in short, there’s really this growing consciousness of our export markets on the impact on health, environment etc of what goes into their market. sana, here in Pinas, our regulators do the same too so that consumers’ welfare are well-protected.

BTW, ang ganda ng pink mouse mo Connie

I’ve insisted that my Auntie get health insurance even if it is a little bit pricey there in the Phils, this will give us all peace of mind since she already had some lumps removed 2 years ago.

copied from ABC news:
A New Hope For Breast Cancer PatientsOct.3 2007 (KGO) – You may not be aware of one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. It’s called inflammatory breast cancer, or IBC, and it accounts for only one to five percent of all breast cancers and it’s the most deadly of all. However, a new treatment may help improve patients’ odds against fighting inflammatory breast cancer.

October is breast cancer awareness month — a great time to remember the importance of self breast exams and yearly mammograms for women older than 40. The easiest cancer to cure is cancer caught early.

When Janice Freed was told she had inflammatory breast cancer, she had never heard of the disease — she wasn’t alone.

“As I went through the process of finding doctors, talking to nurses and talking to people, I found more and more and more — even people in the medical profession — have never heard of inflammatory breast cancer. And that frightened me a great deal,” says Janice.

Inflammatory breast disease is very different from most other breast cancers. There is rarely a tell-tale lump so a breast self-exam won’t usually detect it.

“It’s quite an extensive tumor”, says Dr. John Link, M.D. Oncologist.

Typical signs of IBC may include rashes, nipple discharge, redness, swelling, bruising, thickening, or dimpling and usually in only once breast. It is often misdiagnosed.

Inflammatory breast cancer is such an aggressive form of the disease, that doctors typically treat it using all modalities– surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Even then, half of patients do not survive. Now, a drug used to treat metastatic breast cancer in women who have failed herceptin therapy is offering some hope.

The drug Lapatinib, sold under the brand name Tykerb, is now in phase two clinical trials.

“This is a home run. It’s a whole new form of therapy,” says Dr. John Link, M.D. Oncologist.

Lapatainib works by interrupting the signal that tells cancer cells to divide, instead causing cell death.

“It’s interrupting that message that’s telling the cell to be cancer,” says Link.

In a study of the drug on 35 patients with IBC, 30 of them or 86-percent had their tumor shrink by at least 50-percent.

Dr. John Link hopes “that we’ll be able, in a few years, to say that toxic chemotherapy stuff we used to use is, is gone.”

It’s a daily oral pill — which makes it easier for patients.

“The statistics for inflammatory breast cancer are not good but the only two that matter is zero and 100 percent and I intend to be that 100 percent,” says Janice.

Now she has a chance.

For more information and research on this topic click here.

Just a side note, the toys recalled by Fisher Price (I got contacted last month) were from one specific Chinese factory… These guys were using the banned lead component. La lang Hongkong-China, ewan.

Lorena, I’m all for self-exam too.

Rhodora, before getting too scared, remember that a lot of these scares are marketing gimmicks of competitiors.

someone commented in the other blog that after making hypochondriacs of us all, one of these competing companies will come out with the proper medication for hypochondria hehehe

My concern now is – I’ve become afraid to buy food products that come from China. How about those Fuji apples which I used to be very fond of because of their crunchiness and juiciness? They come from China. Miss ko na ito, matagal na akong di bumibili, afraid it might be unsafe.
Sayang, itong mga apples na ito pa naman ang malaking tulong sa akin when I go on fiber diet to detoxify.