Monsanto's Roundup Linked to Cancer - Again

A brilliant and celebrated inventor, John Franz, gave us an herbicide, Roundup, which has changed the face of agriculture. This herbicide has become the foundation for an entirely novel approach to farming - biotech agriculture - that has expanded rapidly throughout the globe.

Monsanto makes seeds for soy, corn, canola, cotton, alfalfa and sugar beets that are genetically engineered to be tolerant to Roundup. The seeds are marketed in 120 countries. Throughout the world, Roundup is sprayed heavily as a weed killer without fear of damaging the cash crops, which have been engineered to survive the herbicide's effects.

"The change in how agriculture is produced has brought, frankly, a change in the profile of diseases. We've gone from a pretty healthy population to one with a high rate of cancer, birth defects and illnesses seldom seen before."

Roundup seemed, at first, to be the perfect herbicide. It blocks the ESPS synthase enzyme, which prevents the synthesis of amino acids that plants need for growth. Since animals don't have this enzyme, it was initially hypothesized that they would be safe from Roundup's effects.

Unfortunately, Roundup has now been shown to affect much more than the EPSP synthase enzyme. The herbicide has been proven to cause birth defects in vertebrates, including in humans, and it may also be the cause of a fatal kidney disease epidemic.

An increasing number of studies are now linking the herbicide to cancer.

Roundup Linked to Increased Cancer in "Soy Republic"

Roundup is now heavily sprayed in what is known as the "Soy Republic," an area of Latin America larger than the state of California. This region has undergone a profound transformation since genetically modified (GM) crops were first introduced in 1996. Some 125 million acres in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay are now devoted to GM soy production.

Doctors serving these areas have documented an alarming increase in cancers. A group of dedicated physicians formed an organization, Doctors of Fumigated Towns. They held a national conference in August of 2010 in Córdoba, the center of Argentina's soy region. The Department of Medical Sciences of the National University at Córdoba sponsored the conference. An estimated 160 doctors from throughout the country attended.

Dr. Medardo Avila Vazquez, a pediatrician specializing in environmental health, explained his concerns:

"The change in how agriculture is produced has brought, frankly, a change in the profile of diseases. We've gone from a pretty healthy population to one with a high rate of cancer, birth defects and illnesses seldom seen before. What we have complained about for years was confirmed and especially what doctors say about the sprayed towns and areas affected by industrial agriculture. Cancer cases are multiplying as never before in areas with massive use of pesticides."

Dr. Avila Vazquez blamed the biotech agricultural corporations for placing their profits over the public's health:

"The tobacco companies denied the link between smoking and cancer, and took decades to recognize the truth. The biotech and agrochemical corporations are the same as the tobacco industry; they lie and favor business over the health of the population."

It was the health of the population that concerned Dr. Damian Verzeñassi, professor of social and environmental health from the National University at Rosario. In 2010, he began a house-to-house epidemiological study of 65,000 people in Santa Fe, also in Argentina's soy region. He found cancer rates two to four times higher than the national average, with increases in breast, prostate and lung cancers.

Dr. Verzeñassi commented on his findings: "Cancer has skyrocketed in the last fifteen years."

Much the same was found in Chaco, Argentina's poorest province. In 2012, two villages were compared, the heavily sprayed farming village of Avia Terai and the non-sprayed ranching village of Charadai. In the farming village, 31 percent of residents had a family member with cancer while only 3 percent of residents in the ranching village had one.

Carlos Fria lives in Avia Terai. He has complained about glyphosate spraying in close proximity to his home:

"If the wind changes, the agrochemicals come into the house. My uncle just died of cancer. My wife too, passed away from cancer. Now many, many people are dying of cancer. It didn't used to be like that. In my opinion, this has to do with the poison they put on the fields."

Roundup Linked to Lymphoma

Research has also been done in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand investigating possible links between glyphosate, Roundup's active ingredient, and cancer. A large number of studies have focused on glyphosate's possible association with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.


Scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have analyzed studies spanning almost three decades. The IARC is the branch of the World Health Organization that promotes cancer research. Scientists throughout the world with skills in epidemiology, laboratory sciences and biostatistics are brought together to identify the causes of cancer so that preventive measures may be instituted. The agency views cancers as linked, directly or indirectly, to environmental factors.

The research shows that Roundup is linked to a host of cancers in those living in the heavily sprayed regions of Latin America. It has also been linked to B cell lymphoma, and to brain cancer.

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Long-Term Isolation Poses Special Challenges after Stem Cell Transplantation

“The thing I remember most about the weeks after the transplant was that everyone who came in to see me was wearing a mask. I didn’t have to wear one, but they did. Day after day, week after week, all I saw of the people I loved was the little rectangle of their faces — eyes and forehead — that the mask did not cover. Everyone who touched me was wearing gloves, and I grew to miss that, too, the feel of holding (my partner’s) hand, the touch of my sisters’ and friends’ lips on my cheek.”

