Agent Orange, dioxin

Agent Orange tied to aggressive prostate cancer risk

Posted on MAY 13, 2013 Written by THANHNIENNEWS LEAVE A COMMENT

Soldiers detect Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and defoliant Agent Orange during the launch of the “environmental remediation of dioxin contamination” project, in Vietnam’s central Da Nang City

Men who were exposed to Agent Orange chemicals used during the Vietnam War are at higher risk for life-threatening prostate cancer than unexposed veterans, researchers have found.

What’s more, those who served where the herbicide was used were diagnosed with cancer about five years earlier than other men, on average, in the new study.

“This is a very, very strong predictor of lethal cancer,” said urologist Dr. Mark Garzotto, who worked on the study at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Oregon.

“If you’re a person who’s otherwise healthy and you’ve been exposed to Agent Orange, that has important implications for whether you should be screened or not screened,” he told Reuters Health.

But one researcher not involved in the new study said it’s hard to take much away from it, given the imprecise way it measured exposure.

Agent Orange – named after the giant orange drums in which the chemicals were stored – was used by the U.S. military to destroy foliage, mainly in southern Vietnam. The herbicide was often contaminated with a type of dioxin, a potently carcinogenic chemical.

The Vietnam Red Cross Society has estimated that up to one million Vietnamese suffered disabilities or health problems as a result of Agent Orange, including children born with birth defects years after their parents were exposed.

Past research has also suggested that U.S. veterans who served where Agent Orange was used are at an increased risk of lymphoma and certain other cancers, including prostate cancer.

For the new study, researchers wanted to see whether exposure was more closely linked to slow-growing prostate cancers or aggressive tumors.

They analyzed medical records belonging to 2,720 veterans who were referred to the Portland VA for a prostate biopsy. About one in 13 of those men had been exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, according to their VA intake interviews.

One third of all men in the study were diagnosed with prostate cancer, about half of which were high-grade cancers – the more aggressive and fast-growing type.

When the researchers took men’s age, race, weight and family history of cancer into account, they found those with Agent Orange exposure were 52 percent more likely than unexposed men to have any form of prostate cancer.

Separating out different types of tumors showed the herbicide was not linked to an increased risk of slower-growing, low-grade cancer. But it was tied to a 75 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer, the study team reported Monday in the journal Cancer.

“The increase in the rate of cancers was almost exclusively driven by the potentially lethal cancers,” said Garzotto, also from Oregon Health & Science University.

More research is needed to figure out exactly why that is, he said. In the meantime, Garzotto said veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange should discuss that with their doctors.

But Dr. Arnold Schecter, from the University of Texas School of Public Health’s Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Program in Dallas, said there’s a “big problem” with just asking veterans if they were exposed to Agent Orange or served in an area where it was sprayed.

“Of those most heavily exposed in the military as best we know, only a relatively small percentage of them had elevated dioxin from Agent Orange in their blood when tested by (the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention),” he toldReuters Health.

Schecter said that in Vietnam, people who have high levels of that type of dioxin in their blood live in places where the chemical has become integrated into the food supply – or were sprayed directly with Agent Orange.

Another researcher who has studied the effects of Agent Orange agreed that not having blood dioxin levels is a drawback, but said the findings are consistent with past research and general thinking about the chemical.

“Almost all studies have implicated that men with Agent Orange (exposure) either have higher-grade prostate cancer or a more aggressive clinical course,” said Dr. Gregory Merrick, head of Wheeling Hospital’s Schiffler Cancer Center in West Virginia, who also wasn’t involved in the new research.

But, he added, as long as men are getting into the VA system and getting regular evaluations and treatment for cancer, Agent Orange exposure “is not a death sentence by any means.”

