A Compelling Reason
Why John Gofman is Correct
in
Identifying Medical X-rays
as a Major Cause of Cancer
Copyright 2001 by Darrell Stoddard
The January 2000 Lancet article, summarized below,
presents credible evidence that medical X-rays are a major cause
of cancer. This reaffirms John Gofman's monumental study linking cancer
to medical X-rays. See Better
Than a Cure for Breast Cancer (http://www.healpain.net
) for a review of the most thoroughly validated and comprehensive cancer
study of the last century.
Never does Gofman say X-rays should
not be used, especially exams with digital mammography instruments that have
reduced radiation exposure by a factor of more than 10 times. Gofman
cites this reduction as the model for what should be done, but has not yet
occurred with other X-ray instruments and tests. One CT scan exposes
the patient to as much radiation as 5 to 25 mammograms. One fluoroscopy exam (a common
X-ray test where the beam stays on) may expose the patient to as much or more radiation than
250 mammograms.
There are 700,000 fluoroscopy exams each year in the U.S.
If with low-dose mammography
(see Lancet article below), the total number of deaths per
thousand women screened is increased by six for each breast cancer death
avoided, what does this suggest for X-ray examinations that may expose patients
to 250 times as much radiation as mammography? Answer: One
death for every 16 such examinations, or in the U.S., 43,680 excess deaths
each year from fluoroscopy examinations alone. The number of deaths
could be more than this or less, but the total is significant - even momentous,
when this is radiation that could be easily reduced by 50% or more, with
no loss of information and no reduction in the quality of health care. (Calculation
based on the maximum total radiation exposure of 24 low dose mammograms,
2 each year for 12 years; compared to exposure of one lower dose fluoroscopy
examination and 700,000 such exams in the U.S. each year. In practice,
the exposure difference between 24 mamograms and one fluoroscopy exam is
often 2 times as great as this calculation.)
Reducing X-ray exposure and
smoking cessation are by far the most important measures that can be taken
to save people from heart disease and cancer! It costs nothing to do
either. (For more information see Lancet article
below or Better than a Cure for Breast Cancer on this website)
Footnote: The magnitude of deaths caused
from tobacco use, is revealed in a recent address by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland,
Director General of the World Health Organization -- "The current annual
toll of 4 million tobacco deaths world-wide will rise to10 million each year
by 2030.... tobacco is set to be the biggest killer of them all -- causing
more deaths than both malaria, HIV/AIDS, and TB together."
(These death estimates are world wide. The death estimates given for
medical X-rays are only for the United States.)
Summary from Jan. 2000 Lancet article
Is Screening for Breast
Cancer
with Mammography Justifiable?
(Includes an analysis of all eight
identified Breast Cancer Mammography Trials)
by Peter C Gtzsche, Ole Olsen
"Background
A 1999 study found no decrease in breast-cancer mortality in Sweden, where
screening has been recommended since 1985. We therefore reviewed the methodological
quality of the mammography trials and an influential Swedish meta-analysis,
and did a meta-analysis ourselves.
Methods
We searched the Cochrane Library for trials and asked the investigators for
further details. Meta-analyses were done with Review Manager (version 4.0).
Findings
Baseline imbalances were shown for six of the eight identified trials, and
inconsistencies in the number of women randomised were found in four.
The two adequately randomised trials found no effect of screening on breast-cancer
mortality (pooled relative risk 104 [95% CI 084-127]) or on total mortality
(099 [094-105]). The pooled relative risk for breast-cancer mortality
for the other trials was 075 (067-083), which was significantly different
(p=0005) from that for the unbiased trials. The Swedish meta-analysis
showed a decrease in breast-cancer mortality but also an increase in total
mortality (106 [104-108]); this increase disappeared after adjustment for
an imbalance in age.
Interpretation
Screening for breast cancer with mammography is unjustified. If the
Swedish trials are judged to be unbiased, the data show that for every 1000 women screened biennially throughout 12 years, one breast-cancer
death is avoided whereas the total number of deaths is increased by six.
If the Swedish trials (apart from the Malm trial) are judged
to be biased, there is no reliable evidence that screening decreases breast-cancer
mortality."
Lancet 2000; 355: 129-34
Footnote: To appreciate the importance
of the Lancet article on breast cancer and mammography, it needs to
be pointed out that Lancet is one of the most conservative
and respected medical journals in the world. The editors of Lancet
would not have published the study if they did not believe the conclusions
were valid. A previous breast cancer study concluded the benefit of
mammography screening exceeded the risk only for women between 50 and 65
years of age. The new Lancet study analyzed that data, plus
all previous risk/benefit mammography studies and concluded, "there is no reliable evidence
that screening decreases breast-cancer mortality." (We assume
this means at any age.)
Thomas Kuhn, in his book The Structure
of Scientific Revolutions, refers to this kind of a shift in science,
as a "paradigm discovery" - a theory that replaces previously held
beliefs, usually with much resistance.
The above page
linking Cancer to medical X-rays is from The Pain Research Institute
and the Lancet Medical Journal.
For more information about paradigm discoveries in cancer research,
and the cause and treatment of pain, click on the homepage link at
the bottom of the page.
Darrell J. Stoddard, Founder - Pain
Research Institute
266 East 3200 North Provo, UT 84604 U.S.A.
Phone: 801-377-3891
E-mail: stoddard@healpain.net
Website: http://www.healpain.net
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of the Pain Research Institute