Published: March 16, 2011
The American Cancer Society (ACS), "More Interested in Accumulating Wealth Than Saving Lives," According to a Report by Dr. Samuel Epstein, Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition
CHICAGO - (BUSINESS WIRE) - The Cancer Prevention Coalition issued the following release:
A report on the American Cancer Society (ACS), "More Interested In
Accumulating Wealth Than Saving Lives" was released today. This report
is authored by Dr. Samuel Epstein, chairman of the Cancer Prevention
Coalition, and Emeritus professor of Environmental and Occupational
Medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health. The
report is also endorsed by Congressman John Conyers Jr., Chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, and Quentin Young M.D., Chairman of the
Health and Medicine Policy research Group, and Past President of the
American Public Health Association.
The report traces the track record of the ACS, since its founding in
1913 by a group of oncologists and wealthy business men until this year.
It documents the virtually exclusive priority of the ACS to the
diagnosis and treatment of cancer, with indifference to prevention,
other than that due to faulty personal lifestyle. Commonly known as
"blame the victim," this excludes the very wide range of scientifically
well-documented avoidable causes of cancer.
The ACS track record also clearly reflects frank conflicts of interest.
About half the ACS board are clinicians, oncologists, surgeons, and
radiologists, mostly with close ties to the National Cancer Institute
(NCI). Many board members and their institutional colleagues apply to
and obtain funding from both the ACS and the NCI. Substantial NCI funds
also go to ACS directors who sit on key NCI committees. Although the ACS
asks its board members to leave the room when others review their
funding proposals, this is just a token formality. In this private club,
easy access to funding is one of the perks, as the board routinely
rubber-stamps approvals. A significant amount of ACS funding also goes
to this extended membership. Frank conflicts of interest are also
evident in many ACS priorities. These include policies on mammography,
the National Breast Cancer Awareness campaign, and the pesticide and
cancer drug industries. These conflicts extend to the virtual
privatization of national cancer policy.
For instance the ACS has close connections to the mammography industry.
Five radiologists have served as ACS presidents. In its every move, the
ACS reflects the interests of the major manufacturers of mammography,
films and machines. These include Siemens, DuPont, General Electric,
Eastman Kodak, and Piker, which allocate considerable funds to the ACS.
ACS promotion still continues to lure women of all ages into mammography
centers, leading them to believe that mammography is their best hope
against breast cancer. An ACS advertisement in a leading Massachusetts
newspaper featured a photograph of two women in their twenties that
recklessly promised that early detection results in a cure "nearly 100
percent of the time." An ACS communications director, questioned by
journalist Kate Dempsey, responded in an article published by the
Massachusetts Women's Community's journal Cancer: "The ad isn't
based on a study. When you make an advertisement, you just say what you
can to get women in the door. You exaggerate a point. Mammography today
is a lucrative [and] highly competitive business." However, the National
Academy of Science has warned that the premenopausal breast is highly
sensitive to radiation, and that annual mammography can increase risks
of breast cancer by 10%. Furthermore, the US Preventive Task Force,
supported by the National Breast Cancer Coalition, has recently
recommended that routine mammography should be delayed until the age of
50 and practiced every 2 years subsequently until the age of 75.
The ACS has also had a strong relation with a wide range of industries,
including the pesticide and cancer drug. Responding to concerns on risks
on carcinogenic pesticides in food, the ACS responded, "We have no
cancer cases in which pesticide use was confirmed as the cause." Also
referring to concerns on the multibillion dollar cancer drug industry
sales, the ACS dismisses "unproven," non-patentable and minimally toxic
alternatives. This claim however is in the striking contrast to its
hidden conflicts of interest.
Public Relations
1998-2000: PR for the ACS was handled by Shandwick International, whose
major clients included R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings.
2000-2002: PR for the ACS was handled by Edelman Public Relations, whose
major clients included Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company, and Altria
Group, the parent company of Philip Morris, Kraft, and fast food and
soft drink beverage companies. All these companies were preemptively
dismissed once this information was revealed by the Cancer Prevention
Coalition.
Industry Funding
ACS has receive contributions in excess of $100,000 from a wide range of
"Excalibur Donors." Some of these companies were responsible for
environmental pollution with carcinogens, while others manufactured and
sold products containing toxic and carcinogenic ingredients. These
include:
-
Petrochemical companies (DuPont; BP; and Pennzoil)
-
Industrial waste companies (BFI Waste Systems)
-
Big Pharma (AstraZeneca; Bristol Myers Squibb; GlaxoSmithKline; Merck
& Company; and Novartis)
-
Auto companies (Nissan; and General Motors)
-
Cosmetic companies (Christian Dior; Avon; Revlon; and Elizabeth Arden)
-
Junk food companies (Wendy's International; McDonalds's; Unilever/Best
Foods; and Coca-Cola)
-
Biotech companies (Amgen; and Genentech)
Nevertheless, as reported in the December 8, 2009 New York Times,
the ACS claimed that it "holds itself to the highest standards of
transparency and public accountability." Of major concern is the
reckless record of the ACS with regard to cancer prevention over the
past four decades.
