Thursday, March 02, 2006

A Hero Has Emerged Among Us!

Of course Wendy Mesley is well known, but that's different from being brave. One can be well known for lots of nefarious actions. But aside from being a TV personality Wendy Mesley has tackled the cancer industry head on and I applaud her courage and determination.

It was wonderful to hear Wendy this morning on CBC (The Current )telling it like it is. All of the billions going into research, our own medical doctors on the ground, our own government, all, all, are, for whatever reasons, ignoring the obvious fact that cancer is epidemic. Why?

For money. It's that simple. And feelings of helplessness. As Wendy said, there is money in cancer. Big money. How can cancer research organizations and society's actually confront the huge corporate structures that are spewing out chemicals and pharmaceuticals that are endangering humans and non human life alike and has culminated in the horrific rates projected that one in two persons will get cancer in the next generations? Perhaps at younger and younger ages? How can we insist that industries such as logging companies stop using chemical agents like Round Up? Agents that cling to the top soil, seep into water tables, and even travel on the winds? Agents that contain compounds that mimic estrogen and interrupt both male and female hormonal systems? We know we can't depend on politicians. Or the Canadian Medical Association. Or the Cancer Society. Then who? And how?

I don't know. Let's ask Wendy. She is passionate enough about this, knowledgeable enough, high profile enough and I think she speaks directly to the hearts of women. She said something on the program that struck me to the heart, at least...She said that while yes, (I'm paraphrasing here) some money and effort needs to go into managing cancer, and she herself is grateful for what she has received (her own treatments for breast cancer) nevertheless she would be willing to forgo further innovations in managing cancer, if more, or even any, of the billions given to cancer research would go into prevention. And in confronting the people who make the decisions about getting these cancer causing agents out of our lives. For our children's sake.

Wendy will be showing a documentary about this on Sunday evening at 7:30. I don't have a TV but for this I'll be out trying to scrounge up a friend who has one.

1 comment:

  1. Did you get a chance to watch the report? If not, visit the CBC Marketplace website. On the right sidebar, click on Watch The Stories: Chasing The Cancer Answer to watch the story in RealVideo format. It's apx. 26 minutes.
    http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/cancer/index.html

    ReplyDelete