by Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer
Medical Anthropologists
Institute for the Study of Culturogenic Disease
Pahoa, Hawaii
I must share something with you. I hate breast cancer awareness month.
Every year the American Cancer Society and the Susan G. Komen Foundation come begging the public for more money by frightening women with thoughts of breast cancer. The goal is to drum up more business – encouraging women to get more cancer-causing mammograms and to donate more money for research into drugs to “prevent” and cure this terrible disease.
These organizations are like parasites feeding off of human fear. They make billions of dollars treating breast disease. The goal of the “pink ribbon” campaign is to make women seek medical care, not to end this lucrative disease.
Of course, its natural for a business to promote itself. But when it comes to healthcare, there is a conflict of interest between the treatment and prevention of disease. Treatment is profitable, while prevention means lost treatment revenue.
Our research linking breast cancer and bras shows the way to prevent this disease. Breasts are designed by nature to be healthy organs. But our culture interferes with breast circulation by almost forcing women into bras, which apply constant pressure to the soft breast tissue to changes the shape of the breasts to achieve a more culturally-correct shape. This pressure can impair lymphatic drainage from the breasts, since the thin, microscopic lymphatic vessels within the breast tissue are easily compressed and hampered in their transport of lymph fluid out of the breasts and towards the lymph nodes.
Lymph nodes are essential parts of the immune system. They filter the lymph and if they detect cancer cells, bacteria, or viruses they produce white blood cells to fight the infection or cancer. The lymphatic system is the circulatory pathway for the immune system, bringing the lymph fluid to the lymph nodes. Eventually, this fluid reenters the bloodstream.
Most of the breast lymph drains to the armpit lymph nodes. When compression and constriction from a bra impairs the lymphatic flow between the breasts and the lymph nodes, the fluid backs up, resulting in pain as the pressure within the tissues increases from this excess fluid. Eventually, the fluid collects into pockets, or cysts. Many women have these cysts, some requiring needle aspirations to remove the fluid. Over time, the cysts become filled with scar tissue, becoming fibrous.
This is how fibrocystic breast disease is created. It should be called “Tight Bra Syndrome”.
Of course, the stagnation of lymphatic circulation within the breast tissue increases the toxicity of the tissues. Waste products from cellular metabolism cannot be adequately flushed away, as the tissue becomes low in oxygen and essential nutrients. In addition, we eat, breathe, and drink toxins, many of which can cause cancer, because of our petrochemically polluted world. These carcinogens are delivered to the tissue by the bloodstream, but are not adequately removed from the breast tissue because of the lymphatic impairment caused by the constricting bra. The ultimate result of this breast toxification is cancer.
Actually, our bodies develop cancer cells all the time. These cancer cells are usually attacked by the immune system. However, the immune system cannot adequately function to protect the breasts when it is impaired by constriction and compression from a tight bra.
That is the model we have been using to explain how bras can lead to breast disease and cancer. It is a testable model. And it also explains the other risk factors for breast cancer, as we explain in our groundbreaking book, Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras (which is now available as an ebook, as well as hard copy.)
Other researchers have suggested the breasts heat up because of the bra, and excessive tissue temperature is associated with cancer. Some have suggested the lack of breast movement caused by a tight bra impairs the natural pumping action needed for proper lymph movement. All these theories need further research.
However, if the American Cancer Society and the Komen Foundation had their way, this issue would be completely ignored. The Komen foundation states on their website: “Although not as well-studied as the factors described above, based on the research to date, the factors below are not likely related to breast cancer risk.
Bras/underwire brasScientific evidence does not support a link between wearing an underwire bra (or any type of bra) and an increased risk of breast cancer. There is no biological reason the two would be linked, and any observed relationship is likely due to other factors. A 1991 case-control study found that premenopausal women who did not wear bras had a lower risk of breast cancer than women who did wear bras. However, the authors stated this link was likely due to factors related to wearing a bra rather than the bra itself. The women in the study who did not wear a bra were more likely to be lean and have small breasts, which the authors concluded might account for the link.” (http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/FactorsThatDoNotIncreaseRisk.html )
Notice that they imply that there is scientific evidence that “does not support the link”. In fact, there is no scientific evidence aside from the one study they report, which DOES show a link. The authors of the study guessed that this link was unimportant, since they were not looking at bras and cancer, per se. They were looking at handedness (right or left handedness) and breast size as a risk factor. They used bra size as an indication of breast size (which is a bad idea since most women wear the wrong size, usually too small), and their discovery that bra-free women had a much lower rate of cancer was outside of their research model. So they tried to explain it away. However, the results showed a link, despite their rationalization. Amazingly, they never followed up on this link.
Then there is our 1991-93 Bra and Breast Cancer Study, described in detail in our book, as well as our follow up study in Fiji, which confirmed the cancer link. All this is ignored by these cancer “experts”.
So when the folks at the Komen Foundation write that scientific evidence does not support the link, they are lying. For them to say “scientific evidence does not support a link”, there must be actual scientific evidence that actually shows there is no link. THERE IS NO SUCH EVIDENCE! And there wont be so long as they influence the direction of breast cancer research.
