growth hormones again

[Cathy W]

I guess I confused everyone with my questions regarding growth hormones. I guess the big question I had is: Anyone familiar with any research that shows a correlation between growth hormones that the food industry has been feeding our meat supply for the last 40+ years, and the human growth hormones running amuck in our bodies?

Also: I confused everyone with my question about having a mastectomy. I have already had a lumpectomy (10/02) and was dx'd stage IV 1/04. I just finished 6 monthes of chemo and am at a rest stage before continueing (I'm not NED yet). I posed the question of having a double mastectomy to my onc. to "lighten the load" on my body as I fight the cancer. (Not to lose the weight of breast tissue). My clinical onc. thought I should get a second opinion about it. I did: one from Dana Farber and one from a regional surgeon. Their opinion was, "Too late, the cat's out of the bag." I also wonder about having a hysterectomy because I now have a much higher chance of getting ovarian cancer. I plan to live a long time and want to do the best I can to fight this for as long as I can.
I'd love to hear from others who have thought about this as well.
Cathy

[KRISTEN]

DEAR KATHY,
MY AUNT DIED OF OVARAIN CANCER SOME 30 YEARS AGO. NOW HER DAUGHTER HAD BREAST CANCER 10 YEARS AGO AND DURING HER ROUTINE PAPS AND SOME QUESTIONABLE CELLS, THEY DID A CONE BIOPSY AND HAD TO DIG DEEP, THAT IS WHEN SHE AND HER DOCTOR DECIDED FOR HER TO HAVE ONE. IT'S YOUR BODY, BUT IF YOU ARE HAVING ROUNTINE EXAMS, IN MY OPINION I WOULD WAIT. MY UNDERSTANDING IT IS A SLOW GROWING CANCER, BUT I COULD BE WRONG. I DON'T KNOW IF THIS ANSWERED ANY OF YOUR Q'S BUT IT'S A REALTED STORY. HOPE YOU FIND YOUR ANSWER. TAKE CARE K

[Steph N]

Hi - Good question and there are THOUSANDS of web pages that come up if you simply search with the words: Bovine Growth Hormone Cancer.
This is part of one page that sums up some basic info and is pretty consistent with more recent articles I found:

"Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) is a genetically engineered growth hormone many dairy farmers inject into cows to increase milk production. There is evidence that rBGH promotes tumor growth in laboratory animals. Of even greater concern, rBGH significantly stimulates a cow's production of another hormone that's secreted in milk, insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1); when we consume dairy products that contain IGF-1, we're overdosing ourselves with a hormone that prompts cells in our bodies to multiply -- including cancer cells.

In May of 1998, Susan Hankinson, Sc.D., published a sobering study in the medical journal Lancet about the relationship between IGF-I levels and breast cancer. Thousands of women enrolled in the Harvard Nurses' Health Study in 1989-90 gave blood samples to be stored. In 1998, Dr. HankinsonÃâ€*s team identified 397 of these women who had subsequently developed breast cancer. Tests from the 1989 blood samples showed that those women with high IGF-I levels in their blood had up to 5 times the risk of developing breast cancer than those with low IGF-I concentrations.

Subsequent studies have shown that people eating a vegan diet have lower blood levels of IGF-I. (see related article)

Moreover, the drug Tomoxifin, routinely given to breast cancer victims, works by blocking IGF-I production in the body -- the very thing that dairy and meat consumption increases.

By dramatically increasing the amount of IGF-I in milk, rBGH adds to the other known health problems with milk.

It is impossible to know whether the milk, ice cream, cheese, butter or other dairy products you may consume in the US comes from cows treated with rBGH. This is because Monsanto, the maker of rBGH, successfully lobbied the government to outlaw labeling which would draw attention to milk which is rBGH-free."

Now there are many kinds of dairy products readily available in my local stores that are rBGH free and I only buy those. Since I have drastically cut my sugar intake, ice cream is only bought for birthday parties and I rarely eat it. I buy cheeses made in Europe or Canada which will not have the additave since it is outlawed there. Or goat cheese. I have been skeptical of this growth hormone for dairy cows (not given to male or "Angus beef" cattle) since the controversy erupted in 1985 when it was approved. If you eat fast food or ground beef, it will be mostly from processed DAIRY cows who have had years of these gBGH injection every 2 weeks. Not on my menu.