This News Target article probes the connections between the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the medical industry in order to examine why the ACS focuses more on the expensive techniques of screening, diagnosis and treatment than on prevention.
Connection Admitted
The ACS does not deny their connection with industry. Said ACS doctor Michael Thun, "The American Cancer Society views relationships with corporations as a source of revenue for cancer prevention. That can be construed as an inherent conflict of interest, or it can be viewed as a pragmatic way to get funding to support cancer control." The ACS board was created in order to solicit corporate contributions, and several board members are CEOs or presidents of biotechnology companies.
Many board members, in fact, stand to make much more money from treating cancer than from preventing it. It has also been argued that their ties to polluting industries has led the industry to willfully suppress information about the environmental causes of cancer.
Alternative Therapies Blacklisted
Many alternative health doctors and providers have complained about the ACS' controversial "Committee on Unproven Methods of Cancer Management." This Committee reviews "unorthodox" or "alternative" therapies, and puts most of these treatments on the "Unproven Methods" list. This list has caused doctors with successful methods to be refused research money and raided by the FDA.
Most of the treatments on the "Unproven Methods" list have never been shown to be ineffective or dangerous. More than 100 promising therapies have been discredited by the ACS in this way, including:
It is interesting to note that the techniques on the list are generally unpatented or unpatentable.
The American Cancer Society claims it is, among other things, "Dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer." However, the ACS' corporate entanglements may be preventing them from achieving that very goal.
One of my major concerns with organizations like the American Cancer Society is that they deceive the well intentioned and extraordinarily generous American public with their solicitations for charitable donations. People feel good about donating to an organization that is fighting cancer, but the hard reality is that virtually all of their donations are wasted on approaches that are destined to fail.
Just their Run for Life events alone, over the last 10 years, have generated over $1.5 billion to their coffers so they can continue to promote the fatally flawed sytem.
This is an important issue, as earlier this year cancer surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in Americans under the age of 85.
The true key to fighting cancer is prevention. But, with cancer, as with many other life-threatening illnesses, the conventional medical industry makes no money if you are able to avoid the number one cause of death in the United States. They only benefit if they can treat you for it, which means that prevention techniques are practically ignored.
Similarly, alternative therapies are derided as quackery and junk science. But when you compare the healthy and natural techniques of cancer prevention to the dangerous and toxic methods of "conventional" cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, it's hard not to wonder which method is actually "junk."
If you really want to keep yourself from getting cancer:
Related Articles:
American Cancer Society Threatens to Hijack the National Cancer ProgramThe Cancer Charity ScamNine Steps for Healthy Living Can Reduce Women's Cancer Risk
American Cancer Society Threatens to Hijack the National Cancer Program
The Cancer Charity Scam
Nine Steps for Healthy Living Can Reduce Women's Cancer Risk