Support Group Messages 10.18.2006

[Guest guest]

Dearest Support Group,

Welcome to the several new members who have recently found us.

Just got a note about an important PBS show

tonite that I want to get out to you (more at bottom of this letter) ... thanks to Sharon!

VIDEO | Marc Ash Interviews Bill Moyers - Part III: " The Net at Risk "

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101606Q.shtml

If I have not yet responded to a support request, please re-send. I'm way

behind in email right now.

One piece of good news is that the FDA received over 700 responses to

Keeling et al's Citizen Petition to the FDA ... many of them from

our group. (see note from below).

Click

here for the Citizen's Petition

Click

here for her September Addendum

And

here for the CANDO page all about the platinum issue.

We are all hopeful that sanity will prevail and the FDA does NOT give

'safety' approval to silicone gel implants.

The breast implant industry is pushing so so hard to get the FDA to cave in

to them.

I want to again thank everyone involved with making HR 6235 happen

....

Please notice a study below on cohesive gel implants

Also, should any of you who have or had this type of implant be willing for us to post a page

on your experiences with them, please let me know.

And to date, I've not been able to find the answer to this question that I believe is quite important ... I'll be so grateful

for any responses!

What ingredient(s) make(s) the cohesive or Gummy Bear implants more cohesive???

Is it platinum, or what are they using more of to make these implants thicker???

And it seems to me that these will make mammography even more difficult .

For new members and a reminder:

MESSAGE FROM THE HUMAN ADJUVANT DISEASE CORP.FDA SCIENTIFIC FAIRNESS FOR WOMEN ACT (HR 6235)The FDA Scientific Fairness for Women Act (HR 6235)will elevate the authority of the Office of Women'sHealth in the FDA. This bill directs the FDA to review and evaluate scientific data on the use of emergencycontraception by females under 18 and to ensure that decisions about silicone gel breast implants will bemade with an understanding of the scientific questions regarding the safety of these products.HR 6235 would require the FDA to define the life ofsilicone breast implants and require safety to bedemonstrated for the life of the device prior to approval. It will also hold the FDA accountable forits actions if silicone breast implants are approved.

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http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2289

Oct. 12, 2006

Public Citizen Calls for Criminal Investigation of Breast Implant

Manufacturer for Withholding Safety Data from FDA

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Here are a few other women's stories that have been getting lots of activity lately:

http://www.BreastImplantAwareness.org/terri.htm

Still shaking from the Hawaiian Earthquakes! We're so happy she's safe!

http://www.BreastImplantAwareness.org/shari.htm

http://www.BreastImplantAwareness.org/Patty.html

http://www.BreastImplantAwareness.org/.htm

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There are some important support requests below amidst other information.

With love and hope and blessings to all,

Ilena

www.BreastImplantAwareness.org

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Episode 3: The Stealth Epidemic: Thursday, October 19, 2006, 10 pm

http://www.pbs.org/remakingamericanmedicine/airdates.html

I've not seen the previous two episodes myself, but I hear that this is

an excellent series.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci-drugs18oct18,1,5896301.story?coll=la-news-a_section

Drug Reactions Send 700,000 People to ER a Year, Study Says

Unintentional overdoses and allergies are the most common causes for

such emergency visits.

By Gellene

Times Staff Writer

October 18, 2006

Bad reactions to prescription drugs send 700,000 Americans to

emergency rooms each year, according to a new federal study providing

the most detailed look yet at the problem.

The report, appearing today in the Journal of the American Medical

Assn., said allergic reactions were the most common adverse drug

events causing ER visits, followed by unintentional overdoses.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6061652.stm < http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6061652.stm>

Breast screening 'may harm some'

Concerns have been raised that breast cancer screening might lead to

some women undergoing unnecessary treatment.

Researchers looked at international studies on half a million women.

They found that for every 2,000 women screened over a decade, one will

have her life prolonged, but 10 will have to undergo unnecessary

treatment.

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From: cyndileep@...

Date: Oct 17, 2006 12:19 PM

Subject: More Bad News

ilena@...

I have just had neck surgery for a bad disc in my c6-c7 disc. They fussed

the vertabrae together to try to relieve my neck pain and shoulder pain. I

was also having radiating pain down my arms into my hands. Some of the neck

pain has gone away, but my shoulder/arm pain and numbness are still a big

problem. I have started physical therapy and my therapist seems to think

that the problem is from scar tissue from my implants that I had taken out

in February of this year. She also thinks my neck problem came from the

weight of the implants. When I put them in I was supposed to be a full C or

small D cup. Six months after the surgery I was a 36 DD cup. I have had

this shoulder pain for 3 1/2 years. It started about a year after I

recieved my implants. The scar tissue has adhered to my pectoral muscles,

causing them to atrophy. I can not build up muscle strength in them because

of the scar tissue attached to it. The physical therapy seems to be

reducing some of my symptoms so I thought I would share this info so if

anyone else is having similar issues they could benefit from the info. I

hope this helps someone.

