A Few Possible Causes
We know a number of factors that increase the risk of many different kinds of cancer, from genetic BRCA, P53 gene suppression, smoking, obesity, diet, and even stress. The truth is that ONLY A SICK PERSON WILL GET CANCER. When I say ‘get cancer’ I mean actually be diagnosed with cancer. We all have cancer cells growing in us every day; our immune system is either winning the battle or it isn’t.
When our immune system is overwhelmed, for a myriad of reasons, cancer cells (rapidly replicating cells) start the ‘take hold’. There is NOT one cause of any cancer; there are only a multitude of risk factors.
Maybe it would be easier to picture it this way: If we had a scale and we placed ‘healthy, life-giving, and nurturing’ things on one side and then placed ‘not-so-good-for-us’ things on the other side, the scale would tip toward either health or sickness. You see, cancer isn’t any different than any other disease as far as whether it develops in us or not. We really don’t need a 5 billion dollar government study to prove that a life consumed with overwhelming stress, coffee, donuts, cigarettes, and drugs isn’t good for us.
Understanding the above helps us see that the first step for a cancer patient is to fix the environment. The body needs a good ‘cleanup’, to modulate any underlining autoimmune disorder, deal with toxins, molds, parasites, and even hidden emotional scars that may have paved the way for cancer cells to grow.
There is a reason for everything, a cause for every effect. Find someone who will search for these.
Genetics
I think about 5% of cancers are caused genetically. That being said, most with cancer have defects in genetic pathways that might contribute to their diagnosis. Defects in tumor suppressor genes would be one example. BRCA gene defects – that’s the gene that is the tumor suppressor gene for breast cancer and ovarian cancer, can increase a person’s cancer risk.
God gave us a “fail-safe” method to deal with cells that go into rapid replication – tumor suppressor genes. These are genes within the cell that turn-on in the presence of rapid replication to stimulate cell death. When a cell goes into rapid replication, it’s an abnormal process, but it happens on a regular basis to all of us.
However, should the cell begin replicating every day or multiple times a day, our tumor suppressor genes ‘kick on’ a pathway to stimulate apoptosis or cell death. So it’s a protective measure to keep us from getting a cancer diagnosis. So one could say that we all have cancer, which is true. By this we mean that we all have cells in rapid replication. Then, these tumor suppressor genes kick on and cause cell death and kill the cell and protect us from ever having a diagnosis. People with defects on their tumor suppressor genes, and we’ll use the BRCA genes as an example, have an increased risk of cancer because they’re not turning on that important, protective pathway as well as they should.
Another class of genes, called Oncogenes, can contribute to cancer. An Oncogene is a mutated gene whose protein product (that which it makes) is produced in higher quantities or whose altered product has increased activity and thereby acts in a dominant manner stimulating growth. Oncogenes (when defected) can hinder necessary cell death and/or stimulate replication. More than 100 oncogenes have been identified.
Defects in other pathways like detoxification pathways can also contribute to a cancer diagnosis. There is so much to the subject that I’ve written a separate book on Cancer Genes. It’s really a video-book and it’s available for free for those in our Membership.
Learn much more about genetics in my book, Cancer Genes: How Your Genetics Can Be Both a Cause and a Cure, and click here to receive a full Genetic Workup.
Genetically Modified Foods
Genetically modified organism (GMO) food has been around for decades. Most corn and soy purchased in the United States is GMO food. Proponents argue that there are no ill-effects on humans with GMO food but I completely disagree. I’m not in the minority with my belief that changing the genetic structure of a food product is playing with disaster. Recent studies reveal that GMO corn destroys the intestinal lining of mice causing absorption problems and leaky gut syndrome. What is it doing to our gut?
Today’s GMOs are based on adding new genes to crops like corn, soy, and cotton in order to alter the way the plants function, make them more tolerant to disease and bugs, and (maybe the number one reason) enable companies to patent the seed and create an endless need for farmers to repurchase, year after year. Gone are the days of saving seeds; it’s against the law – Monsanto owns the patent.
To say that our food supplies, laced with toxins, filled with additives, colorings and chemicals, and now genetically altered don’t negatively affect our bodies is ludicrous. This book does not contain enough space to discuss these things in detail and I have recommended various books for your personal research, but it suffices to say that removing these poisons from your diet is of utmost importance.
