Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Doing my part for Breast Cancer Awareness Month



Dalrock wrote about the same topic I did last year while watching NFL Football this past Sunday: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the NFL is a full fledged partner for the effort to raise the level of awareness in we the sheeple about this common disease.

 When I turned on the games this past Sunday, and I saw all the pink on the players uniforms, all over the field and on the referee uniforms, all the former arguments that have been put forth in the man-o-sphere regarding the whole Breast Cancer Awareness vs. Prostate Cancer Awareness flitted through my mind. But this time I thought a little bit deeper on the topic, and came up with a hypothesis as to why Breast Cancer gets so much airplay and media exposure, whereas Prostate Cancer gets the finger...

As I wrote over at Dalrock's:

...after a little bit of ruminating, I came to a stark realization – the real reason why the NFL and the rest of Western society has such a strong socio-political-cultural push to “raise awareness” for breast cancer, and it goes back to the oldest reason in the book: $$$.


Prostate cancer “awareness” – Man makes a checkup with his normal practitioner, who than shoves his finger up the man’s ass to feel the prostate.


Breast cancer “awareness” – Woman makes a yearly appointment with a highly expensive mammogram machine that costs the hospital or Private Practitioner a nice sum of money. They have to pay a trained technician to operate the machine, etc.


Couple this with a current system in which the health care provider bills an insurance company and/or a government program like Medicare, and you soon realize that a mammogram is probably 10 – 100 times more profitable a procedure to bill for than a prostate exam.


Also, it’s far easier to convince the masses of women that they need to get their breasts examined once a year, than it is to convince the masses of men (who are typically way less likely to go to the Doctor’s for ANY reason in the first place,) to go have their doctor shove their finger up their ass once a year.

Of course, it certainly ties into the overall feminization of everything in our mass media culture…the preceding idea is not mutually exclusive from that overall trend. But I think it is an important point than simply writing off as mass media and pop culture misandry.
Nevertheless, I still believe Breast Cancer Awareness is a worthy campaign, and I'd like to contribute to the cause....and once again help raise awareness on one aspect that never seems to get any kind of mainstream exposure:

The ABC Connection, or:

THE ABORTION - BREAST CANCER CONNECTION

That's right ladies....if you have had one or more abortions, and you've never carried a pregnancy to term, you have a much greater risk of developing Breast Cancer later in life.

You never hear of this, because the Abortion industry, the cancer industry, and Feminist ideology all conspire to suppress the truth and keep you ladies thinking "it's just some tissue" being sucked out of your womb.

From The Breast Cancer Prevention Institute's: FACT SHEET…The Biologic Cause of the Abortion Breast Cancer Link: The Physiology of the Breast

Simply stated, the biology rests on two principles.

1. The more estrogen a woman is exposed to in her lifetime, the higher her risk for breast cancer. It is well established that estrogen is implicated in the formation of three cancers: uterine, germ cell and breast.1 Estrogen can induce cancers to form in two ways, as a genotoxin and a mitogen. A genotoxin or mutagen directly damages the DNA (causes mutations), initiating a process that leads to the formation of cancer cells. Certain natural metabolites of estrogen have been shown to cause mutations.2 A mitogen causes cells to proliferate, that is, to multiply through division (mitosis). Each a time a cell divides to form two cells, it must replicate its DNA. During replication, mutations in the form of copying errors and/or chromosomal translocations can occur, causing abnormal cells to form. These abnormal cells can go on to become cancerous. The stimulation of proliferation (mitogenesis) that estrogen causes, increases the chances that abnormal cells will grow into malignant tumors. Estrogen is so potent that it is measured in parts per trillion.

If a woman starts her menstrual cycles early, say, age nine and continues to menstruate into her late 50's, she is at higher risk for breast cancer, as she has been exposed to monthly estrogen elevations for a long period of time. This too is the science behind a recent, well-publicized study that shows that estrogen-based hormone replacement therapy increases the risk of breast cancer.3 In a similar way, birth control pills can elevate breast cancer risk.

