that’s pretty astounding.”

And what makes this more relevant than ever is that manganese is used as a gasoline additive which can easily be released into the environment. This may help explain the groundwater concentration numbers.

SEE LINK

2009-06-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

Post By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

www.lesscancer.org

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/cancer/2009/06/23/health-buzz-dramatic-prostate-cancer-findings-and-other-health-news.html

Medarex's experimental drug, ipilimumab, in combination with surgery and other therapies
, has been shown to eliminate prostate cancer
in two patients who had an inoperable form of the disease, Reuters reports. The dramatic effects, announced by the Mayo Clinic, appeared online in its research magazine and are part of a larger ongoing study of 108 patients, according to Reuters. Ipilimumab is an antibody that may magnify the cancer-killing action of hormone therapy, which helps shrink prostate cancer. The combination of treatments helped shrink the patients' tumors enough that they could have surgery. "This is one of the Holy Grails of prostate cancer research," clinical trial leader Eugene Kwon, a Mayo Clinic urologist, said in a news release about the findings. SEE LINK

2009-06-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

Posted Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

www.lesscancer.org

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aQxIxuyphsg0

Sanofi Drug Cancer Risk Should Be Studied, Group Says (Update2)

By Phil Serafino and Albertina Torsoli

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- Sanofi-Aventis SA’s Lantus diabetes drug was linked to an increased risk of cancer in studies in Germany and Sweden, according to the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, which issued an “urgent” call for further research into the connection.

While patients should continue to take Lantus, they may want to consider alternatives, the group said in an e-mailed statement. The studies are published in the group’s journal, Diabetologia. Paris-based Sanofi said the research wasn’t conclusive and it stood behind the safety of Lantus.

SEE LINK

2009-06-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

JOIN LESS CANCER http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529263,00.html?test=faces

Family and friends will gather to mourn the death of Farrah Fawcett during a private funeral service at the Catholic cathedral of Los Angeles next Tuesday, June 30.

The service for the former "Charlie's Angels" star will take place at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 7 p.m. ET, church officials told Reuters.

Fawcett, who died Thursday at the age of 62 after a long battle with cancer, will be laid to rest in a private ceremony open by invitation only.

2009-06-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

Post By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa
www.lesscancer.org

http://www.examiner.com/x-12106-Charleston-Family-Health-Examiner~y2009m6d26-What-is-Anal-Cancer

The recent death of Farrah Fawcett from anal cancer has sparked questions and concerns among Americans about the disease. The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 5,300 cases of cancer of the anus are going to be discovered in 2009 and 700 persons will die from anal cancer. SEE LINK

2009-06-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

Post By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer
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www.lesscancer.org

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jerri-nielsen-fitzgerald2-2009jun25,0,1199342.story

FitzGerald diagnosed her illness at the isolated research station in March 1999 and was later evacuated in a daring rescue. She documented her ordeal in a best-selling book, 'Ice Bound.'

By Valerie J. Nelson

June 25, 2009
Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald, who was the only physician at an isolated South Pole research station when she diagnosed and treated her own breast cancer before being evacuated in a daring 1999 rescue, has died. She was 57.

FitzGerald died Tuesday at her home in Southwick, Mass., her family announced. Her cancer had been in remission but returned in 2005. SEE LINK

2009-05-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

Post By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Please Join The Less Cancer Cause on FaceBook
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http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2009/05/02/news/kauai_news/doc49fc07ee891b2516777468.txt

Less cancer, more birthdays

This key chain is used as a teaching tool for women. The tiny beads at the top represent the average lump found by regular mammograms. The kukui-nut-sized bead at the bottom represents lumps found by women untrained in breast self-examination. Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island
*
By Pam Woolway - The Garden Island
Published: Saturday, May 2, 2009 2:07 AM HST
HANALEI — Sandy Diego would not have discovered the rice-grain-sized tumor in her left breast had it not been for a mammogram she had at age 46.

“It was in an unusual spot,” said the Hanalei mother of three. “After the mammogram I went in to check myself and it was hard to find it was so small.”

Mammograms are generally recommended for women upon turning 40.

“Typically as we age our risk increases,” said Mary Williamson, executive director for the American Cancer Society on Kaua‘i.

When Williamson read the Department of Health statistics listing Kaua‘i’s North Shore as the third-worst area in Hawai‘i for being up-to-date on mammograms, she vowed to change it.

“We were only ahead of Moloka‘i (which does not have a machine) and the southern tip of Big Island,” she said. “To that I say, we can do better.”

After securing grant money for outreach, Williamson planned a free luncheon for North Shore women where information could be provided in a casual setting with good food in the company of women. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 16 at the Prince Clubhouse Ali‘i Room, cancer professionals will lead a discussion providing insight on the best protection from breast cancer.

“It will be varied and light, not academic,” Williamson said. “All presenters are women and hopefully (attendees) will bring information home to sisters and aunties to show that early detection is prevention.”

Hawaiian and Filipino women bear an unequal burden of the disease.

“Not that they get breast cancer the most,” she said. Caucasian and Japanese women have the highest incidence rates. “It’s that they are dying from it the most because they are finding it later when it’s not as curable.”

As a nurse practitioner, Diego felt some shame around not having discovered the tumor herself.

“I felt bad. I’m a nurse and I instruct people on how to do self-examinations,” she said.

According to Williamson, a mammogram can find lumps up to two years before they can be felt.

“Your fingers might not find a grain of rice but a mammogram can,” she said. “Once the tumor gets to the size of a kukui nut — that’s one you might find if you happen to land on it with your own fingers — you are looking at surgery and chemotherapy. When it’s the size of a grain of rice, it’s survivable.”

See Link

2009-04-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

POSTED Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

www.lesscancer.org

New Federal Legislation Targets Toxic Chemicals in Baby Bath Products
Sen. Gillibrand’s Bill Directs Cosmetic Industry to Clean Up Act

New York – Today, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) took action to protect childrens health by introducing the Safe Baby Products Act, which directs the Federal Drug Administration to investigate and regulate hazardous contaminants in personal care products marketed to or used by children.

Gillibrand introduced the bill in response to a study by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which revealed that many widely used baby shampoos and bubble baths are contaminated with the cancer-causing chemicals formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane. The chemicals are not listed on labels because contaminants are exempt from labeling laws.

The Safe Baby Products Act directs FDA to test a wide range of children’s personal care products, publicly report the findings, and establish good manufacturing practices to reduce or eliminate hazardous contaminants from products.

“We applaud Senator Gillibrand for being a champion for children’s health,” said Lisa Archer, national coordinator of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. “This bill is a good step forward, because it would give parents the right to know what’s in the bath products they use on their kids, and would give FDA authority to keep dangerous chemicals out of children’s bath products. Next, we need to overhaul cosmetics laws so the FDA can fully assess and assure the safety of all personal care products.”

Gillibrand announced the Safe Baby Products Act at a press conference in New York on Monday, along with parents, medical professionals and advocacy groups. The Senator decided to take action after reading the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ report “No More Toxic Tub” (www.SafeCosmetics.org/toxictub).

“Like many other mothers, when I read the list of these products, I immediately began to worry that I had been using some of these same products for my own children,” said Sen. Gillibrand. “This common sense legislation will ensure that we have all the facts about the baby soap and lotions that we use on our children.”

There are no safety standards for formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane in personal care products sold in the United States.

The European Union has banned 1,4-dioxane from personal care products and has recalled products containing it. Formaldehyde is banned from personal care products in Japan and Sweden, and restricted in the EU and Canada.

2009-04-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090420151232.htm

Posted by Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Acupuncture Eases Radiation-induced Dry Mouth In Cancer Patients

ScienceDaily (Apr. 25, 2009) — Twice weekly acupuncture treatments relieve debilitating symptoms of xerostomia - severe dry mouth - among patients treated with radiation for head and neck cancer, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the current online issue of Head & Neck.

Xerostomia develops after the salivary glands have been exposed to repeated doses of therapeutic radiation. People who have cancers of the head and neck typically receive large cumulative doses, rendering the salivary glands incapable of producing adequate saliva, said Mark S. Chambers, M.S., D.M.D., a professor in the Department of Dental Oncology. Saliva substitutes, lozenges and chewing gum bring only temporary relief, and the commonly prescribed medication, pilocarpine, has short-lived benefits and bothersome side effects of its own.

"The quality of life in patients with radiation-induced xerostomia is profoundly impaired," said Chambers, the study's senior author. "Symptoms can include altered taste acuity, dental decay, infections of the tissues of the mouth, and difficulty with speaking, eating and swallowing. Conventional treatments have been less than optimal, providing short-term response at best."