Bottom line: Eat only organically grown foods. Do your own research into the foods you put into your mouth and make sure they are not genetically modified. If we all create a greater demand for good food, the supply will follow.
For more information on this subject, search GMOs on our blog here.
Pesticides and Herbicides
Just recently Monsanto was slapped with another giant lawsuit. This is actually their third lawsuit (as of 2019) of people who are making claims that their cancer is caused by RoundUp. RoundUp is their major weed killer that’s in just about everything now, in our food supply. And this couple both had Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and brought a $2 billion dollar lawsuit. If these lawsuits keep coming, it could be bankruptcy for Monsanto/Bayer, (Bayer bought Monsanto out). If you’re still using RoundUp, you have to stop.
Pesticides are so widely used in agriculture that one can about guarantee that we all have an increased the risk of cancer. Some studies have suggested that pesticides could increase the risk of leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, breast cancer and prostate cancer, but they are so widespread that they can effect everyone and every cell. For now, researchers are afraid to say that the evidence is not strong enough to show a definite link, possibly because of pressures ‘from above’.
Obviously, due to the consequences, human studies are difficult to obtain so we must rely on animal research. However, it needn’t take more than a childlike understanding to draw the correlations.
Agricultural workers and farmers
People exposed to higher levels of pesticides as part of their job – for example in industry or in farming – may be at higher risk of certain cancers, particularly leukemias and lymphomas.
The International Agency for Research into Cancer (IARC) have looked at the evidence and said that regularly spraying pesticides as part of your job “probably” increases the risk of cancer. But for most individual pesticides, the evidence was either too weak to come to a conclusion, or only strong enough to suggest a “possible” effect.
However, in animal studies, many pesticides are proven carcinogenic, (e.g., organochlorines, creosote, and sulfallate) while others (notably, the organochlorines DDT, chlordane, and lindane) are tumor promoters. Some contaminants in commercial pesticide formulations also may pose a carcinogenic risk. In humans, arsenic compounds and insecticides used occupationally have been classified as carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Human data, however, are limited by the small number of studies that evaluate individual pesticides. Epidemiologic studies, although some-times contradictory, have linked phenoxy acid herbicides or contaminants in them with soft tissue sarcoma (STS) and malignant lymphoma; organochlorine insecticides are linked with STS, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), leukemia, and, less consistently, with cancers of the lung and breast; organophosphorous compounds are linked with NHL and leukemia; and triazine herbicides with ovarian cancer.
Information is disseminating though. A 2013 study posted on the American Cancer Society’s site states, “A growing number of well‐designed epidemiological and molecular studies provide substantial evidence that the pesticides used in agricultural, commercial, and home and garden applications are associated with excess cancer risk. This risk is associated both with those applying the pesticide and, under some conditions, those who are simply bystanders to the application.”
A 2009 study revealed, “Our observation is consistent with a previous literature reporting suggestive associations between parental exposure to pesticides and risk of astrocytoma (in the child of the parent).” What? Parents use or are exposed to pesticides and herbicides and the CHILDREN have an increased risk of BRAIN CANCER? Crazy!
A 2015 study concluded, “We found that childhood exposure to indoor residential insecticides was associated with a significant increase in risk of childhood leukemia.” This stuff is BAD; PLEASE stop using it!
When we used to test people that came to our practice, we found that pesticides and herbicides were one of the most common causes of cancer. Knowing this, I feel we need to touch on how to help rid oneself of these things.
These compounds (and there are dozens) take thousands of years to breakdown. Once we ingest them, breath them in, or absorb them through the skin, our body NEEDS to get rid of them. Unfortunately, the way our body does so is through our cellular and liver detoxification pathways.
I talk a lot about these detoxification pathways in my book, Cancer Genes, because these pathways can be hindered (slowed) by defects on specific genetic pathways. The PON1 and Cytochrome P450 pathways, for example, are essential for getting rid of these large chemicals. Defects on these, which are common, can cause slower rates of detoxification and a greater chance of one depositing these potentially cancer-causing chemicals inside the cells which can, at some later date, interrupt the replication cycle causing cancer.
Other Toxic Food Additives
Since the mandate of the FDA includes protecting public health by assuring the safety of the food supply, why is this governmental organization allowing a staggering amount of additives to adulterate our food? Many of these ‘allowable’ additives have dire consequences to the health this agency is supposed to protect.
