Breast cancer more common in farm workers: study
Report published in Thursday's issue of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (author author James Brophy, executive director of the Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers in Windsor).
Study says women are 2.8 times more likely to develop breast cancer than those not in farming. No specific cause reported, however Brophy speculated pesticides and diesel fumes.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2006/10/12/breastcancer-farm.html
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2 comments:
As always, there is smoke, but without the fire, no one will run around in panic.
There are so many things that can add to the story.
I recently read a book called The China Study that linked cows milk to a large number of ailments, including breast cancer.
I will have to get the book and re-read it, but there are 2 things that struck me by the results of the detailes in this book:
1) societies where animal protein, and in particular, cow's milk (in it's natural form and in cheese/butter) are NOT consumed, there is the lowest incidence of breast cancer.
2) in societies where children (infants) are NOT fed cow's milk (instead, they have mother's milk and/or goat's milk), there is almost zero incidence of diabetes. This is supported in the book by a very reasonable description of how the mechanism works, and statistics of rate of incidence related to incidence of consumption of cow's milk.
Since I have diabetes (type II, controlled, thankfully by diet and exercise), the latter was of major concern and interest to me.
There are always other issues related to these studies, and the author does not blame animal protein as a causitive factor in cancer, instead it works as a catalyst. It may be that it is the protein in cow's milk that exacerbates the cancers, or it may be the overall makeup of milk itself. Please note that I come from a long line of farmer-folk, mostly dairy farmers, and I used to drink fresh milk (instead of water) from the milk house cooler on hot summmer days in between wagonloads of hay. It does not cheer me up to think these products may have a negative impact on our health.
Perhaps there are 2 books to add to our reading material,
- The China Study
- Eat to Live
I still eat meat and cheese from time to time, but have mostly weaned myself away from all animal proteins.
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