The Breast Cancer Prevention Program [Hardcover]

Samuel S. Epstein (Author), David Steinman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0025361929 | ISBN-13: 978-0025361928 | Edition: 1

Advance Praise for The Breast Cancer Prevention Program "The Breast Cancer Prevention Program is a marvelous book—intelligent, courageous, and practical. This authoritative and persuasive work will raise the collective consciousness. It asks, and tells, what you can do for yourself and for your country in a sensible, practical way that melds personal prevention and activism. It provides the tools to reduce one's risk of breast cancer both individually and by political action, making lifesaving information immediately available and simultaneously attempting to influence and alter the way our society deals with breast cancer." —Barbara Seaman, co-founder, National Women's Health Network; contributing editor, Ms. magazine; author of The Doctors' Case Against the Pill, Free and Female, and Women and the Crisis in Sex Hormones "All mothers should give this book to their daughters and granddaughters." —Eula Bingham, Ph.D., professor of environmental health, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, and former Assistant Secretary of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) "A unique and important book, and a must for all concerned women." —Devra Lee Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H., World Watch Resources Institute "This book is more than a remarkable study. It is a prescription that may save your life." —Studs Terkel Visit us online at http://www.mcp.com/mgr

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Here for the first time: the truth about a woman's power to take charge of her health, to dramatically reduce her risks of developing a potentially devastating disease. Every woman does it every month: She examines her breasts, hoping not to feel a lump that could change her future in a profound, intimate way. Indeed, breast cancer is now the leading cause of death among women between the ages of 35 and 54, and even successful treatment of the disease often involves permanent disfigurement. Told by cancer establishment giants like the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society that prevention is not possible, most women follow the advice of these so-called experts, submitting to annual mammography and hoping for the best. In The Breast Cancer Prevention Program, Dr. Samuel S. Epstein and David Steinman expose just how wrongheaded this approach is. The truth is, breast cancer is not a random killer. There are many simple, straightforward ways women can help protect themselves against it. Supported by a wealth of scientifically documented, medically sound information, this groundbreaking book outlines the unpublished "Dirty Dozen" risk factors for breast cancer and describes in detail the ways to avoid them, including:

• Performing careful breast self-exams in premenopausal years instead of submitting to the carcinogenic radiation of mammograms
• Eating a healthful diet instead of one high in animal fat contaminated with carcinogenic pollutants and hormones
• Understanding what a family history of the disease really means, and the impact your reproductive choices may have on your risk
• Using safer methods of birth control than oral contraceptives, which dangerously raise estrogen levels
• Ridding your work and living environments of cancer-causing chemicals that can damage breast cells.

In addition, the authors expose the truth about the dangers of silicone breast implants, estrogen replacement therapy, and a host of other "hidden" risk factors. They also reveal how drug manufacturers and the mammography industry influence the cancer establishment in formulating its policies on prevention. Most of all, they bring you the information you need to make informed decisions about your health, placing in your hands the power to dramatically reduce your risks for this dreaded disease.

About the Author

SAMUEL S. EPSTEIN, M.D., and DAVID STEINMAN are the authors of The Safe Shopper's Bible. Dr. Epstein, professor of occupational and environmental medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health and chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition in Chicago, is a leading international expert on the environmental causes of cancer, and past president of the Rachel Carson Council. His previous books include The Politics of Cancer. Investigative journalist David Steinman is the author of Diet for a Poisoned Planet, and chairman of Citizens for Health. SUSAN LEVERT is the author of several health-related books, including The Woman Doctor's Guide to Menopause.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 1 edition (October 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0025361929
• ISBN-13: 978-0025361928
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #975,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ TO PREVENT BREAST CANCER, February 24, 2000

By 

Katharine a. Boyda - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Breast Cancer Prevention Program (Hardcover)

If you really care about your health and TRULY PREVENTING BREAST CANCER, this book is a must read!

Dr. Epstein is a beacon of truth in explaining how we are exposed to so many toxins and pollutants that our immune systems break down and can't naturally fight cancer cells.