M. Kay Garcia, LAc, Dr.P.H., a clinical nurse specialist and acupuncturist in M. D. Anderson's Integrative Medicine Program and the study's first author, noted that patients with xerostomia may also develop nutritional deficits that can become irreversible.

Garcia, Chambers and their team of researchers conducted a pilot study to determine whether acupuncture could reverse xerostomia. Acupuncture therapy is based on the ancient Chinese practice of inserting and manipulating very thin needles at precise points on the body to relieve pain or otherwise restore health. In traditional Chinese medicine, stimulating these points is believed to improve the flow of vital energy through the body. Contemporary theories about acupuncture's benefits include the suggestion that needle manipulation stimulates natural substances that dilate blood vessels and increase blood flow to different areas of the body.

The M. D. Anderson study included 19 patients with xerostomia who had completed radiation therapy at least four weeks earlier. The patients were given two acupuncture treatments each week for four weeks. The acupuncture points used in the treatment were located on the ears, chin, index finger, forearm and lateral surface of the leg. All patients were tested for saliva flow and asked to complete self-assessments and questionnaires related to their symptoms and quality of life before the first treatment, after completion of four weeks of acupuncture, and again four weeks later.

The twice weekly acupuncture treatments produced highly statistically significant improvements in symptoms. Measurement tools included: the Xerostomia Inventory, asking patients to rate the dryness of their mouth and other related symptoms; and the Patient Benefit Questionnaire, inquiring about issues such as mouth and tongue discomfort; difficulties in speaking, eating and sleeping; and use of oral comfort aids. A quality-of-life assessment conducted at weeks five and eight showed significant improvements over quality-of-life scores recorded at the outset of the study.

"In this pilot study, patients with severe xerostomia who underwent acupuncture showed improvements in physical well-being and in subjective symptoms," Dr. Chambers said. "Although the patient population was small, the positive results are encouraging and warrant a larger trial to assess patients over a longer period of time."

Garcia said that a phase III, placebo-controlled trial is planned and is currently under review. She also noted that in other studies, the M. D. Anderson researchers are examining whether acupuncture can prevent xerostomia in patients treated for head and neck cancer, not just treat it............

2009-04-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

Cancer study is recruiting healthy adults -- and their waistlines
Posted Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

http://www.sacbee.com/news/story/1810471.html
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg
cpeytondahlberg@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Apr. 26, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 3B

The American Cancer Society is looking for hundreds of thousands of people willing to bare the truth about their waistlines, give a little blood, and answer occasional questionnaires for the next 20 years or so.

The goal is to better understand whom cancer strikes and whom it spares, by tracking a half-million healthy adults for at least two decades.

In a tough economy, "this is a way for people to get involved without spending money," said Kimberly Hicks, a cancer survivor who is coordinating the study's local enrollment drive.

"We're thinking it would be very easy for anyone who is in the downtown area to come on over," she said.

See Link

2009-04-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE53P1N920090426

Posted Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

www.lesscancer.org

LONDON (Reuters) - Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may protect men against prostate cancer and other urological complaints, as well as reducing the risk of heart attacks, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

A large clinical study following 2,447 men aged between 40 an 79 year for over 15 years found those taking statins were less likely to develop prostate cancer, compared to men who did not take the medicines.

Just 6 percent of men on statins were diagnosed with prostate cancer, with non-statin users three times more likely to develop the disease, Mayo Clinic researchers reported at the American Urological Association meeting in Chicago......

2009-04-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

http://charity.lovetoknow.com/Next_Generation_Foundation_Less_Cancer_Campaign

Check out link to see Less Cancer profile-

Posted By Bill Couzens. Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

www.lesscancer.org

2009-04-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

Green Apples Good for Schools Good for Human Health

Environment=Human Health!

See the Less Cancer Media Wall on Facebook at the below link and join Less Cancer!

Posted by Bill Couzens

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/sharings/408914?m=2bb70939

2009-04-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

Piedmont Environmental Council

Post By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

www.lesscancer.org

Key Words PEC,Piedmont Environmental Council, Warrenton Virginia, Local, Environmental,
Frontline,
http://www.pecva.org/anx/index.cfm/1,266,2126,0,html/Apr-21-Poisoned-Waters-Documentary
Tuesday, April 21, 9-11pm
"Poisoned Waters" Documentary, PBS

FRONTLINE Press Release
FRONTLINE Examines Newest Health Hazards in Nation's Contaminated Waterways

More than three decades after the Clean Water Act, iconic American waterways like the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound are in perilous condition and facing new sources of contamination.

In FRONTLINE's Poisoned Waters, airing Tuesday, April 21, 2009, from 9 to 11 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith examines the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystem.

With polluted runoff still flowing in from industry, agriculture and massive suburban development, scientists note that many new pollutants and toxins from modern everyday life are already being found in the drinking water of millions of people across the country and pose a threat to fish, wildlife and, potentially, human health.

For more information and to read the rest of the press release, visit FRONTLINE'S website.

2009-04-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Puzzle over declining male births

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/puzzle-over-declining-male-births-20090407-9yy1.html

Devra Davis...

The difference may seem tiny, but "it's important to look at the really big picture here, which is that there are global indications that something unusual is going on," said Devra Davis, director of the Centre for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh and lead author of last year's report. DEVRA DAVIS

Puzzle over declining male births

A puzzling phenomenon is playing out across the world, in countries as diverse as the United States, Sweden and Japan.

Though more boys are being born than girls in most places, their numbers are falling. And no one is sure why.

The change is small, but real. In the US, the number of baby boys versus girls has been declining since 1970, translating into 17 fewer males for every 10,000 births or an estimated 135,000 fewer boys born between 1970 and 2002, according to a study last year in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Some experts suggest the shift is part of a naturally occurring, cyclical pattern in population dynamics. But others think a notable change is under way, driven by factors such as environmental contaminants and various types of stress, such as economic hardship.

These issues could affect boys more because they're actually the weaker sex - more vulnerable than girls to illness and death from conception to grave.

Nature's way of compensating is to produce more males than females, increasing the likelihood that the sexes will survive to reproductive age in equal numbers. But recent decades have eroded the gap between the sexes.

The difference may seem tiny, but "it's important to lookat the really big picture here, which is that there are global indications that something unusual is going on," said Devra Davis, director of the Centre for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh and lead author of last year's report.

The sex ratio is an indicator of population health, and unexpected changes could be an important signal that people are at risk biologically, she said.

Several Latin American nations have reported a similar shift in the sex ratio at birth, as have Finland, Norway, Wales and the Netherlands. Late last year, several Arctic communities documented a startling decline in the number of boys being born. Studies have shown changing sex ratios in Italian cities and among fish-eating women in the Great Lakes region.

None of these countries or areas has a tradition of sex selection, which in any case usually favours boys.

The puzzling phenomenon has inspired a flurry of research on what could be causing the population shifts. Davis' hypothesis is that "there is something happening after conception that is making it harder for boys to exist in the maternal foetal environment."

A growing body of research indicates thatcould include exposure to pollutants such as pesticides, mercury, lead and dioxin. More controversial is the idea that synthetic chemicals known as endocrine-disrupters may be damaging male foetuses during critical periods of development or affecting men's sperm counts and testosterone levels.

That thesis is "very interesting and provocative" but hasn't been provedsaid Dr Rebecca Sokol, past president of the Society of Male Reproduction and Urology.

The steepest sex ratio declines observed in the world have occurred on the 1,214 hectare Aamjiwnaang (AH-jih-nahng) First Nation reservation in Canada.

The number of boys versus girls there began dropping in the early 1990s, according to data published in 2005 in Environmental Health Perspectives. Between 1999 and 2003, researchers found, only 46 boys were born out of 132 recorded births.

"You get angry and you get worried, thinking what could be causing this," said Ada Lockridge, a member of the tribe who compiled the data and has since become an activist. "And then you want to learn more."

Dozens of petrochemical, polymer and chemical plants surround the reservation on three sides. Mercury and PCBs contaminate the creek that runs through the land, and air-quality studies show the highest toxic releases in all of Canada, said Jim Brophy, executive director of Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, based in Sarnia, the nearest city.

Still, there isno proof that pollution is responsible, and data from surrounding Lambton County don't show a similar impact. The findings represent a "short period of time and a small population" and require further study, said Dean Edwardson, general manager of the Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association, which represents area industry.

Experts note that other factors might include diet, alcohol use, smoking and occupational exposures.

Indeed, there's strong evidence from other areas that men exposed in the workplace to pesticides, lead and solvents and in industrial accidents to toxic substances such as dioxin end up fathering fewer boys.

When a July 1976 chemical plant explosion in Seveso, Italy sent a cloud of dioxin over the area, researchers discovered that no boys were born for seven years to parents who had the highest levels of the toxin in their blood.

