Breast Cancer Awareness: Take Control of your Health

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. While the words “breast cancer” are very scary, it’s important to know that it’s normal for your breasts to change throughout your life, and not every lump is necessarily cancer.

That’s why it’s so important to do self-exams regularly, and be aware of your body and its changes-- so you can get any abnormality checked by a doctor, ASAP. If you’re a woman of 40, you should talk to your doctor about scheduling a mammogram to detect any lumps that you may not be able to feel on your own.

Surgeon General's Reports on Smoking and Tobacco Use

In honor of CVS banning the sale of tobacco products in its 7,600+ stores by October 1:
Surgeon General's Reports on Smoking and Tobacco Use. From the 2014 report:

In the last 50 years, 31 Surgeon General’s Reports have been released, increasing our understanding of the devastating health and financial burdens caused by tobacco use. We now know that smoking causes a host of cancers and other illnesses and is still the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing 443,000 people each year.

U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health

Here are recent health statistics:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality - Costs for Hospital Stays in the United States, 2010

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality - Emergency Department Visits and Hospital Inpatient Stays for Seasonal and 2009 H1N1 Influenza, 2008–2009

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - 1999-2009 Cancer Incidence and Mortality Data

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - National Health Care Expenses in the U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 2010

National Academy of Sciences - U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health

Consumer Reports re sunscreen.

As ABC News reported, most sunscreens that protect against UVB rays that prevent sunburn do little to nothing against UVA rays that could lead to skin cancer. The link provides a lists the best buys for products that protect against both types of rays.

WHO, cellphones, cancer

When you hear someone say, "Using your cell phone probably won't give you cancer. The evidence supporting that idea is very weak," they are, more or less, saying the same thing that the World Health Organization is saying. Only the WHO has also added the (very reasonable) assertion that more research is needed if we want to say anything definitive about cell phones and cancer.

More HERE

Is your Cellphone Trying To Kill You?

Some studies link cell phone use to health risks
* By Greg Crowe, Government Computer News, Feb 19, 2010

Over the last decade, pretty much everyone got a cell phone. And in that time, every couple of years or so, the debate is raised over whether the little buggers are trying to kill us.

Sure, anyone who dodges swerving SUVs during the morning commute knows how dangerous cell-yakking drivers can be. But what we are talking about here is the electromagnetic radiation that our cell phones emit, and whether it has potential to increase certain health risks. A widely-cited 2008 study links cancers of the parotid gland (one of the salivary glands, located right behind the ear somewhere) to cell-phone use.

Cancer Death Rate Steadily Declining

Cancer death rates are falling steadily, according to the American Cancer Society’s annual cancer statistics report, Cancer Facts & Figures 2009, and its companion article “Cancer Statistics, 2009,” published in the Society’s CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The drop is driven in large part by better prevention, increased use of early detection practices, and improved treatments for cancer.

Cancer death rates dropped 19.2% among men during 1990-2005 and 11.4% among women during 1991-2005. Cancer incidence rates are also on the decline – they decreased 1.8% per year among men from 2001-2005 and 0.6% per year from 1998-2005 among women.