Welcome to the Rethinking Cancer Newsletter #53.
Half a century ago, Marshall McLuhan, philosopher of communication theory, became famous for coining phrases like “global village” and “the medium is the message” and for predicting the World Wide Web almost 30 years before it’s arrival. But he also warned, “When things come at you very fast, naturally you lose touch with yourself.”
Also in the 1960s, Thomas Merton, mystic and philosopher who inspired the rise of spiritual exploration with his best selling books on Eastern philosophy and Zen Buddhism, noted: “Man was made for the highest activity, which is, in fact, his rest.” Merton acted on this by stepping out of the rat race and into a Cistercian cloister.
We’re not recommending joining a monastery, just suggesting that, as summer officially arrives in the Northern Hemisphere, why not take a cue from these foresighted figures. Set aside a little time to slow down, smell some roses and “surf” your inner dialogue, free of digital interruptions.
To your health!
Foundation for Advancement in Cancer Therapy (FACT)
P.S. Don’t forget to check out our film, Rethinking Cancer, now streaming on Amazon! Thanks for your great support and — when you’re not smelling the roses — join us on Twitter, Facebook and ourYouTube channel!
What Causes Melanoma Cancer — Is It All About the Sun?
By Miles Price
We’re all aware of the repeated advice “Don’t go in the sun, you’ll increase your risk of sunburn and skin cancer,” and by and large we believe this is true. Cancer organizations link UV exposure to various types of skin cancer with Melanoma linked particularly to intermittent sun exposure, however there are a few anomalies published highlighting findings that it is not as straightforward as we think.
A study published in June 2014 by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden1, showed that women who avoided sunbathing in summer were twice as likely to die as those who sun bathe every day. So avoiding the sun at all costs by putting on sunscreen is doing more harm than good! Let’s delve deeper… Read More
What Is This?
Some sort of globular fantasy from the mind of a sci-fi film director? Actually, it’s a section of sage leaf — produced by optical microscopy, also known as light microscopy. Optical microscopy can be traced back to the 17th century with the invention of the first microscope equipped with three lenses. The microscope uses visible light and a system of lenses to magnify objects up to thousands of times.
You’ll find this and many other fascinating and spectacularly beautiful micro-optics in the bookInvisible Worlds: Exploring Microcosms by Julie Coquart. The author suggests trying to guess the common objects from nature, biology, chemistry, medicine, minerology, textiles — before reading the explanations. Warning: afterwards, you may find yourself looking at things differently…..
Cannabis — the New “It” Plant
It’s not surprising that a plant, used for over 10,000 years for healing a wide variety of ailments, is just now being seriously studied by the conventional medical community. Studies are costly and huge profits are generally not expected from marketing a whole natural plant (not to mention, plenty of push-back from Big Pharma, which views such plants as big competition for their synthetic drugs). The real surprise is that this new hot botanical is cannabis, otherwise known as ” marijuana,” “weed,” “grass,” “pot,” etc., the colorful and controversial source of the psychedelic “high” that figured so prominently in the ‘60’s and beyond.
Times are a-changing, largely because the mounting evidence of benefits coupled with public wariness of pharmaceutical drugs, is just too powerful to ignore. Today, 23 states plus Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for medical use (with varying policy restrictions) in a panoply of conditions like PTSD, cancer, seizure disorders, MS, Parkinson’s, pain and insomnia, and more.
This is the good news. For some, the bad news may be that the most medicinally potent strains of cannabis do not contain enough of those psychoactive constituents needed to produce the typical “high” associated with the plant. Medical marijuana derives its power from a different mix of components. Read More
Cannabis Cake?
Usually, we like to offer you a recipe containing a featured food in the newsletter. However, when it comes to cannabis, it wouldn’t be fair because, at this point in time, good quality strains of edible medical marijuana are very hard to come by in the U.S. Unless you’re willing to move to Colorado, you will have a very hard time being approved for and obtaining the good health-giving stuff. Though 23 states and Washington D.C. have approved some limited medical use of the plant, bills are pending in 7 states and have failed in 11 others. Moreover, the federal government still bans cannabis in any form, creating an atmosphere of fear, especially for those crossing state lines to obtain help for themselves or a loved one.
The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States (CARERS) Act, introduced by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), seeks to drastically reduce the federal government’s ability to crack down on state-legal medical marijuana programs and encourage more research into the plant through several major changes in federal law.
People have the right to make their own medical choices. So the recipe is: take action!
Become informed on this subject and let your elected representatives know how you feel!