In another study, men exposed to the pesticide dibromochloropropane fathered three times as many daughters as expected.

Some evidence also suggests stress can reduce the motility or viability of Y-bearing sperm, reducing the likelihood that boys will be conceived. This may help explain why fewer boys are born after natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods - a finding well documented in the scientific literature.

Mothers are thought to have a different set of responses to stress, which also could favour girls over boys.

When pregnant women struggle with adverse circumstances - economic hardship, poor food supply - a biological mechanism that "culls" weak male foetuses may be inadvertently deployed, said Ralph Catalano, a professor of public health at the University of California, Berkeley.

From an evolutionary standpoint, this would make sense, since boys require more parental effort to raise while also dying at a higher rate, Catalano explained. When times are tough, it's more advantageous to give birth to a girl, he said.

Among Catalano's thought-provoking findings: The number of boys born in New York City relative to girls fell significantly after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The world's leading expert on the science of sex ratios, William H James, who spent his career at University College in London, offers another possible explanation: Hormones in both parents at the time of conception affect the sex of offspring.

Higher levels of testosterone and oestrogen are associated with the birth of sons, James says, while elevated levels of gonadotropins and progesterone are associated with daughters. These hormones are internally regulated but also are subject to external influences such as alcohol, cigarette smoke, radiation, chemicals, and illnesses in parents.

A spinoff of the theory is the notion that the timing of conception can help determine the sex of offspring because hormone levels fluctuate during a woman's fertile period.

James observed that women who conceive early or late in their fertile periods are more likely to have boys. Couples who have lots of sex have a higher probability of bearing sons, he concluded, because they're more likely to conceive early on, he concluded.

MCT

2009-04-16T10:04:00.001-07:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

http://www.environmentaloncology.org/node/245

Key Words
Leslie C. Davis, Magee-Womens Hospital,UPCI, Center for Environmental Oncology, Deva Davis, Women, Environment, History, Cancer,Mercury, Tuna, Eating,toxins,Heinz Endowments,

Women and the Environment

by: Leslie C. Davis, President, Magee-Womens Hospital; Vice President, Women's Services, UPMC

Throughout history, women have traditionally controlled the environments of their families and had major impacts on their health and welfare. In fact, the term “economy” derives from the Greek word for oikos meaning home, reflecting the central role of household management for the nation. As a hospital dedicated to the health and well being of women and children, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC is proud to have launched several major efforts to promote environmental education for its patients and health professionals. Designated a National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, over the past three years, Magee has expanded its efforts to educate and motivate women and their health professionals in the simple ways that home and community-based activities affect their health and that of their families.

This issue of “Healthy Choices, Healthy Lives”, brought to you in partnership with the Center for Environmental Oncology of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and supported by the Healthy People, Healthy Places Program of the Highmark Foundation and the Heinz Endowments, provides an overview of women’s special environmental health risks. Furthering our commitment to the health of women and infants, Magee has eliminated nearly all mercury-containing equipment from our hospital. Mercury is a common ingredient in thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, fluorescent lights, and batteries. Scientists understand that as a heavy metal, mercury leaves tracks throughout the environment and can damage the nervous system of animals and humans and impair their ability to have healthy offspring. The best way to ensure that society has healthy children is to prevent exposure to toxicagents from occurring in the first place.

In recognition of our mercury-free commitment, this past year, Magee received the Making Medicine Mercury Free Award as well as the Partner Recognition Award from Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, two premier national distinctions of environmental achievement in health care.
We have continued this effort to improve environmental health by creating programs to educate prospective parents on the importance of protecting the capacity
of men and women to have healthy children if and when they choose to do so.

Since 2005, Magee has included environmental education in its programming for new parents, in patient education materials, and in its childbirth and newborn classes. We are committed to informing and motivating parents, caregivers, and the greater community in creating a healthy, sustainable environment for ourselves, our children, and our future.

At their initial prenatal visits, expectant mothers receive a special calendar outlining monthly milestones for their pregnancies. This calendar offers information on bathing products, infant feeding, and safe nurseries, as well as tips for reducing toxic exposures in the home. As they are discharged, all new mothers receive information on avoiding toxins, including limiting pesticides in the home, garden and on pets; removing shoes at the door so you do not track toxic chemicals inside; limiting eating fish that are high in mercury like swordfish, tilefish, shark, mackerel (king) or canned albacore tuna; and reading labels on cosmetics and personal care products and choosing safer products, when possible, using the National Household Products Database of the National Library of Medicine and the Environmental Work Group’s information system at www.cosmeticdatabase.com. Other suggestions given to new parents are:

* Test your home for invisible radon gas as it has been shown to increase cancer risk
* Test your home for lead-based paint if you are in an older home built before 1980
* Install a carbon monoxide detector on each level of your home
* Use low toxicity household cleaners such as baking soda and vinegar to avoid suspected carcinogens
* Choose low volatile organic compound (VOC) furniture, paints and flooring, if possible

Primary prevention remains the most cost-effective way of promoting health. We continue to partner with colleagues at Children’s Hospital and the Center for Environmental Oncology to develop innovative ways to educate health professionals and the public through the use of films and public lectures on a wide range of topics. In recognition of our education and outreach to health care professionals on topics of environmental health, Magee received the 2007 Children’s Environmental Health Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Children’s Health Protection.

Additionally, since 2007, in partnership with the Heinz Endowments, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC hosted two “Women’s Health and the Environment” conferences, bringing in nationally heralded environmental health scientists who educated over 4,000 participants on the most recent scientific evidence about environmental exposures and how these exposures impact our health. These scientists raised awareness about environmental toxins present in our air, water, food and the personal care products we use, and how, even in low doses, the cumulative affect of our exposure to these contaminants might increase our risks of developing cancer, heart disease, asthma and other diseases. Another set of chemicals, endocrine disruptors, such as bisphenol A (BPA) found in baby bottles, toys, and dental sealants, mimic our body’s natural hormones and impact our endocrine systems. These conferences also highlighted solutions and strategies that encouraged women to lower their environmental exposures and thus, reduce the health risks to themselves and their loved ones. Click here to view the comprehensive toolkit, which was developed for these conferences.

As a result of these and other efforts, major manufacturers of baby bottles recently announced that they will no longer use BPA. For more information on health education at Magee and for class schedules, click here to our Health Education Calendar.

2009-04-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.environmentaloncology.org/node/244

Posted by Bill Couzens

Key Words Brest Cancer, Davis, Devra Davis, Devra Lee Davis

Breast Cancer and Work: The Case for Prevention

by Devra Lee Davis, PhD, MPH, Director, Center for Environmental Oncology of UPCI

Patterns of breast cancer are unexplained. (1) While rates of breast cancer are higher in white women than in black women, the chances of dyinfrom breast cancer are generally greater for blacks than for whites. One in five cases of breast cancer occurs in white women under the age of 40, while one in four cases occurs in black women this same age. The reasons why breast cancer is more lethal in blacks than whites and more common in young black women remain a topic of intense research interest. Only one in ten cases of breast cancer occurs in a woman who has inherited the risk of the disease from either her mother or father. Identical twins begin life from a single egg, but only one may develop cancer. This means that most cases come about as a result of things that happen in the course of a lifetime of good and bad exposures. Thus, most cases of breast cancer do not result from inherited defects, but arise as a result of complex interactions that take place over the course of a lifetime between genes and the environments in which women live and work.

A substantial body of scientific evidence indicates that exposures to common chemicals and radiation, alone and in combination, are important causes of breast cancer. The challenge in understanding the causes of breast cancer is considerable as the disease can arise decades after critical exposures take place. The disease may result from either hormonally active materials or those that directly damage DNA. (2) Pre-menopausal breast cancer and post-menopausal breast cancer are likely to have different causes. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has a major program of research on several different classes of environmental hazards that have been found to increase the risk of breast cancer, including some hormones and endocrine-disrupting compounds, synthetic-solvents, heavy metals, pesticides, fossil fuel combustion by-products, and both ionizing and nonionizing radiation. (1 , 3)

The State of the Evidence report of the Breast Cancer Fund evaluated more than 600 peer-reviewed studies on breast cancer and concluded that there are major opportunities to reduce the risk of the disease through lowering exposures in many different workplaces. (4) The fundamental challenge to researchers and policy makers remains this: we seldom can identify specific distinct causes of breast cancer through public health research. Yet, every proven cause of cancer in humans has also been shown to cause cancer in animals when adequately studied. Policymakers have agreed that in order to prevent cancer in humans, we should rely on experimental findings. Insisting on proof that a given compound or profession increases the risk of breast cancer in groups of women who have been well studied over time before acting to control or restrict suspected exposures effectively means waiting for sufficient numbers of illness or deaths to amass before acting to prevent future harm.

