Surgeon general issues skin cancer warning - Cancer on the rise

(CNN) -- Skin cancer is on the rise, according to the American Cancer Society, with more cases diagnosed annually than breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer cases combined.

On Tuesday, the United States surgeon general issued a call to action to prevent the disease, calling it a major public health problem that requires immediate action. Nearly 5 million people are treated for skin cancer each year.

"Until today, the surgeon general has never said, 'UV radiation is bad for you; protect your skin,' " acting Surgeon General Dr. Boris Lushniak said.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/29/health/surgeon-general-skin-cancer/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Ebola Virus Claims First American Life After Killing Hundreds in W. Africa

(CNN) -- Patrick Sawyer had one stop to make before heading home to Minnesota to celebrate his daughters' birthdays: a conference in Lagos, Nigeria.
But when he landed in Lagos, Sawyer, 40, collapsed getting off the plane. He had been infected with Ebola in Liberia, where he worked as a top government official in the Liberian Ministry of Finance.
Sawyer was isolated at a local Nigerian hospital on July 20. He died five days later.
Sawyer's wife Decontee Sawyer, lives in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, with the couple's three young daughters, 5-year-old Eva, 4-year-old Mia, and Bella, who is 1. The Sawyers are naturalized citizens; their daughters were born in the United States.
"He was so proud when he became a U.S. citizen," Decontee told CNN. "He voted for first time in the last U.S. presidential election. He lived in the U.S. for many years, and wanted that for Liberia -- a better democracy."
Sawyer is the first American to die in what health officials are calling the "deadliest Ebola outbreak in history." His death has sparked concerns that the virus could potentially spread to the United States.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/29/health/ebola-outbreak-american-dies/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Are Cancer Fundraising Dollars Being Secretly Spent on Enriching Cancer Drug Makers?

I stopped giving money to any of the large charities many years ago, due mainly to the collapse of one of the big banks and the reported amounts many of those big charities lost, money being used to play the markets rather than going where it was needed. Incredibly, it has even been found in the past to have been invested in the arms industry and other damaging pursuits!

Now this news report really gave me a "WTF" moment!

The documents include "internal and proprietary methodology and procedures for fundraising, confidential information about its internal operations, and confidential financial information," wrote Gabrielle Levin of Gibson Dunn in a letter to the attorney general's office.
If those details were disclosed, "the American Red Cross would suffer competitive harm because its competitors would be able to mimic the American Red Cross's business model for an increased competitive advantage," Levin wrote.

Excuse me? Since when was doing charitable work a competition? Surely the idea is to provide relief, through donations, to those that need the help the most, not trying to gain a competitive market edge like any other large corporation!

This dovetails slightly with a conversation I was having with a work colleague a short while ago, regarding the big Cancer charities, specifically Cancer Research.
Each year, hardly a week goes by without some sponsored event somewhere in the country with people doing fun runs, walks or other activities and being sponsored by friends and family. These events are usually accompanied by huge publicity campaigns, designed to be emotive and tug at the heartstrings, especially of those who have lost loved ones to Cancer. That is all well and good, and collectively these events and the charities that run them pull in a massive amount of money each year.

However. Despite the decades of "research" and the hundreds of £Millions, possibly £Billions donated by the public, we do not yet have a cure. What we do have is very expensive drugs produced by the Pharma industry that "manage" the disease, and other equally expensive drugs to "manage" the side effects of the treatments.

Now, my question was, if all that money is being collected for research, who is it paid to? You'd think that, if the research is publicly funded, the drugs would be in the public domain and cheap. But no! They are patented by the big Pharma players and sold for huge profits. So what is the point of donating for research, when the fruits of that research are used for monetary gain on a massive scale by private corporations? Why not let the big Pharma corporations fund the research in the first place?

When big charities start protecting themselves with expensive lawyers, to hide their activities and financial disclosure, then you know they have something damaging to protect and are up to no good. After all, they are supposed to be doing good work, not using the donated money to enrich the board members, play the markets and invest in industries that caused the need for the charitable donations in the first place.

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1019095/pg1

Plastic Surgery Nightmare Leads to Woman Having Hands and Feet Cut Off

Apryl Brown remembers lying on the hospital bed as the doctor uttered those words. A sense of relief came over her.
"I didn't think about losing my children. I didn't think about leaving my mother," she said. She thought instead of how death would feel. "Although I will be dead, I will not be in pain anymore."
That searing pain came from an unimaginable source: a silicone filler, like the one Brown assumed plastic surgeons use daily. Hers was injected into her buttocks, with the hope of improving her appearance.
Brown never predicted the injections would land her here -- dying in a hospital bed in June 2010.
Her body was shutting down from a staph infection that doctors said was connected to the silicone injections. Her limbs were curling and turning black, the visible signs of necrosis. Brown recalled seeing her hands in the hospital, thinking, "Oh, my God. I am going to lose my hands. I looked at my feet ,and they were dead, too."
Doctors had no choice. To save Brown's life, they amputated her hands, feet and the flesh around her buttocks and hips in 27 surgeries. Somehow, she survived.
...
In 2004, while she was working on a new client's hair, she got her chance. The client happened to mention she did silicone injections cheaply. With a few sessions, she told Brown, she could obtain the shape she had always wanted. Brown was sold. A week later, she found herself in a house laying down in a bedroom receiving her first of four injections into her butt cheeks.
Following her second treatment, Brown remembers doubting her decision. "A voice just came to me like, 'What are you doing? Are you serious? You are going to allow somebody to inject something into your body and you have no idea what it is.' " Brown decided that day to stop doing the treatments and never went back.
The true cost of the injections would come later, following years of pain and visits with doctors.
...
Brown considers herself a living example of what happens when you're not careful.
She doesn't hesitate to tell others about how she suffered in extreme pain for five long years after the silicone injections. She explains how she watched her buttocks harden and discolor, seeing doctor after doctor to try to get help. She lifts what's left of her arms and explains what was actually injected in her buttocks.
When her doctors tested the substance injected into her body, Brown says it was bathroom caulk. Brown doesn't know what happened to the woman who injected her.
At 47, Brown has had to learn to do everything all over again with prosthetics. She is able to live on her own with the help of an aide that comes in to help her for a few hours a day.
She doesn't want pity; she wants people to listen to her cautionary story.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/01/health/diy-plastic-surgery/index.html?hpt=hp_c2