Drug and chemical companies have secretly flourished since the advent of commercially processed foods in the 1950’s. Many of these chemicals added as “non-food substances” have come into common usage to preserve and enhance the taste and appearance of products made with cheap ingredients.
Increasingly, these additives, such as indigestible gums, have been used to replace real food ingredients. The use of food additives has allowed food producers to make higher profits at the expense of public health.
Currently, the FDA allows thousands of different food additives although a 2013 study found that almost 80% of them lack the relevant information needed to estimate the amount that consumers can safely eat.
Nearly NONE have any Safety Testing
In the FDA’s own database, 93% of food additives lack reproductive or developmental toxicity data. Of the totality of FDA-regulated additives, both directly and indirectly allowed in food, almost two-thirds don’t have publicly available feeding data. The report concluded that in the absence of toxicology data on the majority of chemicals added to food, their safety in humans may be questioned.
To explain the FDA’s negligence, some cite a decades-old loophole that allows companies to confer GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status to the additives they plan to use, without any FDA oversight. But if the FDA were genuinely interested in protecting the public, it would have moved long ago to close that loophole leading one to conclude that maybe, just maybe, there’s a bit of sneakiness going on to have these “overlooked”.
The same apologists say companies regularly introduce new additives without ever informing the FDA, so this regulatory body just doesn’t know about them. Yet, the FDA has been able to track down small raw milk producers half way across the country to put them out of business, send the FBI to raid a cancer center using natural treatments in Tulsa, and put a small company out of business for making elderberry juice concentrate. Clearly the FDA has its ear to the ground. Can somebody say “payoff”?
How to Protect Yourself
Since the drug and chemical companies can literally do anything that brings them profit regardless of harm produced and the governmental agency created to protect the public will wink at anything as long as you can line someone’s pocket, you need to protect yourself. The best way to start is by scrutinizing the label of every food item before buying. If there is a listing that is not food, chances are good it is referring to a food additive. Do some research and decide whether you want the substance in your body.
Here are a few of the most commonly used dangerous food additives:
- BHT and BHA – These are preservatives for fats and oils. They are found in cereals, vegetable oil, potato chips, popcorn, and other packaged foods. Both can be found in Harry and David’s popular Moose Munch bars. Studies have concluded that BHT and BHA may cause cancer in rats.
- Azodicarbonamide – A chemical used in the rubber and plastics industries to produce shoe soles and yoga mats. It’s also used as a dough conditioner in low quality breads, other baked goods, and in the buns and breads used in several fast food chains. Subway has agreed to discontinue its use, but didn’t set a time frame. Azodicarbonamide has also been found to cause cancer in rodents.
- MSG – MSG is an excitotoxin that makes below average food taste good. It’s in many salad dressings, potato chips, hot dogs, canned soup and tuna, frozen dinners, prepared gravies and much more. It kills sensitive neurons in the brain. According to natural health authority Russell Blaylock MD, there is a link between sudden cardiac death and excitotoxic damage caused by MSG and artificial sweeteners.
- Acesulfame-K – This additive is replacing toxic aspartame in products such as candy, drinks, chewing gum and anything else that’s sweet. And as is usually the case, it is as deadly as what it replaces. Acesulfame-K is a potassium salt containing methylene chloride, a known carcinogen. It may also cause liver and kidney impairment, and problems with eyesight.
- Sodium nitrate – Sodium nitrate is a preservative used in conventionally produced bacon, ham, hot dogs, lunchmeats, and other processed meats. Nitrates can be converted to cancer-causing chemicals known as nitrosamines.
- Blue 1 and Blue 2 – These are food dyes used in beverages, candy, and baked goods. Blue 2 is also used in pet food. Both have been found to hyperactivity and potentially cause brain tumors in mice.
- Red 3 – Another food coloring used in bottled cherries, fruit cocktail, candies, and baked goods. Causes thyroid tumors in rats and maybe in humans too.
- Yellow 6 – Still another food dye which is found in pickles, pepperoncini, and sausages, as well as gelatin, baked goods, and candy, yellow 6 may cause adrenal gland and kidney tumors.
We can only guess the agenda of the FDA. But once you start reading labels, don’t be surprised if it becomes an empowering habit!