We have made remarkable progress in finding and treating breast cancer today. Recently, deaths from breast cancer and new cases of the disease have dropped in older women. Some scientists believe that the reduction in use of Hormone Replacement Therapy accounts in large part for some of these recent declines. (5) Other known hormonally-active compounds that are tied with increased breast cancer include the pharmaceutical hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES) which was given to women to prevent miscarriage. Both mothers and their daughters who were exposed to DES have an increased risk of breast cancer.

The fact that specific hormones have been linked with increased risk of breast cancer strongly suggests that compounds that act like hormones—termed endocrine disruptors or hormone mimics—may similarly affect breast cancer risk. The arena of prevention of the disease remains ripe for major advances. Numerous studies show that workplace factors can significantly increase the risk of the disease. Developing appropriate policies to reduce such exposures should play an important role in reducing the burden of breast cancer in the future.

In each of the professions listed in the blue box on page four, observations of increased risks of breast cancer have been generated based on detailed exposure studies or an estimate of typical exposures associated with certain jobs that are consistently found to be associated with a greater chance that breast cancer will develop in thousands of workers. The types of studies conducted include case comparison analyses that contrast the risk of breast cancer in individuals with well characterized exposures to some toxicants compared to other individuals without such exposures. Other studies of workplace risks have been developed by following large numbers of workers with well characterized common exposures over time and comparing their overall patterns of disease to patterns that occur in other groups of workers that generally are not exposed to the same agents.

Modern life is a mixture. As a result, the ability to draw conclusions about the causes of breast cancer or any other chronic illness from observations of workplace conditions remains one of the most challenging parts of public health research. Efforts to prevent breast cancer necessarily must rely on experimental studies conducted in animals or in cell cultures. With support from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, The Silent Spring Institute evaluated studies on more than 200 different compounds found to cause breast tumors in animals in the journal Cancer in 2007 (6) and concluded:

Many environmental pollutants that cause mammary gland tumors in animals are also hormonally active and mimic estrogen, which is a breast cancer risk factor. Human studies of breast cancer risk factors have focused chiefly on those associated with childbearing, behavior and medical histories. Efforts to study the environmental links to breast cancer in humans have been hampered by limited funding and major difficulties in conducting such research. Breast cancer can take decades to form. Relevant exposures to hormonally mimicking compounds can also occur over long periods of time. In instances of pre-menopausal breast cancer, pre-natal conditions and exposures can also be important determinants. Despite the serious limits in epidemiological research in this area, studies of workers have consistently found elevated risks for women who work with a number of chemicals, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)—banned chemicals previously used in electrical equipment and other products. Women who work with organic solvents, or common air pollutants and dioxins also have developed greater rates of breast cancer than those without such exposures.

Several major reviews of the field agree that human studies of environmental risks for breast cancer should take advantage of new tools such as the ability to identify molecular markers of exposure and indicators of genetic susceptibility. In the absence of better studies in humans, a prudent public policy position has been crafted by the World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer. Studies that a given compound induces cancer in experimental animals should be interpreted as indicating that this same compound constitutes a risk to human health.

The Silent Spring Institute combined information from national and international sources and identified 216 different chemicals that should be regarded as causes of breast cancer in humans, because they are proven to cause mammary tumors in animals. The Women's Health Trial has shown that the increased risk of breast cancer tied with hormone replacement therapy declined soon after this therapy was discontinued. This strongly implies that changing patterns of exposure to other hormonally active compounds may also have major benefits to reducing breast cancer risk. (7)

“While it’s disturbing to learn that so many chemicals may be linked to breast cancer,” says Dr. Julia Brody, executive director of Silent Spring Institute, “we must remember that we have a great opportunity to save thousands of lives by identifying those links, limiting exposure, and finding safer alternatives. It’s critical that we integrate this information into policies that govern chemical exposures.”
References

1. Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Centers of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, http://www.bcerc.org
2. California Breast Cancer Research Program, http://www.cbcrp.org/publications/papers/
3. Cornell University. Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors,
4. Breast Cancer Fund:, http://www.breastcancerfund.org/evidence
5. Vassar College, Environmental Risks and Breast Cancer, http://erbc.vassar.edu/erbc/
6. Silent Spring Institute: http://sciencereview.silentspring.org/index.cfm
7. Chlebowski et al. Breast Cancer after Use of Estrogen plus Progestin in Postmenopausal Women. NEJM, (2009) 360: 573-87.

2009-02-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

Posted Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Desert News

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705284939,00.html

Are cell phones causing damage to the brains of children?

By Devra Lee Davis
Published: Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009 2:01 a.m. MST

Last month, Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority joined agencies in Britain, France, India and Israel in warning that regular use of cell phones could damage children's brains. France and a number of other European nations are proposing to ban the marketing or design of cell phones for kindergarteners.

What do they know that we don't?

The amount of radio frequency that can be emitted by a cell phone is based on models of a man's head — not just your average Joe, but one who ranked at the top 90th percentile of all military personnel in 1988, totaling about 200 pounds.

Few parents know that radio-frequency signals reach much more deeply into children's thinner and smaller heads than ours — a fact established through the pioneering work of professor Om P. Gandhi, the leader of the University of Utah's electrical engineering department.

The agency that offers recommendations on cell-phone emissions in the U.S. — the Federal Communications Commission — doesn't employ a single health expert. The standards the FCC adopts are based on advice given by outside experts, many of whom work directly for the cell-phone industry. The Food and Drug Administration lacks the authority to set standards for cell phones and can only act if a phone is shown to release hazardous signals.
QuantcastWhat's wrong with this picture?

The award-winning Gandhi worries that all the standards used for phones apply to the "big guy" brain. In 2004, standards became looser, because industry modelers decided to use a new approach — basically doubling the amount of radio frequency that could reach the brain of an adult and quadrupling that reaching a child's. The brain of a child doubles in the first two years of life and keeps on developing until their early 20s. Gandhi no longer works with the cell-phone industry and none of his grandchildren uses a cell phone.

What are we supposed to do now, while growing numbers of younger and younger kids clamor for fashionable phones with ring-tones, themed cartoon characters, special movies and promotions? We don't have any direct evidence that cell phones damage their brains. Yet, why should this matter? After all, our bodies are truly electric. Electric impulses allow our muscles to move and our minds to think. But the sort of charges that keep us alive are completely different from those that can power microwaves or radios or cell phones. There are deeply troubling reports from nations where phones have been used longest that children may be especially vulnerable. Lennart Hardell, a distinguished Swedish oncologist, recently disclosed that in one study children and teenagers who regularly use cell phones are five times more likely to get brain cancer as young adults.

Today, major telecommunication giants sponsor some of the nation's largest stadiums — the Washington Wizards, at the Verizon Center, the San Antonio Spurs and the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Centers and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Alltel Stadium.

In an ideal world, these profitable companies would compete not just to promote sports but to design the safest sleekest phones. They would support and encourage testing and development of the lowest exposure phones for all of us — those that only work with earpieces and headsets — and offer phones to children for text messaging at a safe distance from their brains.

Instead, American children and their parents are not provided the basic protections afforded their European counterparts and are asked simply to have faith that everything is all right. Faith may move mountains, but it is not the way to protect public health.

SEE LINK

Devra Lee Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H., directs the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and is the author of "The Secret History of the War on Cancer." Visit her Web site at www.devradavis.com

2009-01-24T18:52:00.000-08:00

Posted Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer
Please join us on FaceBook on our Less Cancer Cause Page
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/statebriefs.ssf?/base/news/1232788536286160.xml&coll=2

Cell phones for state's poor hits roadblock
Free program needs 911 certification
Saturday, January 24, 2009
STAN DIEL
News staff writer

Most poor Alabamians will have to wait months, and perhaps longer, to get free, government-subsidized cell phones and cell phone service.

The state board that oversees emergency 911 service on Friday told the Miami company behind plans for the free phones that the board lacks the authority to grant statewide certification that the phones are compatible with 911 systems. The certification is required by the Federal Communications Commission to qualify the company, TracFone Wireless, for federal subsidies.

See Link

But see here as to why it may be a good idea for another reason please check out Dr Devra Davis here on this Link Canadian Broadcasting TV pop piece on cell phone precautions featuring researches Cardis, Davis and Hardell

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/generation_cellphone/main.html

2009-01-24T18:47:00.000-08:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer
Please join us on FaceBook Less Cancer cause page at www.causes.com/lesscancer
http://www.wtvr.com/Global/story.asp?S=9718565&nav=menu79_1

Cell Phone Driving Ban

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A Senate committee has passed legislation that would ban using a hand-held cell phone while driving.

