Sunday, April 29

Making profit out of cancer: American Cancer Society

There is no other word for profiting from diseases and making people sick by prescribing drugs which risks overweight the benefits: crime.
That's why omnipresence of the consortium that profits at the expenses of sickness always amazes me.
I have seen many times people defending them in discussions in social networks and blogs of people who raise awareness of the way medicine is being dictated by pharmaceutical industry.
The third cause of hospitalization in USA is iatrogenesis: disease caused by the treatment, mostly prescribed drugs.

When I joined Second Life I was advised that the pharmaceutical industry was there by a woman who was part of a sort of PETA's group.
I  joined a group that allegedly helps depressed people and another a kind of suicide hot line. 
When someone asked for help about Paxil/Seroxat withdrawal I answered and... I had the honor of having been banned from the group because I raised some issues about withdrawal and some facts that the pharmaceutical industry doesn't like to see discussed and try hard to keep covering up.
One can write numerous arguments but will be silenced not receiving answers but being labelled conspiracy theorist, scientologist, troublemaker and whatever suits. 

For the whole month this advertisement - click at the image to enlarge - were at the login page of Second Life. The money donated  is for one of the wealthiest non-profit institution: the American Cancer Society.
According to them: " Relay For Life is the signature fundraising event of the American Cancer Society.  The Relay For Life of Second Life is the largest, most successful fundraising event in the virtual world, raising more than $1,200,000 since its first event in 2004." (emphasis added)

The famous institution, that at first glance advocates for cancer patients, has ties with the pharmaceutical industry and has received many critics being  Dr. Samuel S.Epstein*, M.D. one of the most active.
He explains at this link what the American Cancer Society really does.


The ACS's indifference to cancer prevention reflects major industry funding. ACS has received contributions in excess of $100,000 from a wide range of "Excalibur Donors," many of whom continue to manufacture carcinogenic products. These include:

•Petrochemical companies (DuPont; BP; and Pennzoil)
•Industrial waste companies (BFI Waste Systems)
•Junk food companies (Wendy's International; McDonalds's; Unilever/Best Foods; and Coca-Cola)
•Big Pharma (AstraZenceca; Bristol Myers Squibb; GlaxoSmithKline; Merck & Company; and Novartis)
•Biotech companies (Amgen; and Genentech)
•Cosmetic companies (Christian Dior; Avon; Revlon; Elizabeth Arden; and Estee Lauder)
•Auto companies (Nissan; General Motors)

 Cancer Prevention Coalition is the best place to search for guidance about cancer. 

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. is professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health; Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition; The 2005 Albert Schweitzer Golden Grand Medalist for International Contributions to Cancer Prevention; and author of over 270 scientific articles and 20 books on the causes and prevention of cancer, including the groundbreaking The Politics of Cancer (1979), Cancer-Gate: How To Win The Losing Cancer War (2005), and Toxic Beauty (2009, BenBella Books).