A survey of Massachusetts women has found a potential link between the use of household cleaners and air fresheners and breast cancer.  Breast-cancer risk was highest among women who reported the most use of cleaning products and air fresheners; it was double the risk for those who reported low use of the products. Most study participants were white and middle-aged and were part of the Cape Cod Breast Cancer and Environment Study, which had financial support from the state of Massachusetts.

Editor’s Note: We recommend using natural house cleaners and air fresheners as these are free from chemicals and potentially hazardous products. You can get these online or at your health food store. Other natural cleaners include Murphy’s and Dr. Bronner’s cleaners which may be available in your supermarket.

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A new study found that certain women getting a lumpectomy may not need an operation to remove underarm lymph nodes, a procedure that can leave them with painfully swollen arms. Compared with not removing the nodes, the surgery did not prolong survival or prevent recurrence of the cancer.

And a second study found that a single dose of radiation, delivered directly to the site of the tumor right after a woman has a lumpectomy, was as effective as the six or so weeks of daily radiation treatments that most women now endure.

Reported by the New York Times

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Researchers in Philadelphia are among those seeking to expand the use of lasers to target tumors and curtail side effects. This treatment method is called Photodynamic Therapy, and has been used for many years as a non-invasive safe treatment for stopping bleeding in the retina.

In a randomized European study, photodynamic therapy had extended the life of patients with inoperable bile-duct cancer by more than a year, on average, in some cases several years. It worked so well that the trial was stopped early.

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Cancer drugs and radiation target and kill fast-growing cancer cells. But a small number of noncancer cells in the tumor often survive. These, researchers believe, are “mother” cells — stem cells that shrug off treatment and survive to manufacture more cancer cells.

“Cancer stem cells are present, we believe, in all cancers,” said Dr. Jenny Chang, medical director of the breast center at Baylor College of Medicine. “So that 1 to 5 percent of the cancer contains cancer stem cells. And while chemotherapy kills 99 to 95 percent of the tumor, what’s left behind is the 5 percent of cancer stem cells. Those will then regrow and regenerate.”

Chang spoke at a press briefing on experimental new cancer drugs Friday at the 32nd annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium , which continues through Sunday.

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Women who live in neighborhoods with large amounts of nighttime light are more likely to get breast cancer than those who live in areas where the nights are darker. This reinforces previous studies that exposure to too much light at night can raise the risk of breast cancer by interfering with the brain’s production of melatonin, a tumor-suppressing hormone.

A study published in the journal Chronobiology International overlaid satellite images of Earth onto a map with local statistics of breast cancer and, for comparison, lung cancer, which is caused mostly by smoking and would not be expected to be linked to light.

After adjusting for variables such as ethnic makeup, birth rate, population density and local income, researchers found that breast cancer rate in localities with average night lighting to be 37% higher than in communities with the lowest amount of light. The rate was higher by an additional 27% in areas with the highest amount of light.

Research has shown that rats raised in cages where lights are left on at night have higher cancer rates than those allowed to sleep in darkness. Epidemiological studies of nurses, flight attendants and others who work at night have found breast cancer rates 60% above normal, even when other factors such as differences in diet are accounted for. On the basis of such studies, an arm of the World Health Organization announced its decision to classify shift work as a “probable carcinogen.”

SOURCE: Lights at Night Are Linked to Breast Cancer http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021902398.html?hpid=moreheadlines

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Breast cancer is a disease so directly related to vitamin D deficiency that a woman’s risk of contracting the disease can be ‘virtually eradicated’ by elevating her vitamin D status to what vitamin D scientists consider to be natural blood levels, according to vitamin D pioneer Dr. Cedric Garland who delivered in Toronto Tuesday as part of the University of Toronto School of Medicine’s “Diagnosis and Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency” conference – the largest gathering of vitamin D researchers in North America this year. More than 170 researchers, public health officials and health practitioners gathered at the UT Faculty club for the landmark event.

SOURCE: GrassrootsHealth
CONTACT: or to set up an interview with Dr. Vieth, please contact: Michelle Di Rocco, (416)360-6522 ext. 251 or michelle@punchcanada.com

Reported from www.naturaleyecare.com

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