Sen. Patricia Ticer's bill would allow drivers to use the cell phone if it was equipped with a hands-free device. Drivers would be allowed to use a hand-held cell phone in an emergency.

SEE LINK

If you think that is a good idea you must see Devra Lee Davis from UPCI Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburg Cell Phone Driving Ban

Canadian Broadcasting TV pop piece on cell phone precautions featuring researches Cardis, Davis and Hardell

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/generation_cellphone/main.html

2009-01-24T18:42:00.000-08:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer
Please join us on FaceBook at the Less Cancer Cause Page www.causes.com/lesscancer

http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=8304443&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Va. Bill Could Force Drivers to Put Down the Cell Phone
Last Edited: Friday, 23 Jan 2009, 10:44 PM EST
Created: Friday, 23 Jan 2009, 10:44 PM EST
Drivers in Virginia could soon have to put down their cell phones while they're on the road.

FAIRFAX, Va. - In Virginia, there is no shortage of cars on the road, and no shortage of people with cell phones. But when you put the two together, it can be a dangerous combination.

Earlier this month, the National Safety Council sent letters to governors and state legislators asking them to do statewide bans on drivers using cell phones. Now, it looks like someone in Virginia has decided to turn that suggestion into a law.

Virginia Senator Patricia Ticer has proposed a bill banning the use of handheld cell phones while driving in the Commonwealth.

"I think it's good," said William Bowman. "Virginia is a state where it's very busy here and I'm guilty of that myself so it is good."

....SEE LINK

But if you think that is a good idea please see what Dr. Devra Davis from the University of Pittsburgh's Cancer Institute says here- an amazing link

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/generation_cellphone/main.html

SEE DEVRA DAVIS

2009-01-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer
Please Join us on FaceBook Less Cancer Cause Page at www.causes.com/lesscancer

http://www.pittsburghlectures.org/interior.php?pageID=181

alt
Devra Davis
Monday, January 26, 2009

Carnegie Music Hall, 7:30 pm
Devra Davis photo

Devra Davis heads up the world's first Center on Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. National and international groups have honored her innovative research and public policy efforts. Her book When Smoke Ran Like Water, a National Book Award finalist, "should be on the shelf of anyone who cares about the environment and wants to learn more about policy, health, and politics," says Publishers Weekly. Her newest, The Secret History of the War on Cancer, tells the story of a major public health effort diverted and distorted for private gain.
Devra's Links
www.devradavis.com
www.sprig.com
www.whensmokeranlikewater.com

2009-01-24T18:28:00.000-08:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer
Please Join us on FaceBook on the Less Cancer Cause page www.causes.com/lesscancer

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28804792/
Legislation Proposed To Limit Teen Cell Phone Use While Driving

updated 6:44 p.m. ET, Fri., Jan. 23, 2009

CORPUS CHRISTI - State Representative Solomon Ortiz, Jr. has filed a bill to limit cell phone use by teenagers while they're driving......

A good idea -Readers should check out Devra Davis on this link if you think thats a good idea-

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/generation_cellphone/main.html

2009-01-24T18:00:00.000-08:00

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/sharings/264801

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer
Please join us on Facebook at www.causes.com/lesscancer or at the above link

2009-01-24T17:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.stuk.fi/stuk/tiedotteet/en_GB/news_527/
Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer
Please join us on facebook at www.causes.com/lesscancer

Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority: Children's mobile phone use should be limited

07/01/2009
Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) has prepared a position paper, according to which children's mobile phone use should be restricted for example by favouring text messages instead of talking. Although research to date, has not demonstrated health effects from mobile phone’s radiation, precaution is recommended for children as all of the effects are not known. Position paper is published (in Finnish) in the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority’s website.

In relation to mobile phones children are given special consideration. They will have more time to use a mobile phone for a longer period of time than adults who started using mobile phones more than 10 years ago. The long-term risks from the use of mobile phones can not be assessed before the phones have been in use for several decades. Additionally, children's brains are developing up to the age of 20 years.

"With children, we have reason to be especially careful, because there is not enough research on children's mobile phone use. Unfortunately, it will not be easy to obtain this information in the future, either, because of ethical considerations, the use of children as research subjects must always be heavily justified", according to STUK research director Sisko Salomaa.

STUK position paper notes that the children's mobile phone use could be, restricted in the following ways:

*

favouring the use of text messages rather than calls,
*

parents limiting the number of calls and their duration,
*

children can be advised in the use of hands-free devices, which reduces the exposure significantly. When communicating on the hands-free device the phone should be kept a couple of centimetres away from the body,
*

talking in an area with low connectivity or in a moving car or a train should be avoided.

However STUK does not deem it justified to ban children's use of mobile phones altogether. As mobile phones also promote security, since it facilitates easy communication with parents.

If an adult is concerned about their own exposure, it can be reduced in the same way as mentioned above for children.
Pacemakers and mobile phones

In it’s position paper STUK also points out that the mobile phones may interfere with pacemaker operation. Pacemakers disruption is usually harmless, but it can cause unpleasant sensations, such as increased heart beat. It should be noted, however, that disruptions with defibrillator equipped pacemakers may also cause a dangerous electrical pulse to the heart.

Patients with pacemakers can use mobile phones safely if the phone's distance from the electronic parts and electrode wires of the pacemaker is at least 20 centimetres. Therefore in practice, for example, when in use a hands-free device should not be kept in the inside pocket.

STUK position paper
STUK position paper (pdf)

For more information:
Research Director Sisko Salomaa, tel: (09) 759 88 495
Research Professor Dariusz Leszczynski, gsm 040 770 2166
Research Professor Kari Jokela, tel: (09) 759 88 456
Information officer Leena Hietanen, tel: (09) 759 88 215

«

2009-01-24T17:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/generation_cellphone/main.html

See Devra Davis PhD MPH
Posted Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer
Please Join us on FaceBook at www.causes.com/lesscancer

Can cellphone use cause brain tumors?

It’s a question that everyone has wondered about, yet there still isn’t a clear answer.

In the meantime, the cellphone has become an essential device. In Europe there are more cellphones than people, and in Canada, about 72% of the population actively uses a cellphone.

Kids are part of those numbers as well. And they've got to have the latest cellphones – some are made specifically for them, with optional designs for download like Disney characters and Hannah Montana. But it’s the parents who have to front the allowance money, so on top of kid-friendly phones, providers pitch “peace of mind” plans to parents, offering features like the ability to control who their kids can call.

But if there are still unanswered health questions for adults, why are cellphones being marketed to kids?

That’s a question Wendy Mesley wondered about, too. In “Generation Cellphone,” Wendy investigates the cellphones-for-kids phenomenon and uncovers new evidence about possible health risks for children who use cellphones on a long-term basis.

It’s a journey that ends in a presentation of our evidence to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. You’ll want to hear what they have to say. And, of course, we also want to hear what you have to say in our comments section.

2009-01-20T12:06:00.000-08:00

Posted by Bill Couzens Founder LessCancer
www.causes.com/LessCancer

The Drue Heinz Lectures

Devra Davis
Monday, January 26, 2009

Carnegie Music Hall 7:30 pm

Devra Davis heads up the world's first Center on Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. National and international groups have honored her innovative research and public policy efforts. Her book When Smoke Ran Like Water, a National Book Award finalist, "should be on the shelf of anyone who cares about the environment and wants to learn more about policy, health, and politics," says Publishers Weekly. Her newest book, The Secret History of the War on Cancer, tells the story of a major public health effort diverted and distorted for private gain.
Devra's Links
www.devradavis.com
www.sprig.com
www.whensmokeranlikewater.com

2009-01-14T15:44:00.000-08:00

Michigan Market - Takes Leadership In Raising Bar On Public Health
In a state that is behind the curve on smoking and other public health issues Jim Hiller, CEO of the Michigan, family-owned company Hillers says

“I recognize that if you don’t start somewhere, you can’t impact the greater good at all! Yes, there are all kinds of vices and unhealthy products for sale – but cigarettes aren’t only dangerous to those who smoke them. The effects spread far beyond those who choose to smoke – the effects of cigarette smoke can kill people who live and work with smokers,” says Hiller. “Despite the right of those who choose to smoke, I will not make Hiller’s a fellow traveler.”

GO JIM HILLER!

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

No More Cigarettes for Sale at Hiller’s Markets

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Every January, many Americans resolve to change bad habits and live more healthfully. This month, Hiller’s Markets has made a resolution of its own – to cease selling cigarettes at all of its seven stores.

no_smoking.jpg“I’ve agonized over this decision,” says Jim Hiller, CEO of the local, family-owned company. “My personal beliefs are intertwined in my business ethos and to continue to sell cigarettes runs contrary to my personal commitment to this community and its future.”