Blessings,

Cyndi P

*******************

We will be updating the CANDO page and

accessing the comments page shortly.

www.BreastImplantAwareness.org/CANDO.htm

From Keeling:

Subject: Over 700 comments received by FDA

Please post the following:

Many thanks to Ruby Rahn for discovering the FDA comment page " Stay

the Current Approvable Letter with Conditions of any and all PreMarket

Applications for Silicone Gel-filled Breast Implants " regarding the

citizen petition filed by CANDO. The comment period was closed on

October 9th, 2006 but the FDA has confirmed that over 700 people made

comments (the FDA is behind in posting all of the comments for viewing

which becomes part of the public record). Also, congratulations are

in order to Ernest Lykissa, PhD. And S.V.M. Maharaj, PhD. for having

one of the five most downloaded research papers " Total Platinum

Concentration and Platinum Oxidation States in Body Fluids, Tissue,

and Explants from Women Exposed to Silicone and Saline Breast Implants

by IC-ICPMS " at Analytical Chemistry.

Keeling

Chemically Associated Neurological Disorders (CANDO)

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---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Vicki

vschoeneman@...

My question-How many of you all have permanent damage to digestive system

from chemo. My chemo has been over for 8 years now and I still have severe

colon issues. Doctors have told me to learn to live with it. I can't go back

to work or do much of anything with this. I bleed and have tremendous pain

and diarrea. I just need to know if this is common. Thanks:

Vicki S

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From: judyk8@...

Subject: radiation

from Judy, cleansing coach

Radiation Side Effects

The late effects of radiation treatment develop gradually over several

months or years. The changes that result may be sufficiently slight as to

cause no clinical symptoms, or so rare as to present minimal risk to the

individual. Nevertheless, the late changes that do occur warrant notice and

care in all patients who have received radiation treatment. In those few

individuals with serious late effects (generally less than 5% of patients

who have received high-dose radiation) the results are often disastrous and

treatment extremely difficult.

Carcinogenicity. Radiation is one of the causes of cancer. leukemia may

result some five to twenty years after radiation exposure, due to bone

marrow cells being damaged during radiation therapy. Similarly cancer can

result in the area treated twenty or more years later.

the risk is there and is one of the reasons why benign diseases are not

treated by radiation unless absolutely necessary.

It would be more advisable to teach patients the root cause of disease,

what causes it and how to eliminate it with alternative medicine.

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I want to thank Sweet Caroline for the most revealing of the articles on:

Former FDA commissioner Crawford to plead guilty after charged with lying about conflicts of interest

(NewsTarget) Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner Lester Crawford is set to plead guilty today to charges of filing false financial disclosure forms and conflicts of interest, according to court papers filed yesterday by the Justice Department.

The government charges that Crawford and his wife owned stock in several companies that fell under FDA regulation, and failed to fully disclose that information as required by federal law. The court papers also charge that Crawford assured federal ethics officers that he and his wife had sold stock in those companies, when they had not.

Crawford's attorney, Barbara Van Gelder, said that under a plea agreement, her client would not dispute the government's charges, and would likely face fines and a possible prison term of up to two years.

" At the end of the day, he owned these stocks and he will admit he owned them while he was at

the FDA and he will take responsibility for that, " Van Gelder said.

The

Justice Department found that Crawford and his wife owned stock in Pepsico Inc., Sysco Corp., - Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other companies regulated by the FDA. At one point, Crawford -- who owned at least $140,000 of stock in soda maker Pepsico and food distributor Sysco -- acted as chairman of an FDA panel charged with studying the obesity problem. Crawford's decision on that panel would have affected both companies.

The court papers also charge that Crawford did not disclose his income from exercising stock options in agricultural biotechnology company Embrex Inc., for which he had been a member of the board of directors.

Crawford -- a food safety expert and veterinarian -- unexpectedly resigned from his position as head of the FDA in September 2005 without giving reason. He'd officially held the position for two months, though he had been acting head of the agency for more than a year.

FDA critic Mike , author of "

Grocery Warning, " calls the FDA a " criminal organization " and claims it puts pharmaceutical and food industry profits ahead of public safety. called the charges against Crawford " yet another serious blow to the illusion of FDA credibility.

" Crawford's guilty plea now establishes as indisputable fact what myself and other FDA critics have been saying for years: The agency is headed by white-collar criminals who deliberately make regulatory decisions that are in the best interests of drug companies and junk food giants, rather than protecting the health of the public, " said.

###

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EXCERPT: High cohesive gel implants may not be as safe as is commonly

believed and all implant ruptures, irrespective of the cohesiveness of

the silicone gel, should be investigated thoroughly.

J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2006;59(8):885-6. Epub 2006 Feb 20.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=AbstractPlus & list_uids=16876092 & itool=pubmed_DocSum

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Locoregional silicone spread after high cohesive gel silicone implant

rupture.Lahiri A, Waters R.

Selly Oak Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham, Raddlebarn Road,

Birmingham B29 6JD, UK.

anindyalahiri@...< anindyalahiri@...>

A 45-year-old patient had routine cosmetic bilateral breast

augmentation 6 years previously using cohesive gel implants. She

presented 4 years later with a breast lump and multiple axillary lymph

nodes. Exploration revealed that the breast implant had a large tear

at the posterior wall of the shell with intra-capsular leakage of

silicone. The axilla had eight enlarged lymph node--all were removed.