Heavy Metals and Other Toxins
In the late phase of the Roman Empire, it was considered a privilege of the reigning aristocracy to drink out of lead cups and many of the water lines in the city of Rome were made out of lead. It took several hundred years before the physicians of the time established the link between mental illness — affecting mostly the aristocracy — and the contamination of the drinking water with lead. In the 1700s, the use of mercury for the treatment of both acute and chronic infections gained favor and again, it took decades before the toxic effects of mercury were recognized within the medical community. In the time of Mozart, who died of mercury toxicity during a course of treatment for syphilis, any pathologist in Vienna was familiar with the severe grayish discoloration of organs in those who died from mercury toxicity and other organ-related destructive changes caused by mercury.
In the case of mercury, the therapeutic dilemma is most clear. Mercury can be used to treat infections, but – not unlike modern chemotherapy — also causes a different type of illness and may kill the patient. The same is true for most metals; small doses may have a therapeutic effect for a short term, life saving direction, but then cause their own illness. Most metals have a very narrow therapeutic margin before their neurotoxic (and in some cases carcinogenic effect) outweigh the benefits. Toxic metals can be used to kill fungi, bacteria, and maybe even viruses. However, many of these microbial invaders adapt to a toxic metal environment.
It is important to note that we are not speaking solely of metals on the periodic table, but other elements as well. We have a distorted view of nutrients in this country, thinking that since a little Iron will help my anemia, a lot would be better. If a little iodine is necessary for my thyroid, a lot is even more optimal. WRONG! Iron toxicity may be the most common of all ‘secret killers’ along with Iodine – the major causative agent for Hashimoto’s disease.
It is difficult for our body’s to adapt to high doses of anything – toxic metals harm the cells of the body whereas the invading microorganisms can often thrive in a heavy metal environment. Research shows that microorganisms tend to congregate in those body compartments that have the most toxic metals. This is in part because the body’s own immune cells are incapacitated in those areas whereas the microorganisms multiply and thrive in an undisturbed way. The teeth, jawbone, Peyer’s lymphoid patches in the gastrointestinal wall, the ground-system (connective tissue) and the autonomic ganglia are common sites of metal storage and the place where microorganisms thrive. Fat cells are the easiest place for your body to shunt excess toxin exposure, since they are the cells with the ‘spiritual gift’ of accommodation – they just invite everyone in. Tissue that is most densely vasculated will receive the greatest concentration of toxins. Furthermore, virus, bacteria, molds and fungi settle in those bodily areas are least vasculated, vasoconstricted (the blood vessels are in spasm) and hypoperfused (reduced blood flow) by blood, nutrients and oxygen, which foster the growth of anaerobic germs, fungi and viruses.
The list of symptoms of mercury toxicity alone, published by DAMS (Dental Amalgam Support Group) includes virtually all illnesses known to humankind. Chronic fatigue, depression and joint pains are the most common on the list. Mercury alone can mimic or cause any illness currently known or at least contribute to it.
Through the use of the PCR test (polymerase chain reaction – a type of genetic testing) virtually any illness seems to have a chronic infection (autoimmune) response either at its core or ‘because of’ another cause. A study performed by the VA Administration (published in JADA, April 1998) on 10,000 US veterans, showed that most coronary heart disease really starts as an infection (an autoimmune response and subsequent inflammation) of endothelial cells (cells lining of the blood vessel – the intimal layer) and, in most cases was caused by microorganisms from the mouth. Another study showed that close to 70% of all TMJ syndromes in women are caused or contributed to by Chlamydia trachomatis. Childhood diabetes is often caused by either a Cytomegalovirus or influenza virus infection. These all become autoimmune diseases though they are seldom diagnosed as such and therefore, they are treated symptomatically.
It is obviously a doctor’s first-most importance to diagnosis and remove antigens (chronic, hidden infections, toxic metals, chemicals) or at the very least, combine this with treatment of the patient. As long as compartmentalized toxic metals or other antigens are present in the body, microorganisms have a fortress that cannot be conquered by antibiotics, nutrition, herbs, ozone therapy, UV light therapy, etc.