1971 When studies unequivocally proved that diethylstilbestrol
(DES) caused vaginal cancers in teenage daughters of women administered
the drug during pregnancy, the ACS refused an invitation to testify at
Congressional hearings to require the Food and Drug Administration to
ban its use as an animal feed additive. It gave no reason for its
refusal. Not surprisingly, U.S. meat is banned by other nations
worldwide.
1983 The ACS refused to join a coalition of the March of Dimes,
American Heart Association, and the American Lung Association in support
of the Clean Air Act.
1992 The ACS issued a joint statement with the Chlorine Institute
in support of the continued global use of organochlorine pesticides,
despite clear evidence that some of these were known to cause breast
cancer. In this statement, ACS vice president Clark Heath, M.D.,
dismissed the evidence of any risk as "preliminary and mostly based on a
weak and indirect association."
1993 Just before PBS Frontline aired the special entitled,
"In Our Children's Food," the ACS came out in support of the pesticide
industry. In a damage-control memorandum sent to some 48 regional
divisions and their 3,000 local offices, the ACS trivialized pesticides
as a cause of childhood cancer. The ACS also reassured the public that
carcinogenic pesticide residues in food are safe, even for babies.
1994 The ACS published a study designed to reassure women on the
safety of dark permanent hair dyes, and to trivialize risk of fatal and
non-fatal cancers, particularly non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as documented in
over six prior reports.
1999 The ACS denied any risks of cancer from drinking
genetically-engineered (rBGH) milk. Its position has remained unchanged
in spite of strong scientific decade old strong evidence relating rBGH
milk to major risks of breast, prostate, and colon cancers.
2000 The Washington-Insider Cancer Letter, revealed that
the ACS has close ties to the tobacco industry, notably Shandwick
International, representing R.J Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, and
subsequently Edelman Public Relations, representing Brown & Williamson
Tobacco company.
2002 The ACS initiated the "Look Good...Feel Better" program to
teach women cancer patients beauty techniques to help restore their
appearance and self-image during chemotherapy and radiation treatment."
This program was partnered by the National Cosmetology Association and
The Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association Foundation, which
failed to disclose the wide range of carcinogenic ingredients in
toiletries and cosmetics. These trade organizations also failed to
disclose evidence of risks of breast and other cancers following
long-term use of black or dark brown permanent and semi-permanent hair
dyes. The ACS also failed to inform women of these avoidable risks. The
Environmental Cancer Risk Section of the ACS Facts and Figures Report
also reassured that carcinogenic exposures from dietary pesticides,
"toxic wastes in dump sites" -- are "all at such low levels that risks
are negligible."
2007 The ACS indifference to cancer prevention, other than
smoking, has remained unchanged despite its $1 billion budget, and
despite the escalating incidence of cancer from 1975. This includes post
menopausal breast cancer, 23%; childhood cancer, 30%; testis cancer 60%;
and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 82%.
2009 The ACS budget was about $1 billion, of which 17% was
allotted to smoking cessation programs, and 28% to support services and
salaries. The top three executive salaries ranged from $670,000 to $1.2
million.
2010 The ACS rejected the April 2010 President's Cancer Panel
report, "Reducing Environmental Cancer." This had been widely endorsed
by leading scientific and public policy experts. Nevertheless, the ACS
brazenly claimed that more studies were needed to justify this
conclusion.
The ACS track record of frank indifference to cancer prevention, other
than that due to faulty lifestyle, extends to cancer organizations in
Canada and 90 nations worldwide in support of their "Relay For Life"
programs. Team members take turns to walk or run around a track for
12-24 hours. "Through the Relay, these organizations bring together
passionate volunteers, to take action in the international movement to
end cancer, by stopping smoking and developing healthy lifestyles. Funds
raised by these Relays support local organizations' cancer control
programs, services, and research." These organizations also contribute
part of their funds to ACS "cancer control programs" worldwide.
Clearly the ACS continues to forfeit the decades old international
public trust and support.
Click
here to read the full report.
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. is professor emeritus of Environmental and
Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public
Health; Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition (www.preventcancer.com);
and a former President of the Rachel Carson Trust. His awards include
the 1998 Right Livelihood Award and the 2005 Albert Schweitzer Golden
Grand Medal for International Contributions to Cancer Prevention. Dr.
Epstein has authored 270 scientific articles and 18 books on cancer
prevention, including the groundbreaking "The Politics of Cancer"
(1979), and most recently "Healthy Beauty" (2010, Benbella Books: www.benbellabooks.com)
about carcinogens, besides other toxic ingredients, in cosmetics and
personal care products. Email: epstein@uic.edu.
Web: www.preventcancer.com.
Cancer Prevention Coalition
Samuel S. Epstein, 312.996.2297
epstein@uic.edu
Copyright © 2012, Business Wire, Inc., All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012, NewsBlaze,
Daily News
Search News