“I recognize that if you don’t start somewhere, you can’t impact the greater good at all! Yes, there are all kinds of vices and unhealthy products for sale – but cigarettes aren’t only dangerous to those who smoke them. The effects spread far beyond those who choose to smoke – the effects of cigarette smoke can kill people who live and work with smokers,” says Hiller. “Despite the right of those who choose to smoke, I will not make Hiller’s a fellow traveler.”

Nineteen states have banned smoking in public places and worksites. Michigan is not among them.

Research indicates that secondhand smoke is especially harmful to young children – exposure to secondhand smoke has been linked to respiratory infections, hospitalization and SIDS deaths in babies. In the United States, 21 million children live with smokers. Studies show that as many as 75 percent of American children have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine in the bloodstream.

“The American Lung Association of Michigan applauds Jim Hiller in his decision to no longer offer tobacco products in all Hiller’s store locations,” says the Association’s Laura Bertalan. “Tobacco-related illness remains the number-one preventable cause of death in the U.S. and is responsible for an estimated 14,522 deaths in Michigan each year. Hiller’s continues to demonstrate their concern for consumer health and has set an exceptional example that we hope other businesses will follow.”

The American Cancer Society is also on board.

“The American Cancer Society congratulates Hiller Markets for the company’s decision to support a smoke-free environment,” said Jennifer Nagy, Director for the American Cancer Society Great Lakes Division. “Their decision to cease the sale of all tobacco products at all seven stores strongly demonstrates the company’s commitment to protecting the health of their workers and shoppers.”

Founded in 1941 with a commitment to quality, service and selection, Hiller’s Markets has long been a company with a conscience. It’s a national leader in gluten-free grocery products as well as the only regional grocery to strictly buy fish, meat and produce whose origins can be traced to humane, high-quality origins.

In addition to an extensive selection of gourmet and private-label products, Hiller’s stocks an array of foods for customers with specific needs – including nut, dairy and wheat allergies, kosher and ethnic diets. Its British and Japanese departments are unparalleled. Part of the Hiller’s mandate is to be a lifestyle and wellness partner to customers, suppliers, employees, the environment and surrounding communities.

“I may be just one man in Michigan,” says Jim Hiller. “But I believe that one person can make a difference if he’s bold enough to speak out. We are all put on this earth to make a difference – and I’ll continue to do so as long as I have the chance.”

Hiller’s operates seven groceries, including a new 52,000 square-foot store in Union Lake; others are located in Ann Arbor, West Bloomfield, Northville, Plymouth, Berkley and Commerce Township. Many company employees have been at Hiller’s for decades – symbolizing the quality behind the brand. Hiller has always been guided by the societal impact of store activities and corporate decisions.

2009-01-09T06:20:00.000-08:00

Posted by Bill Couzens

www.grossepointenews.com/Articles-i-2009-01-08-230734.112112_Community_trust_should_never_be_blind.html

Community trust should never be blind
Guest Editorial By Bill Couzens and Maryann Donovan, Ph.D. MPH
January 08, 2009
Have you ever seen a "Do Not Touch" wet paint sign and then touched the paint to see if it was wet?

Unlike wet paint, frequently we cannot confirm environmental dangers with our own eyes or with a touch of our hand. In effort to identify and reduce cancer-causing environmental exposures, often it is not possible to definitively link dangerous environmental exposures to health effects, and there are many reasons why.

A few examples of known environmental exposures that increase cancer risk include: smoking, ultraviolet light, asbestos, some pesticides, hormones, metals, vinyl chloride, gasoline and small particulates from automobile and coal fired power plants.

From laboratory studies, it is clear to scientists that some ingredients in products used in our homes, schools and communities are toxic and do cause cancer.....SEE LINK
www.grossepointenews.com/Articles-i-2009-01-08-230734.112112_Community_trust_should_never_be_blind.html

-

2008-12-31T19:24:00.001-08:00

In The New Year..........
Please Join us on FaceBook-you can join the Less Cancer Cause by going to http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000?recruiter_id=32975002
We are trying to reach 1000 members to the Less Cancer Cause on FaceBook by the end of January 2009 you can help reach this goal by helping friends of friends join this important cause.
Happy New Year
Bill
Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

2008-12-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

Posted By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

http://middleburgeccentric.com/scripts/NewsManager/templates/ecc_artical.aspx?articleid=1272&zoneid=7

Community Trust Should Never Be A Blind Trust-

By Bill Couzens and Maryann Donovan Phd MPH

Have you ever seen a 'Do Not Touch' wet-paint sign and then touched the paint to see if it was wet?

Unlike wet paint, frequently we cannot confirm environmental dangers with our own eyes or with a touch of our hand. In the work to identify and reduce cancer-causing environmental exposures, often it is not possible to definitively link dangerous environmental exposures to health effects, and there are many reasons why.

Examples of known environmental exposures that increase cancer risk include: smoking, UV light, asbestos, some pesticides, hormones, metals, and vinyl chloride, gasoline, and small particulates from automobile and coal-fired power plants, to name a few.

From laboratory studies, it is clear to scientists that some ingredients in products used in our homes, schools and communities are toxic and do cause cancer. In fact, only a small fraction of the more than 85,000 chemicals used in products have been tested and shown to be safe. We suspect that some ingredients and contaminants, such as aspartame in soft drinks, lead in lipstick, and bisphenol A (BPA) in our baby bottles, may be bad for the environment and unhealthy for humans as well.

The concerns about safe product choice are especially relevant for children. Importantly, children look to adults to protect them. Children assume that we as adults are doing everything we can to keep them safe. They understand this concept because they watch our actions: we buckle them up in the car when we go to school; we pack them healthy lunches and, if aware, are careful to provide organic and/or natural foods. We send messages in the form of 'actions' all day to our children, messages that tell them we are keeping them safe from harm.

Children are not small adults; rather, they are a developing version of an adult. Simply put, children are under construction. They are unfinished and their developing systems are quite fragile. We know, for instance, that in children the brain continues to develop into their twenties, and this makes their brains potentially more vulnerable to toxicants. They breathe much more rapidly, so they take in more toxins through their lungs. An exposure that might have little negative effect on an adult can be deadly for a child. For children, depending on the exposure, some of the first systems to show negative health effects can be the neurological and respiratory systems.

The effects of environmental exposures on children are of particular concern when we consider the rising incidence of pediatric cancers. Never before has there been so much cancer in children.

In terms of "environmental exposures," how we and others use the products that we bring into our homes, schools, public spaces, farms, and yards is important as well. In some states there are laws that protect children from pesticide exposures on play spaces and in schools. Individuals who assume that "legal means it is safe for children," unfortunately an incorrect assumption, often are the same people making decisions about how to use pesticides in schools and play spaces. For this reason it is critical for parents to develop an understanding of school and community policies so that their voices will be heard when they get involved and advocate for the safety of their children at home and in school. To be safe, no application of toxic chemicals that presents a potential health risk should be done in the presence of children, and this, of course, includes painting of buildings as well as spraying of any of the many types of pesticides.

Does this mean that pesticide use does not have a place in communities? Absolutely not, an obvious infestation that could pose a public health threat is one example of a situation that might require pesticide use. Rather, what we are advocating is a reduction in the indiscriminate use of chemicals on grass and gardens for the purpose of landscaping and beautification. The increase in toxic exposure for purely aesthetic benefits may not be justifiable when the health of our children is at risk. In addition, if the situation warrants the use of toxic pesticides, clear regulations that eliminate exposures to children, workers, and others must be enforced.

As scientists and educators, our job is to inform our communities about the scientific evidence that implicates some of the chemicals in our environment with adverse health outcomes. As citizens, we all have a responsibility to be mindful of each other, and to consider the broader implications of our choices. It is not only the big decisions that we make that matter. The accumulated effects of the small decisions we make everyday can also add up and, in some cases, produce large effects. Our choices, from not flushing medicines down the toilet to buying and using a greener laundry detergent, can make a world of difference in the quality of our drinking water, the quality of our air, and ultimately in our health.

It is our responsibility as grown-ups to become informed consumers so that we will be able to make better choices. In this way, we will ensure that our children can trust us to be stewards of the environment who are actively involved in improving our communities, reducing our exposures to toxic chemicals, and, most importantly, doing our part to keep them healthy.

* Bill Couzens is the Founder of Less Cancer.