Our current medical approach is WAIT UNTIL THE CANCER SHOWS UP IN A MAMMOGRAM then assult the cancer and your own immune system with poisons and surgery. Dr. Epstein says: Cut your exposure to toxins and strengthen your own immune system so that you reduce your risk of ever getting cancer.

Which approach will you chose?

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Worthy Read, October 28, 2005

By 

S. Sullivan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Breast Cancer Prevention Program (Paperback)

I just finished this book today and found it very useful. The authors presented many helpful facts and cited many credible research trials and journal articles to support their points. I did not find the book to be inflammatory or alarmist, just filled with useful, practical and illuminating tips about what women can do to lower their risk for breast cancer. I admire the book's "prevention" approach: why wait for breast cancer to appear before getting into action? So many of the book's suggestions contribute to overall health in general, it just makes good sense to follow them.

I was concerned to find out how many elevated risk factors I already have for breast cancer (some of which I already knew, first among them being my mother's death from the disease at age 43). However, this book did make me feel that there are at least some health and environmental factors I can affect with my decisions and behavior; learning of my elevated risk only invigorates my commitment to doing all that I can in an effort not to add to those risks.

The book's expose on the dangers of mammography for premenopausal women and the elevated risks of breast cancer associated with oral contraceptives was especially eye-opening to me. It is a shame that corporate interests and profit margins in this country often seem to take precedence over good health information and awareness. Read the book in an effort to gather the most information that you can about risk factors for this disease; it will be worth your time.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, December 2, 2004

By 

Patricia Joy (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Breast Cancer Prevention Program (Hardcover)

At last, somebody who tells the horrifying truth about the American Cancer Society and how they have let us down for profit.

I would never trust anything the American Cancer Society says. They are very biased in favor of expensive pharmaceuticals with cancer-causing side-effects. They are the wealthiest "charity" in America, with cash reserves of $1 Billion.

The Role of the ACS in the War Against Cancer

The verdict is unassailable. The American Cancer Society bears a major responsibility for losing the winnable war against cancer.
The launching of the 1971 War Against Cancer provided the ACS with a well-exploited opportunity to pursue it own myopic and self-interested agenda. Its strategies remain based on two lies -- that there has been dramatic progress in the treatment and cure of cancer, and that any increase in the incidence and mortality of cancer is due to aging of the population and smoking while denying any significant role for involuntary exposures to industrial carcinogens in air, water, consumer products and the workplace.

Most of the funds raised by ACS go to pay overhead, salaries, fringe benefits, and travel expenses of its national executives in Atlanta. They also go to pay Chief Executive Officers, who earn six-figure salaries in several states, and the hundreds of other employees who work out of some 3,000 regional offices nationwide. The typical ACS affiliate, which helps raise the money for the national office, spends more than 52 percent of its budget on salaries, pensions, fringe benefits, and overhead for its own employees.

Salaries and overhead for most ACS affiliates also exceeded 50 percent, although most direct community services are handled by unpaid volunteers. DiLorenzo summed up his findings by emphasizing the hoarding of funds by the ACS.

"Most contributors believe their donations are being used to fight cancer, not to accumulate financial reserves. More progress in the war against cancer would be made if they would divest some of their real estate holdings and use the proceeds -- as well as a portion of their cash reserves -- to provide more cancer services."

Aside from high salaries and overhead, most of what is left of the ACS budget goes to basic research and research into profitable, patented cancer drugs.

The current budget of the ACS is $380 million and its cash reserves approach one billion dollars. Yet its aggressive fund-raising campaign continues to plead poverty, and lament the lack of available money for cancer research, while ignoring efforts to prevent cancer by phasing out avoidable exposures to environmental and occupational carcinogens.

Meanwhile, the ACS is silent about its intricate relationships with the wealthy cancer drug industry and chemical industries.

Read more....... http://www.corporations.org/cancer/boycottacs.html