As for statement that, “there is no biological reason why the two would be linked”, this is also a lie. Bras are known to cause lymphedema, which is why women are advise not to wear tight bras after breast cancer surgery. And lymphedema is known to cause cancer, and has been implicated in the cause of cancer for almost 100 years.
Then there is the American Cancer Society. They make the same argument as the Komen Foundation. See http://www.cancer.org/AboutUs/HowWeHelpYou/bottle-caps-for-chemo And so does another cancer foundation, the Maurer Foundation. See http://www.maurerfoundation.org/can-wearing-a-bra-cause-breast-cancer/3300
All these “experts” and cancer industry fundraisers refuse to look at the bra/cancer link. They all say no evidence supports the link, while ignoring our research and doing spin control on the 1991 Harvard study that also found a link.
Frankly, this is criminal. These organizations, especially the ACS, are government advisers. As a result of their refusal to consider this issue, the National Cancer Institute also refuses to consider it.
Realize that these “experts” are saying that it is ridiculous to even consider the bra a factor in breast cancer. There are numerous studies showing the hazards of wearing bras, including back pain, neck pain, skin depigmentation, digestive problems, nerve impingement affecting the arm and hands, lymphedema, mastitis, and more, and with NO research showing that bras are helpful or beneficial in any way. The bra is a breast corset, designed to reshape the breasts. Corsets are known health hazards. Folks, this is a no brainer, except for the people who stand to lose by this information getting to the women who need it.
Fortunately, women can find out for themselves, on themselves, whether or not their bras have been harming their breasts. Remove the bra for a month, and you will feel the difference. The human female breast was not designed with a flaw that requires 20th Century lingerie to correct. Get rid of the bra, and you will feel the difference.
In fact, this simple way for women to confirm that bras are harming their breasts is why this information has not been completely silenced by the cancer and bra industries. Women know its true if they try this simple self study. Another important factor is the fact that we at the Institute for the Study of Culturogenic Disease are independent researchers. We have no strings to pull, no grants to cancel, no tenure to lose. We can say the truth with no fear of censure. We have spoken with other researchers who rely on grants from drug companies and from organizations like the ACS and Komen Foundation, and they have explained that they will lose their grants and relationship with these funding sources if they look into the bra/cancer link. Indeed, that is the real reason why the ACS and Komen Foundation have made their very unscientific and biased statements against the bra/cancer issue. They are telling researchers that this issue is taboo. If anyone looks into this, they will be blacklisted.
This was also made clear to us when we tried to get public relations firms in New York City and Sydney, Australia to help us with outreach on this issue. The firms we spoke with wanted to help initially, but refused after learning from their drug company clients that helping us was in conflict with their interests. As it was explained to us, the prevention of a disease is in conflict with the treatment of disease.
Its all about making money and profiting from disease. Nobody makes money when women stop wearing bras and regain breast health. There is no product you need to buy. In fact, you need to stop buying certain products. This is anti-business, especially impacting the lingerie and cancer treatment businesses. Not surprisingly, these industries stand lots to lose as this information continues to reach women around the world. (Dressed To Kill recently was translated into Korean, as South Korean women have now accepted Western clothing habits and are wearing bras, with over 80% wearing them 24/7, as breast cancer rates skyrocket!)
As an anthropologist, I find it fascinating to see how the medical industry colludes with other industries that sell harmful products. Medicine looks the other way and refuses to research the product, while profiting from treating diseases caused by the product. Of course, you can find a doctor to say anything you pay him or her to say, so even if someone comes out with research showing a product is a health hazard, there will be other researchers paid to do research showing there is no hazard. That is one of the problems with research these days. Research is used to prove a point, rather than to scientifically, objectively and rigorously test a theory. Science has become a sales tool. You cant trust research when so much money is at stake. Notice how the tobacco industry still insists its product does not cause cancer. They even have studies to “prove” it.
As an anthropologist this may be fascinating. But as a citizen of this culture this is disgusting. Our medical experts are not to be trusted. I have seen this first hand with the way the bra issue is being censored and suppressed. And it is killing women.
The ACS tells us that over 200,000 women will get breast cancer in the US this year alone. Assuming this isnt a lie, that translates into a large market for cancer treatment. At about $100,000 per person for treatment, thats a $20 billion dollar a year industry. This does not include continued treatment after surgery, and funeral expenses. There are also mastectomy bras that the ACS sells. The ACS believes that just because a woman loses her breasts to cancer it shouldn’t stop her from wearing a bra.
People, this has to stop! This is not just medical incompetence. This is a crime against humanity, all of humanity, since entire families suffer when a woman develops breast cancer.
So as October approaches and good intentioned people are led by these wolves to raise more funds for their research, research guaranteed not to ever look at the bra/cancer link, keep in mind that this is the reason why our medical system is not only breaking the bank, but is also causing the breast cancer epidemic.
When you think pink, you should be seeing red.
For more information, go to our website www.KillerCulture.com.