Many U.S. young adults at risk of skin cancer: reports | Look At Vietnam

Many U.S. young adults at risk of skin cancer: reports

May 13, 2012

Despite warnings about the dangers of excess sun exposure, many U.S. young adults still get sunburned or use indoor tanning beds, which are increasing their risk for developing skin cancer, according to two studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute.
One study, of people aged 18-29, found that 50 percent reported at least one sunburn in the past year, despite an increase in protective behaviors such as sunscreen use, seeking shade, and wearing long clothing to the ankles. Another report found that indoor tanning is common among young adults, with the highest rates of indoor tanning among white women aged 18-21 years (32 percent) and 22-25 years (30 percent).
Both reports evaluated data from the National Health Interview Survey’s Cancer Control Supplement. They were published Thursday in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“More public health efforts, including providing shade and sunscreen in recreational settings, are needed to raise awareness of the importance of sun protection and sunburn prevention to reduce the burden of skin cancer,” said Marcus Plescia, director of CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. “We must accelerate our efforts to educate young adults about the dangers of indoor tanning to prevent melanoma as this generation ages.”
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, and melanoma is the most deadly type of skin cancer.
Exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from indoor tanning equipment is the most important preventable risk factor for skin cancer. Indoor tanning before age 35 increases a person’s risk of getting melanoma by 75 percent. Sunburn indicates too much exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
To reduce the risk of skin cancer, the CDC recommends:
Stay in the shade, especially from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Wear clothing to protect exposed skin.
Wear a wide-brimmed hat to shade the face, head, ears and neck.
Wear wraparound sunglasses that block most ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B rays.
Use sunscreen with sun protective factor 15 or higher that blocks both ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B rays.
Don’t use indoor tanning.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

100kg python dies of lung cancer at bird sanctuary | Look At Vietnam

100kg python dies of lung cancer at bird sanctuary

March 21, 2012

LookAtVietnam – A rare reticulated python of nearly 100kg in weight was reported dead at a bird sanctuary in the southern province of Bac Lieu. The python will be stuffed for display at the sanctuary.

The sanctuary’s director, Mr. Nguyen Trung Chanh, said on March 19, that the python was caught from the nature and transferred to the sanctuary over a year ago.
The python was found caught in a net in the forest by the sanctuary’s chief guard. It was brought to the sanctuary and measured to be 5.2m long and nearly 100kg in weight.
This was a female python of over 20 years old. The python was raised at the sanctuary for preservation.
The python was sick for several months. She abandoned food and water. Veterinary doctors said that the python suffered from lung cancer and she could not be familiar with the life in cage.
The python died last week. It will be stuffed to serve tourists.

Thu Hang

Hotmail (1) - ckuhn55@msn.com

The name “cancer village” has been given to a village in
Hanoi – Tu Chau hamlet, Lien Chau commune, Thanh Oai district. One hundred
people in the hamlet have died in the last 20 years.

According to Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Head of the Tu Chau hamlet, the number of people
dieing of cancer has been increasingly high. In 2011 alone, 15 people died of
cancer. While local residents die of diseases, the local authorities keep
indifferent to the problem.
The Death is stalking
With 878 households and 3000 local residents, 100 people have died of cancer in
the last 20 years, which has raised big worry. Thuy said that there are so many
people infected with cancer in the hamlet. “My wife is having to bear cancer
treatments at K Hospital in Hanoi,” he said.
The worrying problem is that the patients have become younger. In the last 20
years, the men who died of cancer were no more than 60 years old. “We now dare
not go for medical examination. We fear that one day, physicians tell us that we
suffer from cancer,” he said.
Tam, a local resident, who lives in an 8 square meter room, said that her
husband has just died of cancer. “In the last five years, all of our assets have
gone to get money for his treatment. However, the money could not help,” she
said.
The youngest patient who died of cancer recently was Nguyen Ngoc Cuong, who died
at the age of 18 from throat cancer. Nguyen Van Thao said he has been dragging
his existence for the last year. “I had just to pay 50 million dong for a course
of treatment. I will have to sell a land plot to get money,” he complained.
Water source causes cancer?
Local residents believe that the polluted water has brought cancer to the local
residents. They said that the Nhue River’s water has turned black with the
chemicals discharged from factories, which has influenced the running water of
people and caused cancer.
All the 800 households in Tu Chau hamlets now dare not use water from wells for
drink or cooking. The water has been used only for washing, because it has a
yellow color and gives terrible smell.
Thuy said that previously, local residents used the water from the village’s
ponds as the running water for daily use. However, the villages have become the
“dead water resources” in which fishes and shrimps cannot live. Nowadays, local
residents mostly use rainwater. However, as the rain water is limited, people
still have to use water from wells, though they know the water is not safe
enough.
Nguyen Thi Le, a local resident, said that she wished she could leave for other
places to avoid the polluted water. “We are living in fear, and we don’t know
when we have to go with the Death,” she said.
Local authorities ignore
When asked about the high number of cancer infected patients, Nguyen Cong Khoai,
Chair of the Lien Chau commune said: “Cancer patients can be found everywhere.”
Meanwhile, Quach Thi Hao, Head of the Healthcare center in Lien Chau commune,
confirmed that the number of cancer diseases has been increasing rapidly in
recent years. She believes that the reason behind the diseases is the polluted
water resource. However, Hao said that no experiment has been carried out to
find out the truth, because of the lack of money.
As such, since the local authorities and management agencies still keep a deaf
ear to the problem, local residents still have to live in fear.
Source: Dai Doan Ket