In this quote from her 2014 memoir, Everybody’s Got Something, morning news show veteran Robin Roberts crystallized the sense of disconnection ubiquitous among stem cell and bone marrow transplant, or BMT, patients. Ms. Roberts — who anchors ABC’s Good Morning America — received a stem cell transplant at Memorial Sloan Kettering in the fall of 2012 to treat the life-threatening bone marrow disorder myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

For the hundreds of adults who undergo stem cell or bone marrow transplants each year at MSK, mostly for blood cancers, Ms. Roberts’ book relates a familiar experience. Beyond the physical difficulties of the treatment itself, this type of transplantation requires prolonged isolation from everyday life, adding emotional challenges to an already steep recovery.

“With any diagnosis that threatens your life, even for patients with the greatest amount of support, there may be a sense of aloneness at different points in the illness and treatment experience,” says MSK social worker Margery Davis, who works with patients on the Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service. “For transplant patients, there’s also a physical isolation and restrictive lifestyle imposed by the treatment that’s very different from other experiences.”

Creating Comfort during the Hospital Stay

During hospitalization, which frequently ranges from two to six weeks, it’s paramount to keep bacteria, viruses, and fungi from infecting BMT patients — particularly for those receiving a donor-derived, or allogeneic, transplant, whose immune systems are being entirely rebuilt as these “foreign” cells engraft in their bone marrow. That’s why all visitors, along with medical staff, bear the rectangular visage of masks and don gloves, as Ms. Roberts poignantly describes. It’s only after patients’ blood counts begin to rise again that they’re even allowed out of their hospital room to walk the halls.

This isolation doesn’t have to equal solitary confinement, since a small circle of family and friends can spend time with BMT patients both in the hospital and at home in the first months after discharge. Instead, the separation stems from being deprived of normal sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches along with regular patterns of socializing, working, shopping, and moving about.

“People generally feel well taken care of here, so I wouldn’t say the isolation is only because of the environment and the masks and gloves,” Ms. Davis says. “I think the room isolation contributes to feeling disconnected at times. It’s hard to cope being in a room that represents their illness and treatment 24-7.”


To compensate, some patients outfit their space for the long haul with homey touches such as comforters, photographs, and simple wall hangings, says Ann Jakubowski, a physician on MSK’s Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Outpatient Unit. They can also shun hospital gowns and wear their own leisure clothes during much of their stay.

Making Adjustments at Home

Psychologically, a far more vulnerable time for most BMT patients is the 100 or so days after they leave the hospital, according to Dr. Jakubowski and Ms. Davis. At home, a multitude of adjustments await, all to minimize germs: Dirt and dust are enemies. Many foods are discouraged. No taking mass transit, no eating out, no venturing into crowds. Visitors must be limited and screened to make sure they’re not sick. Even the family pet — because it may carry bacteria or other infectious organisms — might have to temporarily live elsewhere.

“For some people, their dog is like their baby, especially for those who don’t have kids,” Dr. Jakubowski says. “It’s really hard on them. There are a lot of rules and recommendations they are given while their immune system is suppressed…all trying to protect them.”

Unless they’re able to work from home, many patients must also leave their jobs for at least three months, which can add to the mounting financial strain of treatment. Some people also experience the long separation from work as a blow to their identity. Creating structure around these home-based months — when patients are encouraged to limit outside activities to only frequent follow-up medical visits — is key. Quiet routines that include bathing, exercise, reading, and light household chores such as folding laundry can help focus patients during seemingly endless days.

“I think the slow recovery is very hard for people to sit with,” Ms. Davis says. “People need to get back to work for financial reasons, but also for purpose and meaning in their life. They need to create a structure for themselves without being able to work.”

Strategies for Recovery

To smooth recovery psychologically and physically during isolation, Dr. Jakubowski and Ms. Davis offer the following advice. These tips may be helpful not only to patients who have undergone BMTs but also to those whose immune systems may be compromised due to chemotherapy or other cancer treatments.

Keep active.

Yes, your energy is limited, and you can’t hit the gym. But while you’re hospitalized, get out of bed at least twice a day, if possible, and do the exercises hospital staff members recommend, which reduce the risk of infection and help maintain muscle tone. At home, short treks outside (away from crowds) help build endurance, and wisely selected video fitness games such as tennis, basketball, or bowling offer a surprisingly effective workout. “It’s about keeping a positive perspective and moving forward as opposed to being in a sick mode,” Dr. Jakubowski says.

Stay connected.

Virtual connections — through email, Skype, and social media outlets such as Facebook — can fill the void while face-to-face contact is scarce. MSK offers the online community Connections for patients and caregivers to give and receive support. Just be careful about chat rooms and websites operating without oversight from a major health organization, Dr. Jakubowski says, since information may be misleading or wrong.