To diagnose metal deposits in the different body compartments on a living patient is not always easy. Most “scientific” tests are based on grinding up tissue and then examining it with a microscope, spectroscopy or other laboratory-based procedures. This is of course is impractical, so we have to rely on the next best option – analysis of hair, blood, and/or urine.
Among the detoxifying agents most commonly used are DMPS, DMSA, I.V. vitamin C, Glutathione, sulfur compounds such as DL-Methionine and Cysteine, branched chain amino acids, Chlorella, Porphrazyme, Chitosan, activated charcoal, cilantro and yellow dock. We also use specialized tools like the RIFE, Ion Cleanse, LBG, etc. with great success.
Remember to follow the detoxification guidelines in this chapter and seek professional help!
Effective therapy thus must incorporate the following:
- Diagnosing the site of toxic metal compartmentalization
- Diagnosing the exact type of metal
- Determining the most appropriate and least toxic metal removal agent
- Determining other appropriate synergistic methods and agents (i.e., kidney drainage remedies, blood protective agents — garlic or vitamin E, agents that increase fecal absorption and excretion of mobilized toxin, exercise, lymphatic drainage, etc.)
- Diagnosing any secondary infection
- Determining an appropriate antibiotic (actually termed anti-microbial to distinguish from antibacterial agents) regimen (medical antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals, ozone therapy, RIFE, etc.)
- Monitoring the patient carefully form visit to visit to respond quickly to untoward effects most often caused by plugged up exit routes. With this approach, many patients that were chronically ill and did not respond to other approaches will improve or get well.
However, the thoughts expressed thus far do not answer one important question. Why do people deposit the mercury, lead, aluminum, and other heavy metals and toxins in a specific area of their body? Some deposit toxins in their hypothalamus (and develop multiple hormone problems), or in their limbic system (depression). Others deposit it in the adrenal glands (fatigue), or in their bones (osteoporosis, leukemia).
Some tend to accumulate toxins in the pelvis (interstitial cystitis), in the autonomic and sensory ganglia (chronic pain syndromes), fatty tissue like the breast (cancer); some in the connective tissue (scleroderma, lupus, rheumatism, fibromyalgia), or in the cranial nerves (tinnitus, cataracts, TMJ problems, loss of smell), or in the muscles (fibromyalgia). There seems to be multiple causes:
- Past physical trauma (such as closed head injury) will make the brain susceptible to becoming a storage site for lead, aluminum and mercury.
- Food allergies often cause low-grade inflammation in a susceptible site of the body, setting up those areas to become targets for toxic deposits.
- Geopathic stress due to living or sleeping near underground water lines or electrical equipment and transformers. Metals apparently concentrate in the body regions most compromised.
- Physical scars from surgery, trauma, or an infection can create abnormal electrical signals that can alter the function of the ANS (autonomic nervous system). The abnormal impulses often cause areas of vasoconstriction and hypoperfusion, which again become metal storage sites.
- Structural abnormalities — TMJ problems and cranial-sacral dysfunctions often are responsible for impairment of blood flow and lymphatic drainage in affected areas.
- Biochemical deficiencies — For example, a chronic zinc deficiency makes the prostate susceptible since it has a large turnover of zinc. In lieu of zinc (Zn++), the prostate incorporates other 2-valent metals (such as Hg++, Pb++). Another example of this would be iodine deficiency and the thyroid.
- Environmental toxicity (solvents, pesticides, wood preservatives, etc.) has a synergistic effect with most toxic metals. Metals will often accumulate in body parts that have been chemically injured.
Unresolved psycho-emotional trauma and unresolved problems in the family system can be another hidden issue. You can find more information on how to TEST for your toxic load here.
Get your hard-copy of Stop Fighting Cancer & Start Treating the Cause to learn more about how to treat cancer with alternative medicine, and for even more in-depth education and help, check out Dr. Conners’ Stop Fighting Cancer COURSE.
NOTE: All of the above statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Dr. Conners graduated with his doctorate from Northwestern Health Sciences University in 1986. He holds AMA Fellowships in Regenerative & Functional Medicine and Integrative Cancer Therapy.
He is the author of numerous books including, Stop Fighting Cancer and Start Treating the Cause, Cancer Can’t Kill You if You’re Already Dead, Help, My Body is Killing Me, Chronic Lyme, 3 Phases of Lyme, 23 Steps to Freedom, and many more you can download for FREE on our books page.