Cancer increasing across Vietnam

he number of people suffering from cancer was increasing across Viet Nam, warned participants at a national conference on cancer prevention on Thursday.

According to statistics presented at the conference, between 100,000 and 200,000 new cancer cases are reported in Viet Nam each year, while between 15,000-20,000 people die from cancer annually.

The rate of male patients with cancer increased to 181.2 per 100,000 people in 2010 from 141.6 per 100,000 people in 2000. The figure for female patients is 134.9 per 100,000 against 101.6 per 100,000.

Smoking, environmental pollution and the use of pesticides were the main causes of the disease, said Vice Chairman of the Association for Cancer Prevention and Control Nguyen Ba Duc.

The most common cancers were lung, stomach, liver, breast, rectum and cervical cancer, said Duc.

He added communication and education activities had not been strong enough to raise people’s awareness on cancer prevention in Viet Nam, a factor that had contributed to the rising rate of cancer in the country.

A recent survey carried out in 12 provinces and cities showed that only 35 per cent of the more than 12,000 surveyed people knew the correct answers to cancer-related questions.

Most people held the erroneous view that cancer was an untreatable disease.

Director of the Viet Nam National Cancer Hospital Bui Dieu said about one-third of the patients could be potentially treated if their cancer was discovered at an early stage, but most Vietnamese patients did not have frequent health check ups.

Chairman of the HCM City Cancer Prevention Association Nguyen Chan Hung said modern medical technologies could prolong the lives of people with cancer.

World Health Organis-ation Representative Dr Jean-Marc Olive said that in the coming time, cancer prevention and control programmes should be integrated into the national diseases prevention programme.

Human resources and medical facilities to treat cancer should be strengthened and upgraded along with services to meet the demands of patients, he said.

Health experts recommend people have regular health check-ups and reduce high-risk behaviour such as smoking and eating fastfood.

Source: VNS

Children with cancer paint with hope

A special picture, completed by famous painter Tran Nhat Thang and various children suffering from cancer in the Tumor Department of the National Pediatrics Hospital, will be sold at an auction for charity on the occasion of Children’s Cancer Day on November 1.

The 1.2m-wide, 2.4m-long picture, completed on Tuesday, is from one of programmed organized by the Chap Canh Uoc Mo (Making Dreams Come True) Volunteer Group, with the aim of giving children with cancer a chance to express their hopes and dreams.

The children are encouraged to come to the public room in the hospital, where they are provided with colour pencils and paper to draw until their hearts are content.

Five-year-old Anh, from the northern province of Bac Ninh, always arrives early to the room. Like the others, the little girl is being given a water transfusion, but the pain caused by the needle does not prevent her from drawing. Anh, who has been fighting a tumour in her lung for three years, still moves her right hand over the papers while the other is being injected.

“When my daughter was not undergoing treatment, she really liked going to the village’s kindergarten in front of our house to play with the otherchildren. But after being called a ‘bald girl’, she now refuses to go back,” Anh’s father says while his eyes brim with tears.

Another “small artist” of the picture is five-year-old Hien, from Thai Binh Province, who was sent to this hospital just last week. Sitting silently inside her mother’s arms, the girl, with concentration, colours in an image of a parrot in a book for kindergartenchildren.

Hien was diagnosed as having acute white blood cell disease and she often runs a high fever that weakens her a lot. But drawing seems to free her from her pain, if only temporarily.

When asked to go back to her room to rest, the girl refuses and keeps on drawing an incomplete picture, featuring the shining sun, some flowers and a heart that she calls “The Sun’s Heart”.