“With the Internet, it’s easier to keep some connection with other people,” she says. “You can see and hear them in ways that wouldn’t have been possible ten or 15 years ago. And in terms of being able to talk to your kids while you’re in the hospital, or talk to your friends, being able to use Skype is huge.”

Take a taste.

The chemotherapy and radiation typical before stem cell transplantation, as well as some of the medications needed to protect the transplant patient, temporarily affect many patients’ sense of smell and taste, lowering appetite and causing varying degrees of weight loss. Despite your aversion, “keep trying tastes of everything — salty, sweet, and different textures — to see what works right now,” Dr. Jakubowski suggests.

Focus on the end game.

Set small, short-term goals such as attending a social event (with your doctor’s blessing) so you have something to look forward to. “It’s a relief to go even to the grocery store,” Ms. Davis says. “It’s a sign you’re moving toward recovery, toward normal life.”

But don’t do too much, too soon, even if you’re feeling stronger, Dr. Jakubowski warns. “Some patients live by the rules…and others feel very cheated that things aren’t normal. It’s maybe a year of your life, but if it’s what it takes to save your life, try to hang in there.”

Set expectations.

Appoint a “spokesperson” who can keep others in the loop about your transplant and recovery. This person can also help set expectations for your at-home healing period. “Patients say that everyone expects them to do everything they did before, but just because you’re home doesn’t mean you’re back to normal,” Ms. Davis says. “It’s a very high-risk phase, and I think a sense of isolation comes when people have a different schedule for you to get back to normal than the real schedule.”

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Hope for blind as scientists find stem cell reservoir in human eye

Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered stem cells in the human eye which can be transformed into light sensitive cells and potentially reverse blindness

Hundreds of thousands of people who are registered blind have been offered new hope after scientists discovered special stem cells in the human eye which can be altered to pick up light.

Researchers at the University of Southampton have discovered a reservoir of stem cells in an area of the eye called the corneal limbus.

And they have proven that, in the right environment, they can be transformed into photo-receptor cells which react to light.

Scientists are hopeful that implanting the cultured stem cells in a damaged eye could reverse blindness.


It could offer a potential cure for the hundreds of thousands of people suffering macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa, which are both caused by the loss of photo-receptor cells in the eye.

And researchers were amazed to find that the cells even existed in the eyes of a 97-year-old, opening up the possibility that the treatment could work for the elderly.

“These cells are readily accessible, and they have surprising plasticity, which makes them an attractive cell resource for future therapies,” said Professor Andrew Lotery, of the University of Southampton and a Consultant Ophthalmologist at Southampton General Hospital led the study.

“This would help avoid complications with rejection or contamination because the cells taken from the eye would be returned to the same patient.

“More research is now needed to develop this approach before these cells are used in patients.”

The loss of photoreceptors cells causes irreversible blindness.

Age related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the developed world which affects around one in three people in the UK by age 75.

Around 513,000 people are in the late stage of AMD and that figure is set to rise by one-third over the next decade, totalling nearly 700,000 cases by 2020.

Almost two million people in the UK are living with sight loss, approximately one person in 30.

It is predicted that by 2020 the number of people with sight loss will rise to over 2,250,000. By 2050, the number of people with sight loss in the UK will double to nearly four million.

There is currently no treatment for blindness caused by the loss of photo-receptors.

So far scientists have only shown that the concept works in the lab and are yet to implant them in a human patient. But they are hopeful that the cells could be taken from a patient, grown in the lab and transplanted back into the eye. Clinical trials should begin within five years.

Charities are optimistic that it could herald a brighter future for people with sight loss.

Clara Eaglen, RNIB Eye Health Campaigns Manager, said: "At RNIB we talk to people everyday who tell us about the huge impact that losing their sight has on daily life, so this is very interesting research.

"The study shows that you can grow stem cells and make them act like light sensitive cells, a big step forward in helping patients with conditions such as age-related macular degeneration where damage has occurred to the light sensitive cells.

"These cells can then be taken from a patient, changed, and replaced - reducing the risk of rejection which is exciting.

"We are hopeful that stem cell technology will significantly change the way in which people with sight loss are treated over the next decade."


The research was published in the journal PLOS One.

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The promise of stem cell therapies is closer to reality

Edgar Irastorza was just 31 when his heart stopped beating in October 2008.

A Miami property manager, break-dancer and former high school wrestler, Irastorza had recently gained weight as his wife’s third pregnancy progressed.

“I kind of got pregnant, too,” he said.

During a workout one day, he felt short of breath and insisted that friends rush him to the hospital. Minutes later, his pulse flatlined.

He survived the heart attack, but the scar tissue that resulted cut his heart’s pumping ability by a third. He couldn’t pick up his children. He couldn’t dance. He fell asleep every night wondering if he would wake up in the morning.

