April 22, 2013

Summer is the time to celebrate health!  We are heading into the season for flip flops, sun screen and watermelon.  And with all of our attention on health and fun, what better time is there to consider the possibility of risking death?

In the summer of 1975, moviegoers huddled together in dark theaters, watching death unfold on Amity Island.  The new Sheriff in this small beach community discovered the remains of a shark attack victim.  And horror exploded on the screen, leading to three sequels of JAWS and a theme song that, forty years later, children can hum with glee.

Sharks…and death…what is your risk this year?  According to OCEANA, only about a dozen of the approximately 500 shark species should be considered potentially dangerous to humans. White, tiger and bull sharks are responsible for more than half of all shark attacks. In five years (2006-2010), an average of 4.2 fatal shark attacks took place each year world-wide. Between 2006 and 2010, a total of 179 shark attacks occurred in the U.S., resulting in three fatalities.

Bathtubs…and death?  You might want to take your baths in the ocean with the sharks.  In 2003, 320 U.S. citizens died in the bathtub…no sharks involved.

How many ways are there to risk dying?  LiveScience on the web has saved us much work, speculating on 10 Easy Paths to Destruction.   Saying Amen to Rocker Tommy Lee who once said, “[W]’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time,” they warn us away from the ten “easiest catalysts to self-destruction.”  Are you surprised when you learn you should not eat junk or smoke cigarettes?

Junk food…and death?  Are you thinking candy bars and deep-fried Twinkies?  Think again.

Researchers analyzed the diet, health and death data on 37,698 men and 83,644 women over two decades.  Participants completed questionnaires about their diets every four years. During the study follow-up period of more than two decades, almost 24,000 of the participants died, including 5,910 from heart disease and 9,464 from cancer.

Death…by eating red meat?  Here are the facts.  Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger daily gave men in the study a 22% higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27% higher risk of dying of heart disease.  Overall, one serving per day of processed red meat increased risk of cancer by 16%.

Death…and eating chicken?  Using a statistic model, the researchers estimated that replacing one serving a day of red meat with one serving of with poultry would decrease the risk by 14%; nuts, 19%; beans, 10%; low-fat dairy, 10%; whole grains, 14%, and fish, 7%.

Sharks…red meat…are vegetables starting to look better on the grill?

The largest study of its kind found vegetarians have healthier hearts than those who eat meat or fish.  According to two large studies, vegetarians are a third less likely to need hospital treatment for heart disease or die from it, and the diet could mean living nine additional years than you might consuming meat based diets.

So…let’s get real.  And let’s get serious.

Do you know someone who has breast cancer?  While Americans are planning trips to the beach this summer, do you know someone who is undergoing chemo and meeting with the attorney to write out their end-of-life wishes?

What if you knew important information about risks that lead to breast cancer?  And what if that information could make a difference for you, your wife and your daughters?  Would that gain your attention just as much as the stats for death by shark attack, bathtubs and eating red meat?

As reported in the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute Newsletter, “This past February, the news media widely covered a study in JAMA which showed that the incidence in breast cancer had almost doubled over the past 34 years, 2% per year, compounded.  This represents an over 90% increase in women between 20 and 39 years old.  The cancers they were citing were invasive and had already spread outside of the breast which are life threatening.  The Author, Rebecca Johnson, had been diagnosed herself at age 26 with breast cancer.”

So…let’s consider.  What is contributing to this dramatic increase in the incidence of breast cancer?  Swimming with sharks?  Eating hot dogs and steak?

If swimming with sharks led to breast cancer, you can be sure we would be reading about it in The New York Times.  They would lead with this story at least once a month, and NFL football players would have decals of Pink Sharks on their helmets this year.

Instead, this crisis of life is being ignored.  We have all the pretty pink ribbons…and NONE of the facts.

If you want to know the facts, they are available.  The Breast Cancer Prevention Institute has followed this issue for years.  Thanks to the Internet, we no longer have to wait for the facts in The Times.  Here they are:

• Non-invasive breast cancer, in-situ cancers, has risen by 300% since 1975.
• In-situ cancers, treated with mastectomy, radiation, and hormonal therapy, progress into invasive cancers if not treated.
• Invasive cancers have risen about 40% over 35 years.

And if it is not sharks…and not red meat…what is leading to all of this cancer?

The Breast Cancer Prevention Institute provides a chart of 70 professional studies investigating elective abortion as it relates to breast cancer.  Of these studies, 33 demonstrate a statistically significant correlation between induced abortion and breast cancer.  In total, 55 of the 70 studies present a positive correlation between induced abortion and breast cancer.

Our mothers and daughters are being sold down the river…the shark-infested river.

Unwilling to speak truth, abortion proponents prefer to sell pink football gear to the players and to ask for your money at the grocery counter…”for breast cancer research.”  Why?

We have research!  We can educate women…and the men who REALLY care about women.  Abortion is a real link to women and death by cancer.

Summer…fall, winter and spring…this matters!  Check out the information.  Share it with those you love.  This is not political.  It is personal.  It is about saving the lives of people we love.

Sharks, red meat…and abortion…truth is truth, no matter what.  If we are afraid of one shark eating our child this summer, we should fear for the lives of our wives, daughters and friends being sacrificed in silence to shield abortion from critical evaluation.

Summer is coming on.  You have time to read.  If you care about the women in your life, there is no better time than now to read and learn what we can do to save their lives.

Risking death?  Not if we don’t have to.  This is a summer for life.  Take time to read and to enjoy time with the ones you love!

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BREAST CANCER RISKS

Want more information?  Check out the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute publications that give a full picture of this link of breast cancer to induced abortion.