Aside from the pictures by Anh and Hien, those drawn by other children have also been joined together and put into a larger picture by painter Tran Nhat Thang.

Images that appear the most in this special picture are children’s hands, houses and flowers, all of which express the children’s simple wishes of a happy home full of flowers.

“I have painted the picture’s background and arranged the children’s smaller pieces in a way that they will all be prominently featured in the work that I am calling, Nhung Ban Tay Hoa (Flower Hands),” says Thang.

The meaningful picture will head for auction at HCM City’s Ngay Hoi Hoa Huong Duong (Sunflower Festival) tomorrow, and proceeds of this auction will go to these “young artists” in an effort to give them more strength to fight against cancer.

VietNamNet/VNS

Doctors accused of illegally profiting off cancer treatment

Doctors at a Hanoi hospital have been accused of cashing in by forcing cancer patients to use expensive equipment rather than the facilities their insurance policies allow them to use for free.

In 2000, K Hospital, or the National Cancer Institute, bought radiation equipment for US$1.4 million and has spent around $60,000 a year since then on its maintenance.

The public hospital now offers treatment for an average of 150 cancer patients per day and state insurance holders don't have to pay to use the equipment.

But as demand grew in 2006, the hospital cooperated with the Cancer Medical Equipment JSC to invest in more radiation equipment. All patients have to pay to use the joint venture's equipment, even holders of state insurance policies.

Recently, several patients reported that the hospital has claimed that the free equipment was broken, thus sending the sick to use the facilities they must pay for out of their own pocket.

The situation has drawn the ire of one of the doctors at the hospital, who wished to remain anonymous. He said he suspected it was a scheme in which medical workers were colluding to make commissions off the pay-only equipment.

"Why has the hospital equipment been broken down continuously when it has also been under maintenance for billions of dong a year?" he asked.

A patient from Nam Dinh Province undergoing treatment for breast cancer at the hospital, said she used to use the hospital's normal equipment for free. But she now complained of the high fees she had to pay for the joint venture's equipment.

Several other patients have made similar complaints.

Breakdowns

The hospital radiation equipment began to break down regularly once the Cancer Medical Equipment company's facilities were installed. The normal equipment broke down 127 times in 2007, according to hospital records.

A hospital technician said the machines had errors regularly and that repairs often took up to a week.

However, a breakdown in 2008 reportedly forced it out of operation for several months before resuming early this year.

In 2009, the device broke down several times, and the number of

Kbeing treated with it reduced from 150 patients to 80 patients a day. State insurance holders who have no choice other than to use the venture's equipment are now charged around VND13 million ($760) per treatment.

Kickbacks

Ministry of Health inspectors recently inspected the hospital after several complaints from patients.

The ministry said there was no evidence of doctors forcing patients to use the expensive equipment.

However, Thanh Nien reporters found doctors had received money from the Cancer Medical Equipment JSC and couldn't explain why.

According to the agreement between both sides, the hospital and the company split the fees from the equipment 30-70, respectively.

However, Thanh Nien obtained documents showing the company had in turn paid doctors 10 percent from its 70 percent as a kickback. The documents even noted the 10 percent as commission for assigning patients to use the Cancer Medical Equipment devices.

In April this year, the company collected more than VND774 million in fees from the devices and had to pay the hospital doctors VND77 million. The doctors' commission was VND82 million in total in May alone.

Le Duc Thang, director of the Cancer Medical Equipment JSC, said the company's accountant had mistakenly noted the money as "commission for assigning patients."

He said it was actually overtime pay for the doctors.

But the documents had noted payment for extra-hours in a section separate from the commission records.

Thang again blamed the accountant when asked by Thanh Nien to explain the two different payments.

The paper's investigation also found the commissions had been paid since 2006 when the equipment began operating. Many shareholders of the Cancer Medical Equipment JSC have also asked questions about this payment.

In a notice to its shareholders, the company said that after consulting with the hospital it had decided that the doctors fees would be reduced to VND50,000 per each patient treated with the device from September in 2007.

However, the fees then increased to 10 percent again in 2008.

Thanh also said payment for extra-hours had been transferred directly to doctors' bank accounts.

He also said the company was currently paying the doctors VND22,000 per patient for "overtime."

However, Thanh Nien found some doctors had collected up to VND15 million a month for overtime.