Desperation motivated Irastorza to volunteer for a highly unusual medical research trial: getting stem cells injected directly into his heart.

“I just trusted my doctors and the science behind it, and said, ‘This is my only chance,’ ” he said recently.

Over the last five years, by studying stem cells in lab dishes, test animals and intrepid patients like Irastorza, researchers have brought the vague, grandiose promises of stem cell therapies closer to reality.

Stem cells broke into the public consciousness in the early 1990s, alluring for their potential to help the body beat back diseases of degeneration like Alzheimer’s, and to grow new parts to treat conditions like spinal cord injuries.

Progress has been slow. But researchers have been learning how to best use stem cells, what types to use and how to deliver them to the body — findings that are not singularly transformational, but progressive and pragmatic.

As many as 4,500 clinical trials involving stem cells are underway in the United States to treat patients with heart disease, blindness, Parkinson’s, HIV, diabetes, blood cancers and spinal cord injuries, among other conditions.

Initial studies suggest that stem cell therapy can be delivered safely, said Dr. Ellen Feigal, senior vice president of research and development at the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, the state stem cell agency, which has awarded more than $2 billion toward stem cell research since 2006 and is enrolling patients in 10 clinical trials this year.

But enthusiasm for stem cells sometimes outstrips the science. When Gov. Rick Perry of Texas had adult stem cells injected into his spine in 2011 for a back injury, his surgeon had never tried the procedure and had no data to support the experiment.

A June review in The New England Journal of Medicine found that “platelet-rich plasma” stem cell therapies praised by a number of athletes worked no better than placebos.

Such public chatter may imply that stem cell research is further advanced than it is, said Dr. Charles Murry, a co-director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington.

Slick websites advertising stem cell therapies leave the impression that such treatments are ready to use and that “the only problem is the evil physicians and government, who want to separate people from lifesaving therapies,” said Murry, a cardiovascular pathologist. “Almost every one of these places are charlatans.”

In fact, very few therapies beyond bone marrow transplants have been shown to be effective, he said.

And still to be determined is the most cost-effective way to deliver stem cells.

Scientists presumed, for instance, that a patient’s heart would repair itself better when injected with its own stem cells. But the study that Irastorza volunteered for at the University of Miami showed that patients fared just as well with someone else’s stem cells, and their bodies did not mount an immune attack against the cells.

If supported by further studies, this means that future patients won’t need immune suppressants, and that stem cells can be made in large batches — and therefore more cheaply.

Treatment for Irastorza, who received his own cells, began with the withdrawing of some of his bone marrow. Researchers took adult cells believed to be stem cells from the marrow and then inserted them through a catheter directly into Irastorza’s heart.

About a third of his left ventricle had been destroyed by his heart attack, which was attributed to a hereditary cholesterol problem. It’s impossible to know for sure whether the bone marrow cells’ descendants became heart muscle cells or if repairs were spurred some other way, but today, his doctors tell him his heart is one third of the way back to normal.

It’s enough, Irastorza said, to allow him to dance again and to be the kind of father he wants to be: “My quality of life is like night and day to before the treatment.”

http://health.heraldtribune.com/2014/09/30/promise-stem-cell-therapies-closer-reality/

Dr. Roach: How to keep ‘smoldering’ myeloma at slow pace

Dear Dr. Roach: More than a year ago, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in the smoldering stage, based on a bone marrow biopsy and blood tests. Every three months, my hematologist checks my blood tests and tells me that when I feel bone pain, it will be time to begin chemo. While I am in the smoldering stage, is there anything I can do to prolong the shift to the full-blown stage? I am 79 and otherwise in good health. My only symptoms are some fatigue and lack of energy.

W.K.

Dear W.K.: Multiple myeloma is a type of cancer of blood cells — the plasma cells, which are responsible for making antibodies. Most, if not all, cases of myeloma have a precursor stage called MGUS, monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance. About 3 percent of all people older than 50 have MGUS, and about 1 percent of people with MGUS will develop MM per year. “Smoldering” MM is the diagnosis when the bone marrow biopsy shows evidence of MM but there are no other signs of MM. Signs of MM include myeloma in the bones (on X-ray or CT, called lytic lesions, since they “lyse,” or cause holes in, the bones), anemia, high calcium, poor kidney function and high viscosity of the blood, which predisposes a person to strokes.

In addition to looking for physical symptoms, your hematologist is searching for any of these findings. In addition, the amount of immunoglobulin in the blood predicts risk for developing overt MM (the higher the immunoglobulin, the higher the risk). A level over 1.5 g/dL puts you at high risk. Although trials are ongoing, there are no generally accepted treatments to prevent progression to MM for people with MGUS or smoldering myeloma.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/life/advice/2014/09/29/keepsmoldering-myeloma-slow-pace/16445733/