2. The earlier a woman's breast matures from prepubescent (Type 1) and pubescent (Type 2) lobules to reproductive (Type 3) and lactation (Type 4) lobules (see diagrams), the lower her risk of breast cancer.4 Type 1 and 2 lobules are known to be where cancers arise, in the TDLUs (terminal ductal lobular units),5 whereas Type 3 and 4 lobules are mature and resistant to carcinogens. When a female child is born, she has only a small number of primitive Type 1 lobules. At puberty, when estrogen levels rise, the breast forms Type 2 lobules. It is only through the hormonal environment and length of a full term (or to at least 32 weeks) pregnancy that there is full maturation of Type 3 and 4 lobules in the breast. This maturation protects a woman and lowers her risk of breast cancer.

This is why women who undergo full term pregnancies have lower risk of breast cancer and why women who remain childless have higher risk of breast cancer. Women who give birth after age 30 are also at increased risk of breast cancer as their immature Type 1 and 2 lobules are exposed to estrogen for the many years between the time of their first menstruation until their first full term pregnancy. Abortion in women under 18 and over 30 years old carries the greatest risk: these women have the highest percentage of Type 1 lobules in their breasts.

It is the interplay of these two principles, estrogen exposure and breast lobule maturation, which accounts for the fact that abortion can lead to breast cancer. Within a few days of conception, a woman's estrogen level rises. By the end of the first trimester, estrogen levels have increased by 2000%. The estrogen stimulation that causes the multiplication of Type 1 and 2 lobules, results in sore and tender breasts early on in pregnancy. It is only after 32 weeks that a woman's breasts stop growing larger and mature into Type 3 and 4 lobules in preparation for breast-feeding.


If abortion ends a woman's pregnancy before full maturation of her breasts, she is left with an increased number of the immature Type 1 and 2 lobules. She now has a greater number of the breast lobules where cancers can arise. This causes her to be at greater risk for breast cancer. It is through this same biologic mechanism that any premature birth before 32 weeks more than doubles breast cancer risk.


Induced abortion thus increases breast cancer risk by two mechanisms. First, abortion leaves the breast with increased numbers of Type 1 and Type 2 lobules, those lobules in which cancer cells are formed, which are then exposed to more estrogen through menstrual cycles. These lobules would otherwise have been protected from cancer by maturation to Type 3 and 4 lobules, if pregnancy had gone to term. Second, the breast is exposed to high levels of estrogen during pregnancy, which can induce cancer cells to form. 6

See, I helped raise awareness...and I didn't have to wear that god awful pink to do it either.


5 comments:

aussie girl said...

So the contraceptive pill also increases your risk of breast cancer. And yet every year more and more teenagers are put on the Pill for every reason under the sun - including the convenience of regular periods. I've experienced it, just about every GP will try and push it on you as a young woman. And I've only had male GPs too! I was put on it from age 16 for this very reason and I listened to the doctor. When I was 20 I became better educated about my body and chucked that poisen out. I wonder if the "morning-after pill" has a similar effect as a surgical abortion? Many girls dont consider that they've had an abortion though they've taken the morning after.

Thankyou for this most interesting information. They should broadcast THAT in the ad breaks!

Dr. Jelly Finger said...

Ha, I never thought of it that way. Of course it makes perfect sense. Follow the money.

Amateur Strategist said...

Nice post, I knew of the ABC connection, but didn't know the specifics of it. This will help in explaining things, methinks.

Also, since soy raises estrogen (?) and makes young girls hit puberty faster, isn't that also an increase in breast cancer?

Keoni Galt said...

Aussie girl, too true. My wife tells me the same thing...Doctor's will use any excuse to prescribe the pill..to "regulate your period."

Amateur Strat - that sure looks like it, don't it? Good point.

Will S. said...

They even emphasize that the Pill helps with acne control! Not sure how true this is, but this is part of their sell to girls who aren't even sexually active yet, just into puberty!