Dr. Dang The Can, K Hospital's vice director, said Wednesday the hospital was not aware of any payment for doctors' overtime, but said that [the overtime payment] was "a big amount."

He also admitted that some doctors had contributed their own funds to invest in the venture's equipment.

Cancer top threat to human life: Ministry

Photo: Chuck Kuhn Photography

VietNamNet Bridge - Nearly 200,000 Vietnamese will contract cancer and 100,000 will die of the disease during this and next year, making it the biggest threat to public health, among non-contagious diseases, warned the Ministry of Health.

The warning was annouced at a meeting in Hanoi on July 8 to review one year of implementing the national goals on cancer prevention and treatment and to discuss plans for 2009-2010.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Xuyen said at that the project was first started in 2008 to promote cancer prevention and treatment at local medical centres to gradually reduce mortality rates and improve the living conditions of cancer patients.

The Deputy Director of the Tumours and Cancers Hospital Dr. Tran Van Thuan said that recent surveys have shown poor public awareness of the disease as well as obsolete technical infrastructure at major hospitals in all 63 provinces and cities.

Out of 12,050 people surveyed in 12 provinces and cities, only 35 percent gave the correct answers. 67.2 percent said cancer is incurable so early or late diagnosis doesn’t make any difference, and 35.8 percent believed that surgery makes cancer grow faster and actually hastesn a patient’s death.

Nine out of 63 major hospitals at the provincial level in the survey have not yet set up a department of oncology and 10 others have refused to treat cancer patients at all.

This is a major cause of the increasing number of cancer patients, and deaths, in Vietnam, he emphasised.

To cope with the problem, the project is designed to help all pilot provinces and cities to launch information and education campaigns to raise public awareness of the disease at a local level.

It has also set a target of providing medical check-ups for the early diagnosis of breast and uterine cancers for 50,000 women in the high-risk age group. Surveys on cancer at communal level will be conducted in the central city of Danang and the southern province of Kien Giang .

Over the past year, the project has helped to set up five additional tumour and cancer departments at hospitals in five provinces, four in the north and one in the central region.

In addition, over 31,500 women in the high risk age group between 30 and 54 have undergone medical check-ups for breast and uterine cancers.

The project has also helped to set up a model of community-based medical treatments for cancer patients in a critical condition in Hanoi and the central province of Thua Thien-Hue . The Cancer and Tumour Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City has opened a department to manage pain and track the development of cancers under the project.

Breast and uterine cancers affected 27.3 women out of every 100,000 people in the north and 17.1 of every 100,000 in the south.

For men, lung and stomach cancers are the biggest threat.

VNN/VNS

Little Girl needs help

A father named Hung doesn’t sleep at night anymore. His daughter, named Ha, is suffering from hypogastrium cancer. She may only have a few more months to live. Medical expenses are far beyond what the family can afford. Their most valuable asset is a tiny, old house.

Ho Van Hung and his daughter at the Central Pediatrics Hospital.

Ho Van Hung, from Dien Kim, Dien Chau, Nghe An, is 33 years old. But people might think he is more than 40 because a hard life has left many wrinkles on his face.

A few weeks ago, Hung took his daughter to the Central Pediatrics Hospital. He was worried but hopeful. But he has had to bring his child back home in pain. The father feels helpless knowing that his little girl might be leaving him and his family forever, and he doesn't know what to do to prevent it.

Hung said his family discovered baby Ha was sick a few months ago. One day when she was playing with her grandmother and little sister, Ha's grandmother happened to touch her tummy and felt a hard lump. She was brought to a district-level hospital. Doctors there told the family to take the child to the provincial hospital.

At the provincial hospital, Ha was diagnosed as having a tumour in her stomach and they conducted an operation to cut out the growth. As the tumour was big (as big as an egg), they sent it to the Poland Hospital in Nghe An for testing. The results suggested it was only a benign tumor.

One month later, Ha often cried due to stomach pain, for the lump had returned, and soon her left leg became swollen. The family took her back to the hospital. This time they were advised to go to the Central Pediatrics Hospital in Hanoi.

The day Hung took their daughter to Hanoi, his wife had no more tears to cry. She couldn't go with them to take care of Ha herself, as she needed to take care of the two other children (a five- and a one-and-a-half year old) as well as their elderly parents.

