Causes of Cancer
In this video, Janette Sherman spends about 26 minutes speaking on "Causes of Cancer" at the 29th Annual Cancer Convention held on Labor Day weekend by the Cancer Control Society.
About Janette Sherman
JANETTE SHERMAN, M.D. received her B.S. Degree in both Biology and Chemistry from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo in 1952. She worked in Radiation and Biological Research at the University of California, Berkeley, Atomic Energy Commission facility and in Physiology Research at Michigan State University. She received her Medical Degree in 1964 from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. She completed 4 years of post graduate training and has practiced Internal Medicine and Toxicology since 1970.
Dr. Sherman received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Western Michigan University in 1989.
She served on the Advisory Board for the Toxic Substances Control Act, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 1976–1982; has been an Advisor to the National Cancer Institute on breast cancer and the EPA on pesticides. She has been a resource person and advisor for health advocacy groups concerning breast cancer, birth defects, pesticides and toxic dump sites.
Currently, she is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Sociology at Western Michigan University concerning research on causes of illnesses in workers and with the Environmental Institute as a Consultant on chemicals and adverse environmental effects.
She is Research Associate with the Radiation and Public Health Project (R.P.H.P.), New York City, New York. R.P.H.P. collects baby teeth to measure strontium-90 to correlate levels with areas having high rates of cancer in children and adults.
Dr. Sherman is the author of over 70 scientific articles concerning the adverse effects from exposure to toxic agents, including chlordane, Dursban, lindane, DDT, PCBs, PBBS, dioxins, tamoxifen, DES, nuclear radiation and others. Her work focuses on harm to human health resulting in cancer and birth defects and her primary interest is prevention.
She is the author of 2 books, Chemical Exposure and Disease and her latest book, which is an extension of the first, Life’s Delicate Balance – Causes And Prevention Of Breast Cancer.
Transcription
Thank you very much. It's an honor to be here. And I want to talk about the ultimate alternative therapy for cancer, which is prevention of it in the first place.
Thank you. I'm an internist and toxicologist and I've been in practice for a number of years. Obviously, looking at my gray hair, my husband, Donald Nevin Jr., who is my research associate, is sitting over there doing the slides. No. Let's go next. Einstein, one of my favorite humans, said we shall require a substantially new way of thinking if mankind is to survive. And I think that is probably the understatement of the age. We have to stop doing what we have been doing for so many years.
Next, in 1978, I wrote an article called Cancer Our Social Disease. I'm convinced that physicians like myself and scientists who are working slate at many universities in the National Cancer Institute are not going to do anything whatsoever about preventing cancer. Cancer is a social disease. It is linked to the economics and politics of our time.
You need only to watch what I call the pharmaceutical hour every evening starting at about 6 o'clock.
Who has seen this? Anybody here? Right. All as you do, as we are told, is to keep buying more and more drugs. This is not going to prevent any cancers. Next month, many of you know you may know me by my first book, which is called Chemical Exposure and Disease. And I at wrote this after seeing some 8000 workers exposed to a variety of substances.
And I said it's time to prevent illness rather than to deal with it after it's occurred.
Next, what are the sources of pollution while we have the nuclear industry? The pesticide industry, the chemical industry and incinerators and dumps. What are the effects of pollution and radiation pollution? Well, neurological loss of neurological function and mentation, birth defects, both structural and impaired learning, mental retardation, and astute criticism of these children who have deep defects and learning. We have cancer. We have multiple immunological abnormalities. And I'm interested in the effects on the person, on the family and on society at large, because the costs are enormous.
One of the greatest classes, loss of creativity in people suffering from cancer. We have terrible economic losses as well. We have a health care crisis in this country. Over 40 million people with allergies, asthma, headaches, etc.. On down the line. Parkinson's disease, diabetes. All of these things are increasing since I've been practicing medicine. I graduate in 1964. We are seeing people dying of asthma, which did not occur 20 years ago. Many, many more