* Maryann Donovan Phd MPH Scientific Director, Center for Environmental Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute

2008-12-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

Posted By Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

T. Rees Shapiro's

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/2008/12/09/_i_can_t_believe_this_is_happening_
by T. Rees Shapiro, CT campus editor

'I can't believe this is happening'
TECH JUNIOR EMILY DAO HAS A DREAM SUMMER INTERNSHIP AND A 3.95 GPA. NOW SHE MUST BATTLE TERMINAL COLON CANCER. THIS IS HER STORY.
by T. Rees Shapiro, CT campus editor
Tuesday, December 9, 2008; 12:31 AM
Emily Dao sits cross-legged on the floor of the Delta Zeta house constructing a gingerbread house with a group of her sorority sisters. While she artfully paints a pink heart on the cookie roof and dots it with Wildberry Skittles, the girls gossip about guys, exams and the upcoming winter break. Sarah Kilbourne/SPPS
Emily adds finishing touches to her gingerbread house.
Half the candies never make it to the house, though, and Emily takes spoonfuls of Betty Crocker rainbow icing in between giggles.

"My whole stomach is M&Ms and Skittles right now," she says, glancing up at a TV playing "The Holiday."

Armed with her solar-bright smile and confetti-sweet laugh, Emily, 20, enjoys such precious moments with her closest friends, but she's afraid too few nights like this remain.

Barely a month ago, doctors told the Fairfax native the stomach pains she'd been experiencing for almost 28 weeks had been caused by the uncontrollable growth of a tumor five inches in diameter that was blocking her colon. She has been diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer that has metastasized to her liver and lungs.

Emily shrieks as she notices the gingerbread house beginning to topple. She and her friends struggle to keep the building from sliding under the pressure of the thick layer of icing and candy on the roof. They prop up one side using a Milk Duds box as a support.

"I think it's working," Emily says.

After a few minutes waiting for the icing to set, the building appears to stand stable under its own sugary weight. Emily subtly grimaces, scratching underneath her gray sweater at her lower left abdomen, close to where a patch releases Fentanyl, a pain-reducing drug about 80 times more potent than morphine.

"How many DZs does it take to make a gingerbread house?" Emily asks, as she begins to count the girls in the room. "It took seven DZs two hours."

The gingerbread house is complete, and all the girls laugh at Emily's joke. It's her last night at Tech before she heads home for a job interview and a PET-scan in the morning. All the girls in the Delta Zeta sorority are aware their friend is gravely ill. But the topic of conversation that night never strays toward cancer. They all know what Emily's doctors have told her. She is too far along. There is little they can do to stop it.

Close to midnight some of the girls talk about getting ready for bed, but they stay in the room regardless, reluctant to leave Emily's buoyant presence.

In recent weeks Emily has had to face a mortal decision. Her doctors have explained if she foregoes chemotherapy she would have two to three months to live based on the late stage of her cancer. With chemo, she may expect anywhere between six and 12 months.

Would she do as her doctors suggested, taking some time to herself in order to travel the world? Or should she undergo agonizing chemotherapy for the next six months and be surrounded by her friends and family?

"I love you guys," Emily says to the girls around her.......SEE LINK http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/2008/12/09/_i_can_t_believe_this_is_happening_

2008-12-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

MARY SPEER DIES

Memorial Service for the Less Cancer Hero will be at the John Mosby House Warrenton Virginia

Post By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

Key Words John Mosby, John, Couzens, Bill Couzens,Warrenton Virginia, Cancer , Less Cancer, Fauquier Times Democrat, Betsy Parker,Flowers, Hotel Street,Mary Speer, Hope Porter.

Services for Mary Speer are at the Mosby House at 5:00pm Thursday December 11,2008 in Warrenton Virginia.

Award winning journalist Betsy Parker covered hero Mary Speer who's role with Less Cancer will never be forgotten

We will all miss Mary.

Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer.

http://www.fauquier.com/news/2008/dec/09/community-mourns-loss-mary-speer/

Community mourns loss of Mary Speer

Local
By Betsy Parker
Source: Fauquier Times-Democrat
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9 2008
UPDATED TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9 2008

By Betsy Parker

Special to the Times-Democrat

Dozens of bouquets of flowers — beribboned lilies, fancy roses surrounded by sprays of baby's breath, unadorned daisies — laid carefully at the door to 3 Hotel Street wordlessly tell the tale: Warrenton has lost a valued member of its business community.

Longtime owner of Wordshop, popular Warrenton business owner Mary Helen Speer died unexpectedly on Dec. 5 at age 60 following a short illness. She is survived by her husband of 41 years Frederick Kahler and leaves behind a litany of friends who sing her praises as a fixture in the county.

Speer founded Wordshop, a word processing and research center, in 1985. "She never missed a day," said longtime client and friend Bill Couzens. "She was a part of the community here."

Speer handled an array of duties for local writers, researchers, businesses, clubs and organizations. It was her generous spirit that made Speer stand out in the local business community.

"She was never too busy to help," said local conservationist Hope Porter. "She was busy all the time, but, funny, she never turned you down. She never had to put you off until tomorrow."

Mary Speer was born in Altoona, Pa., Dec. 14, 1947, daughter of Robert and Helen Baker Speer. She attended Altoona High School, then a local business college. She met and married artist Fred Kahler and they moved to Warrenton's White Hall Farm shortly after.

Speer and Kahler lived at White Hall for almost 20 years; before moving to a small farm at the base of Red Oak Mountain near Castleton.

"She loved the land" of the surrounding Rappahannock County hills, said cousin Bill Stom, who spent many hours at the farm near Rock Mills with Speer in the last few years. "She'd walk her dog up to the top of the logging road nearly every day. She loved the peace of the area, and, especially, her gardens. She really found her niche."

See Link http://www.fauquier.com/news/2008/dec/09/community-mourns-loss-mary-speer/

2008-11-30T17:23:00.000-08:00

Giving Thanks in Hard Times

With our focus on giving thanks

I wonder how some find the courage to do so....

Especially those individuals and families facing great loss-

How do they see light in darkness?

Either through sickness or monetary devastation or both.

So many today are facing really hard times...

I am amazed they are able to give focus to Thanksgiving.

Yet in every situation where I am personally aware-of great loss-

The focus for thanks seemingly is on the filled places in each of their hearts-and not the empty places.

I am grateful to those strong people who have shown me how to look to those filled spaces-not the empty ones.

Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

2008-11-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/solutions/Solutions Special Report

Join Miles O'Brien on CNN TV for a special report: "Green Warriors: The Fight for Solutions," on Saturday, November 22, at 6 p.m. ET and Sunday, November 23, at 2 p.m. ET. Here's a preview.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/solutions/

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

https://twitter.com/Lesscancer

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/164000/32975002?m=6d54c0aa

www.lesscancer.org

SEE MILES OBRIEN

Whether it's an individual with an ingenious fix or a company with a revolutionary product, CNN explores some of the solutions to environmental problems -- both in your backyard and around the globe.

The Solutions

How scientists are developing urban farm technology, and why they got a call from the FBI. Story

• What's so special about Nashville's "Tayst"?
• UPS harnesses clean, fuel-saving technology to deliver packages
• Paper or plastic? An art professor answers: 'Neither!'
• What in the world is recycled �swarf� and why should we care?
• How to reduce the 3.5 BILLION wire hangers tossed into U.S. landfills yearly
• Elbow grease fuels non-polluting car that hits 60 mph
• How truckers can save on pricey fuel and cut pollution | Video
• Going electric: Mechanics turn hybrid cars into plug-ins | Video
• Scientists develop fake wood to improve landfills
• Producers work to solve the biofuel dilemma: Food versus fuel
• Electric airplane fuels talk about cleaner-running airliners
• American idle: Truckers chill without polluting or wasting fuel
• How does your neighborhood rank for fuel-saving pedestrians?
• More stories

1. Environment
2. Global Warming
3. Energy Technology
4. Science and Technology
5. Earth Science
6. Environmental Protection
7. Climatology

more topics »

Solutions Special Report
Join Miles O'Brien on CNN TV for a special report: "Green Warriors: The Fight for Solutions," on Saturday, November 22, at 6 p.m. ET and Sunday, November 23, at 2 p.m. ET. Here's a preview.

2008-11-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

CANCER-CELL PHONES
Posted By Bill Couzens, Founder Lesscancer.org
See more about Bill Couzens by visiting www.billcouzens.com

Comment:

A lack of data does not translate to safe.

Key Words:Ronald Herberman,University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute,Brain Cancer, Derva Davis, CEO Ron Herberman,UPMC,Cancer Centers, Hillman Cancer,Cancer

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-cell-phones-can-cause-brain-cancer

This summer, Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, sent a memo to staffers warning them to limit their cell phone use and to use hands-free sets in the wake of "growing evidence that we should reduce exposure" to cell phone radiation. Among the possible consequences: an increased risk of brain caner.

Five months later, a top official at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) told a congressional panel that published scientific data indicates cell phones are safe.

