Subject: REPORT First World Conference on Breast Cancer Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 182102 -0500 (CDT) From: "John D. Evans" <jdevans@sympatico.ca> To: Multiple recipients of list <emf-l@mail.llion.org> -------------------------------------------------- Dear Friends on EMF-L, Here is my report on the part of the First World Conference on Breast Cancer that my wife, Stella, and I attended. My being particularly interested in the relationship between EMFs and health, we took in only one day, Wednesday, July 16th. That day was dedicated to discussing the links between breast cancer and environmental pollutants. All activities took place on the beautiful campus of Queen=92s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Kingston is about 100 kilometres from where we live. It is interesting to note that Kingston and vicinity has the second highest incidence of breast cancer in the world. Perhaps it is because Kingston is situated at the lower end of the Great Lakes basin, and the prevailing winds blow in from industrialized Ohio. We used to joke when we lived further upstream, "Flush often, Kingston needs the water." Most presentations dealt with pollutants other than EMFs. However, several sessions involved discussions about electromagnetic fields and breast cancer. The first plenary session we attended looked: at xenoestrogens, and pesticides; environmental pollutants where we live, where we work, and what we consume. One speaker looked at ionizing radiation as used in diagnostic tests and treatments. Dr Bary Wilson gave us an overview of electromagnetic fields and breast cancer. He spoke generally about the relationships between melatonin, EMFs, and cancer. Nothing particularly new to me, but certainly of interest to most attendees. The second plenary session dealt with the Politics of Cancer and Limits of Science. Guru would have loved to hear some of this. Presenters agreed that politics and dollars-and-cents (profits, etc.) come before "real" scientific information gathering. The development of "risk factors" is considered unethical. It was suggested that researchers sometimes decide, and legislators legislate, that a product is safe when, say, one death per 100,000 or even one in 1,000,000 is acceptable. "Legal Safe Limits", in the name of greed, power, and money, give large corporations and governments LICENSE TO COMMIT PREMEDITATED RANDOM MURDER ! ! ! This idea brought cheers from the audience. By the way, I believe there were more than 650 delegates from over 50 countries at the conference. Most were not impressed with "tame" scientists -- scientists who fail to see that individuals suffering death, and other less lethal health problems, are NOT statistics but real, live, breathing, human beings, each with his/her own feelings, thoughts, hopes, and wishes. The luncheon speaker was Dr Sandra Steingraber =96 a very powerful speaker -= - who used the research into her new book, LIVING DOWNSTREAM, to tell us how an ecologist looks at cancer. She is a cancer survivor, a biologist, and a poet -- a great combination for getting her ideas and feelings across. Most had tears in their eyes when she finished her speech. We have her book on order. As I have said elsewhere, I believe that the women of the world, organized in such groups as attended at Kingston, will be the major power to change the world=92s attitudes. Sandra Steinberger has been called the successor to Rachel Carson, author of SILENT SPRING. The two afternoon sessions Stella and I attended dealt entirely with EMFs, ELECTROSMOG, and cancer. At least five other concurrent sessions were dealing with other pollutants and how to deal with polluters. Our group included: Dr Bary Wilson, Dr Meike Mevissen, Dr Henry Lai, Cindy Sage, Kjell Hansson Mild, Dan Wartenberg, and one of our EML-L members, Lorna Wilson. Information was presented about: Melatonin and Breast Cancer in the Laboratory; EMFs and Chemical Interaction; EMFs, DNA Damage and Free Radicals; Prudent Avoidance of EMFs in Occupational Settings; Integrating Science and Policy; and Lorna Wilson=92s Survivor=92s Story =96 The Need fo= r Prevention. She did a great job. [Lorna has already posted her impressions of the conference on EMF-L.] Cindy Sage=92s talk about how "The Law" is handling EMFs damages claims lately, was enlightening. It is good to note that legal opinion (shadow of a doubt) seems to much more flexible than scientific opinion (almost certainty). I hope to get a copy of some of her writings. She obtained a million dollar settlement for a claimant, I believe in California. It was generally agreed at our sessions that there is enough information to commence action against polluters. That is, it is unethical that human beings continue to be "guinea pig" subjects of big business. The weight of evidence shows that great caution should be taken when dealing with any EMFs. Also, it was suggested that more information about electric fields needs to be presented, not just about magnetic fields. One suggestion was that there needs to be a world-wide information centre (perhaps with a toll free telephone number) where one could find medical doctors (and other experts) who are not afraid to speak out on behalf of individuals negatively affected by EMFs. This would bring general reports and studies about the dangers of EMFs down to the human level of one person=92s= suffering. Generally speaking, what showed up at the part of the conference we attended was that hereditary cancers make up a very small part of the overall cancer rates. The feeling, especially in the face of ever-rising cancer rates around the world, is that the thousands of toxins (including EMFs) entering our environment almost daily, certainly have a large bearing on the increased incidence of cancer, especially breast cancer. We are being bombarded with insecticides, growth hormones, nuclear radiation fallout, weed killers, mine tailings, industrial pollution, automobile pollution, electrosmog, etc., etc., etc. There is hope that alternatives to using toxins will be found. The thrust of the conference is that they must be found. For further information on Dr Devra Lee Davis=92s plenary session talk, go t= o Web site: "http://www.wri.org". Illustrations should be available for downloading. The Web site for the First World Conference on Breast Cancer is still available: "http://brcancerconf.kos.net". As I get further information, I will post it. The volunteers who engineered this ground-breaking conference are taking a well-earned vacation. I will be in touch with them by phone again soon. Both Stella and I were most impressed with what we saw and heard. Both of us found that the power and drive of the dedicated people there to be inspirational, even though we were present for only a small part of the total conference. If we were younger, and more "full of beans," we would have liked to have taken in the whole show. We are taking off next month to visit my home Province of New Brunswick, where, in September, we will celebrate our fiftieth anniversary at the cottage we used for part of our honeymoon. THAT=92S ALL, AND THAT=92S THAT! TAKE CARE, EVERYONE -- WITH LOVE. John ********************************************************* * John D. Evans * E-mail: jdevans@sympatico.ca =20 * 8 Monroe Court * Wellington, ON K0K 3L0 * CANADA * Phone: 613-399-5089 * * Human beings are the only creatures who * are able to behave irrationally in the name * of reason.........................(Ashley Montagu). ********************************************************* Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html