Tamoxifen: Highly Potent Cause of Liver Cancer

[Guest guest]

Tamoxifen: Highly Potent Cause of Liver Cancer JoAnn Guest Nov 21, 2004

20:26 PST

Tamoxifen: Highly Potent Cause of Liver Cancer

JoAnn Guest

Nov 06, 2004 20:24 PST

===============================================

Tamoxifen Prescribed to Healthy Women is a Highly Potent Cause of Liver

Cancer

---The

U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) encourages healthy women to

become “guinea pigs” for this highly profitable drug.

 

FDA Advisory Committee Urged To Reject Zeneca's Application of Tamoxifen

For Preventing Breast Cancer in Healthy Women; Tamoxifen is Ineffective

and Toxic

---

Press Release 9/1/98 PRNewswire -- The following was released today by

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor Environmental Medicine, University of

Illinois School of Public Health and Chairman of Cancer Prevention

Coalition; Barbara Seaman, co-founder National Women's Health Network,

Washington, D.C.;

and Ann Fonfa, the Annie Appleseed Project, New York:

=====================================================================

On September 2, FDA's Advisory Committee on Oncologic Drugs will review

Zeneca Pharmaceutical's New Drug Application (NDA) for approval of

tamoxifen " for the prevention of breast cancer in (healthy) women at

high risk. "

 

Claims that tamoxifen can prevent breast cancer are based on an April 6,

1998 National Cancer Institute (NCI) preliminary report, unsupported by

a scientific publication, of a short term trial on some 13,000 healthy

women at " high risk " of breast cancer, including women over the age of

60, who were randomly given tamoxifen or a placebo; further details of

the report are still not available to the scientific community and the

public.

 

The trial was terminated prematurely in view of the reduction in

the incidence of breast cancer in all tamoxifen treated age groups.

 

However, serious and sometimes fatal complications, including uterine

cancer and pulmonary embolism, were seen in postmenopausal women among

whom the incidence of breast cancer was reduced by 1.7%, while the

incidence of serious complications was increased by 2.2% in

non-hysterectomized women.

 

The brevity of the trial prevented recognition of other delayed serious

health risks. Of particular concern is the fact

that tamoxifen is a highly potent carcinogen, inducing liver cancer in

rats at low doses equivalent, based on blood levels, to those used in

the trial.

 

Disturbingly, women in the trial were not informed of the clear

evidence of these risks.

The absence of reported liver cancer in women treated with tamoxifen for

breast cancer is hardly reassuring as

relatively few women have been treated for over 5 years and followed up

for a further 20 years before which the development of liver cancer

would be most unlikely.

 

Additionally, there are serious questions as to whether tamoxifen

actually reduced the incidence of breast cancer or merely delayed its

onset by treating small undetected tumors.

 

In fact, two articles published on July 11, 1998 in the highly

prestigious journal, The Lancet, reported no evidence of breast cancer

prevention by tamoxifen in two major European trials.

 

In an August 17 written statement, which will be read into the record at

the September 2 Advisory Committee Hearing, Dr. Epstein

concluded:

" NCI's preliminary April 6 report on the prevention of breast

cancer by tamoxifen has still not yet been finalized and published in a

scientific journal.

 

The Advisory Committee should also consider the

propriety of Zeneca's NDA as it is based, in part, on data which have

not been made fully available to the public although the underlying

(NCI) research was funded by the public.

 

Furthermore, the claimed evidence for chemoprevention has been

discredited by two subsequent scientific publications. Of as great

concern is the well documented evidence of short term life-threatening

complications, and also risks of delayed fatal complications, evidence

for which has been trivialized and suppressed by NCI. Based on these

scientific and ethical considerations, the Advisory Committee is urged

to deny approval of Zeneca's NDA. "

 

Finally, the NDA poses further serious questions in view of Zeneca's

control and funding of the heavily promoted annual October National

Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

 

This campaign urges women to have mammography, in spite of its highly

questionable effectiveness and risks in premenopausal women, while

avoiding any reference to a wide range of

scientifically documented safe and effective methods for reducing risks

of breast cancer.

 

These include avoidance of prolonged and early onset

use of oral contraceptives; obesity and inactivity;and high fat and

dairy food products contaminated with carcinogenic and estrogenic

industrial chemicals.

 

Such critical omissions are favorable to Zeneca's efforts to influence

public policy in favor of approval of large scale tamoxifen

chemoprevention, targeted for up to 30 million U.S. women at

" high risk " of breast cancer.

 

More…

Tamoxifen Side Effects: A Travesty…Los Angeles Times editorial

 

Chemical Companies Profiting from Tamoxifen

 

Drug Companies Push Tamoxifen, NBCAM

 

Carcinogenicity of Tamoxifen: New York Times letter

 

 

CONTACT:

 

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor of Environmental Medicine at the

University of Illinois School of Public Health, Chicago,and Chairman of

the Cancer Prevention Coalition, 312-996-2297; or Barbara Seaman of the

National Women's Health Network, 212-580-1838, or Ann Fonfa of the Annie

Appleseed Project, 212-869-0139

 

Web site: http://www.preventcancer.com/

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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