Histology showed silicone granuloma in the capsule and silicone

lymphadenitis.

High cohesive gel implants may not be as safe as is

commonly believed and all implant ruptures, irrespective of the

cohesiveness of the silicone gel, should be investigated thoroughly.

PMID: 16876092 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Plast Reconstr Surg. 2004 Jul;114(1):204-14; discussion 215-6.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus & db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=abstractplus & list_uids=15220594

Untreated silicone breast implant rupture.Holmich LR, Vejborg IM,

Conrad C, Sletting S, Hoier-Madsen M, Fryzek JP, McLaughlin JK,

Kjoller K, Wiik A, Friis S.

Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen,

Denmark. lisbet@... <lisbet@... >

Implant rupture is a well-known complication of breast implant surgery

that can pass unnoticed by both patient and physician. To date, no

prospective study has addressed the possible health implications of

silicone breast implant rupture.

The aim of the present study was to

evaluate whether untreated ruptures are associated with changes over

time in magnetic resonance imaging findings, serologic markers, or

self-reported breast symptoms. A baseline magnetic resonance imaging

examination was performed in 1999 on 271 women who were randomly

chosen from a larger cohort of women having cosmetic breast implants

for a median period of 12 years (range, 3 to 25 years).

A follow-up

magnetic resonance imaging examination was carried out in 2001,

excluding women who underwent explantation in the period between the

two magnetic resonance imaging examinations (n = 44).

On the basis of

these examinations, the authors identified 64 women who had at least

one ruptured implant at the first magnetic resonance imaging

examination and, for comparison, all women who had intact implants at

both examinations (n = 98). Magnetic resonance images from the two

examinations were compared and changes in rupture configuration were

evaluated. Comparisons were also made for self-reported breast

symptoms occurring during the study period and for changes in serum

values of antinuclear antibodies, rheumatoid factor, and cardiolipin

antibodies immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M. The majority of the

women with implant rupture had no visible magnetic resonance imaging

changes of their ruptured implants. For 11 implants (11 percent) in 10

women, the authors observed progression of silicone seepage, either as

a conversion from intracapsular into extracapsular rupture (n = 7), as

progression of extra-capsular silicone (n = 3), or as increasing

herniation of the silicone within the fibrous capsule (n = 1);

however, in most cases, these changes were minor.

Some changes could

be ascribed to trauma, but others seemed spontaneous. There was no

increase in levels of autoantibodies during the study period in either

study group. Women with untreated implant ruptures reported a

significant increase in nonspecific breast changes (odds ratio, 2.1;

95 percent confidence interval, 1.2 to 3.8) compared with women

without ruptures.

On the basis of this first study of women with

untreated silicone breast implant rupture, the authors conclude that

implant rupture is a relatively harmless condition, which only rarely

progresses and gives rise to notable symptoms. Even so, because of a

small risk of silicone spread, the authors suggest that women with

implant ruptures be followed clinically, if not operated on. Because

implant ruptures often occur asymptomatically, any woman with silicone

implants, regardless of rupture status, should be evaluated at regular

intervals.

PMID: 15220594 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Radiation to Left Breast? Take Care of Your Heart

More Coronary Artery Disease Seen With Radiation to Left Breast

September 29, 2006 04:46:11 PM PST

http://health./news/167231

Health: Breast Cancer News

Summary: Radiation for breast cancer may affect the heart when

treatment is given to the left breast, doctors from the University of

Pennsylvania report. Writing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, they

say women who have radiation to the left breast are more likely to

develop coronary artery disease than those who get radiotherapy in the

right breast. Consequently, women who require left-breast radiation

should be especially vigilant about reducing their other risks for

heart disease, the researchers say.

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Pamatintheknow@...

Stumbled on this site that was linked to an article on news about '

wife's bout with breast cancer.

It is a group for young breast cancer survivors. I read a couple posts and then did a search for implants. As you can imagine there is a lot of chatter on there and also a lot that are having problems.

Guess we need to get involved to educate.

youngbreastcancersurvivors/msearch?query=implants & charset=windows-1252

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Subject: VERY Important. Internet at Risk

If you are unable to watch this show tonight on PBS do at least watch the short video here. The independence of the internet is important to HADD and a host of other organizations like ours that want to educate the public about corruption, fraud, and a host of other issues that affect ALL Americans.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101606Q.shtml

VIDEO | Marc Ash Interviews Bill Moyers - Part III: " The Net at Risk "

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101606Q.shtmlThe future of the Internet is up for grabs. Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effectively eliminated net neutrality rules, which ensured that every content creator on the Internet - from big-time media concerns to backroom bloggers - had equal opportunity to make their voice heard. Now, large and powerful corporations are lobbying Washington to turn the World Wide Web into what critics call a " toll road, " threatening the equitability that has come to define global democracy's newest forum. In Part III of our interview, Marc Ash Spoke to Bill Moyers about this important issue. Moyers on America: " The Net at Risk " airs Wednesday, October 18, on your local PBS station.

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