Till that day, no member of the family had ever left Nghe An. Every day, they had earned around VND30,000 ($8-9) from producing salt. They borrowed VND10 million ($590) from relatives and neighbours to take Ha to Hanoi.

Doctors at the Central Pediatrics Hospital diagnosed Ha with stage-3 hypogastrium cancer. Although it had not yet metastasised, it was still very dangerous. This form of cancer is very rare and often hospitals cannot help. The possibility of being cured from hypogastrium cancer is quite low, about 30% according to international medical research.

Another disadvantage in Ha's case is that her reaction to chemotherapy was unclear, meaning that even if the treatment is continued, the doctors are not confident if that would help, notwithstanding the potential side-effects of chemotherapy: high fever, bad infection, or worse, hemorrhaging in the brain, lungs, or even death. Moreover, medication is very expensive.

Doctors said without treatment, she might only live for a few more months. As time goes by, the tumour gets bigger and will press down on internal organs; the cancer will likely metastasise to the bones, liver, etc. which will cause Ha considerable pain, as well as urination and bowel movement disorders.

Hung felt like the sky just crashed down on him. All that he had worried about had come true. The painful feeling of being helpless broke him down.

When Ha was in the hospital, he spent as little as possible to save the money he borrowed from friends for Ha's medical expenses. He got Ha a corn on the cob for breakfast, a loaf of bread for lunch, and a VND10,000 ($0.5) dinner. Whatever his daughter didn't eat, that was his meal.

"I ate just enough to take care of her, but that of course is not enough for a man,” he said.

"My wife was planning to ask for a bank loan to cure our daughter, but since I'm the head of the household, the bank required me to be there for the paperwork. I couldn’t leave Ha here, and I couldn’t let my wife come to Hanoi herself to take my place with Ha, she doesn't know the way around.”

He said he was taking Ha back home, but wasn't sure if he would be able to bring her back for treatment.

"It's so hard to decide. If we knew she would be cured, we would definitely sell our house. But the doctors said her chance to live is so slim, if we sold everything, what if we'd ended up losing her, losing our house and can't take care of our other children?"

Tears ran down the broken-hearted father's cheeks. He pulled his little girl into his arms and cried.

"Raising her this long, this much, how can I let her go? But what else can we do now? It's all up to fate."

Holding Ha in one arm, a duffle bag with all of their clothes in the other, he was leaving for the bus to go back to Nghe An. At home, Ha's mother, her sister and brother, her grandparents are waiting.

Readers who would like to help out Ha and her family, please contact Mr. Ho Van Hung at: Team 1, Kim Lien village, Dien Kim commune, Dien Chau district, the central province of Nghe An; Tel: 84-01696651273.

VietNamNet/VNE

Burning incense linked to respiratory cancers

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Burning incense may create a sweet scent, but regularly inhaling the smoke could put people at risk of cancers of the respiratory tract, researchers reported Monday.
In a study of more than 61,000 ethnic Chinese living in Singapore who were followed for up to 12 years, the investigators found a link between heavy incense use and various respiratory cancers.
The findings are published in the medical journal Cancer.
Incense has been used for millennia in many cultures' religious and spiritual ceremonies. In Asia, people commonly burn incense in their homes -- a practice that is becoming more popular in Western countries as well.
Incense is usually derived from fragrant plant materials, like tree bark, resins, roots, flowers and essential oils. Past research has found that burning these materials can produce potentially cancer-causing substances, including benzene and polyaromatic hydrocarbons.
However, no studies until now had linked the practice of burning incense to an increased cancer risk over time, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Jeppe T. Friborg of the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen.
For their study, the researchers followed 61,320 Singapore Chinese men and women between the ages of 45 and 74 from the Hokkien or Cantonese dialect group. All of the subjects were cancer-free at the outset.
Participants reported on their typical incense use, including how often they burned it in their homes and for how long -- only at night, for instance, or all day and night.
Over the next 12 years, 325 men and women developed cancer of the upper respiratory tract, such as nasal, oral or throat cancer. Another 821 developed lung cancer. Continued...