So what's the deal? Do cell phones cause cancer—or not?

It depends on whom you ask: Herberman, Robert Hoover, director of NCI's Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program, and other health officials recently clashed during a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy held to determine whether mobile phones are safe.

"Long term and frequent use of cell phones which receive and emit radio frequency may be associated with an increased risk of brain tumors," Herberman told lawmakers. "I find the old adage 'better to be safe than sorry' to be very apt to this situation."

Hoover, on the other hand, insisted that the pervasive technology was safe, testifying that "its effect on the body appears to be insufficient to cause genetic damage."

The debate became so heated at one point that Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D–Ohio), who called the hearing, snapped at Hoover for interrupting David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, State University of New York, as he argued there was enough evidence to warrant more scrutiny and a government warning of potential damage.

Cell phones use non-ionizing radiation, which differs from the ionizing radiation of x-rays and radioactive material in that it does not have enough energy to knock around—or ionize—electrons or particles in atoms. Cell phone radiation falls into the same band of nonionizing radio frequency as microwaves used to heat or cook food. But Jorn Olsen, chair of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health says that unlike microwaves, cell phones do not release enough radiation or energy to damage DNA or genetic material, which can lead to cancer.

Recent research suggests, however, that although short-term exposure is harmless, long-term cell phone use may be a different story. Three studies since 1999 indicate that people who have used cell phones for more than a decade may have as much as three times greater risk of developing brain tumors on the side of the head against which they most often hold their phone—an argument for, at the least, shifting ears regularly or, even better, using an earpiece or the speakerphone feature while chatting.

"For people who've used their cell phones for more than 10 years and who use their phone on the same side as the tumor, it appears there's an association," Lawrie Challis, emeritus physics professor at the University of Nottingham in England and former chairman of the U.K.'s Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research program, told ScientificAmerican.com during a recent interview.

Worldwide, one in 29,000 men and one in 38,000 women on average develop brain tumors each year, with people in industrial nations twice as likely as those in developing countries to be diagnosed with one, according to the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France. If cell phone use does, in fact, triple the odds of getting cancer, these stats would suggest that over 60 years a man's risk of developing a brain tumor from cell phone use increases from 0.206 percent to 0.621 percent, and a woman's from 0.156 percent to 0.468 percent.

IARC in 2000 launched a study called Interphone, funded by the European Union, the International Union against Cancer and other national and local funding bodies. Interphone compared surveyed cell phone use in 6,420 people with brain tumors to that of 7,658 healthy people in 13 developed countries—Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the U.K.—to try to determine whether people with brain tumors had used their cell phones more than healthy people, an association that might suggest that cell phones caused the tumors.

The results are expected by the end of this year. "The interpretation of the results is not simple because of a number of potential biases which can affect the results," says project leader Elisabeth Cardis, a professor at the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park. "These analyses are complex and have, unfortunately, taken much time." Among factors that might skew the results: failure of participants—especially those with tumors—to accurately recall exactly how long and often they talk on their cell phones.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average time between first exposure to a cancer-causing agent and clinical recognition of the disease is 15 to 20 years or longer—and cell phone use in the U.S. has only been popular for about a decade. (In 1996 there were 34 million U.S. cell phone users compared with more than 200 million today, according to CTIA–The Wireless Association, a Washington, D.C.–based cell phone industry group.)

Carpenter told the congressional panel that most of the studies that have shown an increased risk are from Scandinavia, where cell phones have been popular since the early 1990s. Herberman added that most of the research showing cell phones are safe is based on surveys of consumers who have used them for less than 10 years.

Despite a dearth of human studies, more than 400 experiments have been done since the early 1970s to determine how cell phone radiation affects animals, cells and DNA. They, too, have produced conflicting results. Some suggest that cell phone radiation damages DNA and/or nerve cells, others do not. At the hearing, Carpenter suggested that cell phones may increase the brain's production of reactive forms of oxygen called free radicals, which can interact with and damage DNA.

Contradictory findings could be a sign of poor study quality, according to NCI expert Hoover. But Jerry Phillips, a biochemist who performed cell phone research at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs's Pettis VA Medical Center in Loma Linda, Calif., in the 1990s, believes that conflicting results are to be expected given the nature of the radiation being scrutinized.

Phillips says, for instance, that sometimes the body will respond to radiation by initiating a series of intrinsic repair mechanisms designed to fix the harmful effects. In other words, the effects from radiation exposure may be different in different people. And these varied responses may help explain the contradictory results, says Phillips, who is now director of the Science/Health Science Learning Center at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence out there claiming a link between cell phone use and cancer: Keith Black, chairman of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, says that the brain cancer (malignant glioma) that killed O. J. Simpson's attorney, Johnnie Cochran, was the result of frequent cell phone use, based on the fact that the tumor developed on the side of the head against which he held his phone. And in May, a week after Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy was diagnosed with a glioma, The EMR Policy Institute, a Marshfield, Vt.–based nonprofit organization that supports research on the effects of electromagnetic radiation, released a statement linking his tumor to heavy cell phone use. But the NCI maintains that there is no definitive evidence that cell phones increase cancer risk.

The verdict is still out. "We can't rule out the possibility of risk," Nottingham's Challis says. "There hadn't been as much work in this area as is now demanded."

2008-11-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

Posted By Bill Couzens Founder, Less Cancer
For More about Bill Couzens Please Visit www.billcouzens.com

http://www.loudountimes.com/news/2008/nov/19/taking-back-environment-one-drug-time/

COMMENT
BY Bill Couzens Founder Less Cancer

See Article Below

Scientist have also pointed to endocrine disruptors (hormone acting exposures) from pharmaceuticals to agricultural pesticides linked to changing and or altering the sex of fish.

Disruption of the endocrine system can occur in various ways. Some chemicals mimic a natural hormone, fooling the body into over-responding to the stimulus (e.g., a growth hormone that results in increased muscle mass), or responding at inappropriate times (e.g., producing insulin when it is not needed). Other endocrine disrupting chemicals block the effects of a hormone from certain receptors (e.g. growth hormones required for normal development). Still others directly stimulate or inhibit the endocrine system and cause overproduction or underproduction of hormones (e.g. an over or under active thyroid). Certain drugs are used to intentionally cause some of these effects, such as birth control pills. In many situations involving environmental chemicals, however, an endocrine effect is not desirable.

These exposures have left a thumbprint in our water. One example isthat scientist tell us that this is associated with the intersex fish in the Potomac River that have found endocrine-disrupting contaminants including pesticides flame retardants and personal-care products.

Bill Couzens, Founder Lesscancer.org

Taking back the environment, one drug at a time

Business
By Edward Hill
Source: Loudoun Times-Mirror
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19 2008
When Cheri Gavin, CEO and manager of Leesburg Pharmacy on Catoctin Circle, heard expired pharmaceuticals were harming the environment, she decided to do something about it.

Gavin began the drug “take-back” program this past summer. The program allows anyone, customer or not, to bring expired medications to the Leesburg Pharmacy rather than throw them away or flush them down the toilet.

Flushing medications could have adverse affects on the environment, Gavin says. Once flushed, the drugs pass into the sewage system, and from there into the environment. Studies have yet to conclusively show what impact this will have on humans, but Gavin isn't taking any chances.

“I'm not an expert on that area, but I don't want my two boys drinking estrogen,” she said.

Mitch Rothholz, spokesman for the American Pharmacist's Association (APhA), says that for now, the presence of drugs in water supplies is low.

“The amount that is in the water has been measured, but it hasn't been shown to be clinically significant,” he said.

He said most of the drugs in the nation's water supply get there after passing through patients' bodies, and only a small percentage comes from discarded drugs.

Nevertheless, the APhA has partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to educate the public about alternatives to flushing drugs.

Taking the drugs to a pharmacy is one way to ensure that the drugs don't get into the environment. There is a problem here too, however.

“If pharmacies take it back, what do they do with it?” Rothholz said.

For Gavin, the solution came when she partnered with Guaranteed Returns, a New York-based “reverse distribution” company that works with pharmacies that have take-back programs. According to its Web site, Guaranteed Returns sends the expired medications to the manufacturer. It receives credit from the manufacturer, so there is little or no cost to the pharmacy.

Any drugs that cannot be returned are incinerated. The resulting energy is used to generate electricity.

Mike Fairbanks, a landfill manager for the Loudoun County Office of Waste Management, said the issue of pharmaceutical pollution is so new that the county hasn't had the time or money yet to develop a program like the one at Leesburg Pharmacy. No regulations exist that deal with this issue either, he said.

However, as the issue becomes better-known, he anticipates more take-back programs appearing.

“Places like Leesburg Pharmacy are kind of out there in front of everybody,” he said.

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