Escalating Incidence of Childhood Cancer Ignored by National
Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Warn Epstein and Young
To: National Desk, Health Reporter
Contact: Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., 312-996-2297, epstein@uic.edu
Quentin D. Young, M.D., 312-372-4292, info@hmprg.org

CHICAGO, May 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released
today by Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., chairman of the Cancer Prevention
Coalition and professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational
Medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health; and
Quentin D. Young, M.D., chairman of the Health and Medicine Policy
Research Group and past president of American Public Health
Association:

Since passage of the 1971 National Cancer Act, launching the
"War Against Cancer," the incidence of childhood cancer has
steadily escalated to alarming levels. Childhood cancers have
increased by 26 percent overall, while the incidence of particular
cancers has increased still more: acute lymphocytic leukemia, 62
percent; brain cancer, 50 percent; and bone cancer, 40 percent. The
federal National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the "charitable"
American Cancer Society (ACS), the cancer establishment, have
failed to inform the public, let alone Congress and regulatory
agencies, of this alarming information. As importantly, they have
failed to publicize well-documented scientific information on
avoidable causes responsible for the increased incidence of
childhood cancer.

Examples include:
-- Over 20 U.S. and international studies have incriminated
paternal and maternal exposures (pre-conception, during conception
and post-conception) to a wide range of occupational carcinogens as
major causes of childhood cancer.
-- There is substantial evidence on the risks of brain cancer
and leukemia in children from frequent consumption of nitrite-dyed
hot dogs; consumption during pregnancy has been similarly
incriminated. Nitrites, added to meat for coloring purposes, have
been shown to react with natural chemicals in meat (amines) to form
a potent carcinogenic nitrosamine.
-- Consumption of non-organic fruits and vegetables,
particularly in baby food, contaminated with high concentrations of
multiple residues of carcinogenic pesticides, poses major risks of
childhood cancer, besides delayed cancers in adult life.
-- Numerous studies have shown strong associations between
childhood cancers, particularly brain cancer, non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma and leukemia, and domestic exposure to pesticides from
uses in the home, including pet flea collars, lawn and garden;
another major source of exposure is commonplace use in schools.
-- Use of lindane, a potent carcinogen in shampoos for treating
lice and scabies, infesting about six million children annually, is
associated with major risks of brain cancer; lindane is readily
absorbed through the skin.
-- Treatment of children with Ritalin for "Attention Deficit
Disorders" poses risks of cancer, in the absence of informed
parental consent. Ritalin has been shown to induce highly
aggressive rare liver cancers in rodents at doses comparable to
those prescribed to children.
-- Maternal exposure to ionizing radiation, especially in late
pregnancy, is strongly associated with excess risks of childhood
leukemia.

It is of particular significance that the cancer establishment
ignored the continuing increase in the incidence of childhood
cancer in its heavily promoted, but highly arguable, March 1998
"claim to have reversed an almost 20-year trend of increasing
cancer cases."

The failure of the cancer establishment to warn of these
avoidable cancer risks reflects mindsets fixated on damage control
-- screening, diagnosis, and treatment -- and basic genetic
research, with indifference to primary prevention, as defined by
research and public education on avoidable causes of cancer. For
the ACS, this indifference extends to a well-documented
longstanding track record of hostility, such as supporting the
Chlorine Institute in defending the continued global use of
chlorinated organic pesticides, and assurances in the 2002 Cancer
Facts and Figures that cancer risks from dietary pesticides and
ionizing radiation are all at such low levels as to be
"negligible." This indifference to primary prevention is
compounded by conflicts of interest, particularly with the giant
cancer drug industry. Not surprisingly, The Chronicle of
Philanthropy, the nation's leading charity watchdog, has charged
that: "The ACS is more interested in accumulating wealth than
saving lives."

The minimal priorities of the cancer establishment for
prevention reflects mindsets and policies and not lack of
resources. NCI's annual budget has increased some 20-fold since
passage of the 1971 Act, from $220 million to $4.2 billion, while
revenues of the ACS are now about $800 million. NCI expenditures on
primary prevention have been estimated as under 4 percent of its
budget, while ACS allocates less than 0.1 percent of its revenues
to primary prevention and "environmental carcinogenesis."

It should be particularly stressed that fetuses, infants and
children are much more vulnerable and sensitive to toxic and
carcinogenic exposures than are adults. It should also be
recognized that the majority of carcinogens also induce other
chronic toxic effects, especially in fetuses, infants and children.
These include endocrine disruptive and reproductive,
haematological, immunological and genetic, for which there are no
available incidence trend data comparable to those for cancer.

The continued silence of the cancer establishment on avoidable
causes of childhood, besides a wide range of other, cancers is in
flagrant denial of the specific charge of the 1971 National Cancer
Act "to disseminate cancer information to the public." As
seriously, this silence is a denial of the public's inalienable
democratic right-to-know of information directly impacting on their
health and lives, and of their right to influence public policy.

Whether against cancer or terrorism, war is best fought by
preemptive strategies based on prevention rather than reactively on
damage control. As importantly, the war against cancer must be
waged by leadership accountable to the public interest and not, as
is still the case, special agenda private interests. The time for
open public debate on national cancer policy is long overdue.

Contact: Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., chairman of the Cancer
Prevention Coalition and Professor Emeritus of Environmental and
Occupational Medicine, University of Illinois School of Public
Health, Chicago, 312-996-2297, fax 312-413-9898,
epstein@uic.edu, http://www.preventcancer.com; Quentin D. Young,
M.D., Chairman of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group and
past President of American Public Health Association, Chicago,
312-372-4292, info@hmprg.org, http://www.hmprg.org

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05/09 10:44

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