more info-->>Burning incense linked to respiratory cancers Health Reuters

Cutting- Edge Technology at Bangkok Hospital Offers Hope to Patients With Tumors

Until recently, patients with inoperable tumors had little recourse to improve their conditions. But Bangkok Hospital Medical Center now offers advanced technology that literally provides a ray of hope.
(I-Newswire) - Bangkok, Thailand ( NetSweets ) June 30, 2008 – Patients with brain tumors for decades have had limited options for treatment, but the latest cutting-edge technology at the Bangkok Hospital Medical Center now offers hope.Previously, many patients could not be treated with radiotherapy because their tumors were too close to critical brain structures. Bangkok Hospital Medical Center ( BMC ) has acquired Novalis technology that involves shaped-beam radiation surgery, meaning many of these tumors can now be treated.Novalis shapes the radiation beams to match the exact shape of the tumor or lesion. The result is the tumor or lesion receives its prescribed dose of radiation, while avoiding critical tissues and organs. The primary advantages of stereotactic radiosurgery are its precision and minimal risk. Equipped with highly sophisticated computer-based imaging techniques, Novalis delivers the radiation beam with high precision and produces a sharp radiation dose gradient at the tumor and normal tissue boundary.It is the most clinically advanced cancer treatment option for patients often considered to have inoperable tumors,” says Jason Chandler, Novalis’ national sales manager.The Novalis procedure is non-invasive, painless and eliminates the risks associated with major surgery. Many patients are able to have shaped-beam surgery as a day treatment procedure.The actual treatment session typically takes less than 30 minutes. This involves the movement of the Novalis machine around the head or body as the focused beams converge on the target. Multiple radiation beams radiate the tumor from different angles. The invisible radiation is not felt at all.Novalis technology was initially used to treat tumors and lesions in the brain, head and neck. The latest upgrades have increased the accuracy and reliability, allowing its use on inoperable tumors in the spine, lungs, liver, breast, prostate and other areas in the body.Novaris may be the treatment of choice for patients whose doctors cannot perform traditional surgery because of the increased risk of harming critical structures inside the brain, BMC says. According to the Bangkok Hospital Medical Center, the latest cutting-edge technology gives patients a fighting chance to overcome their illnesses and a better quality of life after treatment.

Agent orange town

THE Australian Army tested chemical weapons on a town which now has deaths from cancer 10 times the state average.
Military scientists sprayed the toxic defoliant Agent Orange in the jungle that is part of the water catchment area for Innisfail in Queensland's far north at the start of the Vietnam War.
The Sun-Herald last week found the site where military scientists tested Agent Orange in 1966. It is on a ridge little more 100 metres above the Johnstone River, which supplies the drinking water for Innisfail.
Forty years later the site - which abuts farmer Alan Wakeham's land - is still bare, covered only in tough Guinea grass, but surrounded by thick jungle.
"It's strange how the jungle comes right up to this site and then just stops. It won't grow any further," Mr Wakeham said.
Agent Orange was sprayed extensively in Vietnam to defoliate the jungle and remove cover for North Vietnamese troops. It contains chemicals including the dioxin TCDD, which causes forms of cancer, birth defects and other health problems.
Researcher Jean Williams found details of the secret Innisfail tests in the Australian War Memorial archives.
"These tests carried out between 1964 and 1966 were the first tests of Agent Orange and they were carried out at Gregory Falls near Innisfail," said Ms Williams, who has been awarded the Order of Australia Medal for her work on the effects of chemicals on Vietnam veterans.
"I was told there is a high rate of cancer there but no one can understand why. Perhaps now they will understand."
Ms Williams unearthed three boxes of damning files.
One file showed the chemicals 2,4-D, Diquat, Tordon and dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) were sprayed on the rainforest in the Gregory Falls area in June 1966.
The file carried the remarks: "Considered sensitive because report recommends use of 2,4-D with other agents in aerial spraying trials in Innisfail."
Ms Williams said: "It was considered sensitive because they were mixing together all the bad chemicals, which just made them worse. They cause all the cancers."
Ms Williams claims a file which could indicate much wider testing in a project called Operation Desert had gone missing. The contents were marked "too disturbing to ever be released".
"Those chemicals stay in the soil for years and every time there is a storm they are stirred up and go into the water supply," Ms Williams said.
"The poor people of Innisfail have been kept in the dark about this. But these chemicals cause cancer and deformities that are passed on for generations. It is shocking. I am just an 83-year-old war-weary battler. I don't want any more medals, I just want justice for the people of Innisfail."
read more-->>Agent orange town - National - smh.com.au