Minister of Health Julius Timothy is calling on Dominicans to increase their health consciousness as cancer rates are expected to rise here.
The minister, who addressed the annual general meeting of the Dominica Cancer Society recently, said that escalating obesity epidemics and the consumption of processed foods would bring on this spike in cancer cases.
He said urgent action is needed to help control and prevent the disease.
“Now is the time to do something about it. We all need to work together to reduce the burden of cancers in Dominica. The business places, government and each and every one of us need to join in the fight against cancer. We need to encourage healthy lifestyles by promoting things like cycling, walking, proper food labelling, and establishments that are health conscious,” he said.
The minister reaffirmed that his ministry will continue to advocate for greater awareness of the disease and “continue to work with you (Dominica Cancer Society) and other key organisations to find better solutions to deal with cancers and their complications.”
He lauded the efforts of the cancer society in assisting persons affected with the disease.
“For those persons who were affected by cancer I want to reassure you that all is not over for you. You can have a relatively good quality life. Support groups like this society are doing a great job in helping people like you to come to terms with your disease. I admire this effort and wish that all persons affected with cancer in Dominica will be able to be part of organisations like yours to help them live with the disease,” he stated.
“I sincerely express that this initiative will pave the way for a concerted and more effective response to the health needs of people already affected with cancer and a health care feature for many more generations,” Timothy said.
The Bense Adventist Church is currently doing a seminar on Cancer. On Wednesday, October 27th, 2010, the topic is Diet and Cancer. It starts at 7p.m. at the Bense Adventist Church.
I understand the case being made for proper nutrition. But to suggest that people lived longer 50 or 100 years ago is simply wrong. The world over the live expectancy has been on a steady increase. That is not to say that today’s diet is better. But I just wanted to correct a misconception.
I have to withdraw the bit I mentioned about smoke free environment and secondary smoke.
I see on another previous news item that Jan Henry and others are actually actively considering a plan.
I would add to that smoking cessation clinics being available for those who want to stop.
So well Done on that score.
That is a bit unfair to waylay Fet for his effort. He is being honest if not accurate.
The internet is full of stories about what is good for you and what is bad for you. One week wine is good for you and can prevent cancer and the next week it bad for you and causing cancer. Coffee,alcohol, processed food, super foods, foods high in this high in that, low in this and low in that.
I have actually seen a margerine which claims to not only lower your cholesterol but also decreases its carcinogenic ability.
I do not think that there is any single factor that can be identified and tagged as the cause of cancer. I am not going to mention the genetics of the individual makeup. Again we have women who chop out their breasts becasue the genes are indicating that they may, I repeat may get cancer of the breast.
I think we have to look at our entire lifestyle changes since those centenarians showed us how to live long.
I do not hear anything about smoking coming from this government and its health officials.
When are we going to stop advertising cigarettes and ban smoking in public places?
Secondary smoking is a big killer.
When are we going to start emmision testing on those smelly smoky vehicles that I see driving around my island and in my town?
When are we going to reduce our garbage and stop this stupid land fill business that solid waste is carrying out and reuse, recycle more of our waste?
Why are we continuing to use intensive farming techniques which are not only poisoning us, our consumers and our rivers and waterways for the sake of a quick buck?
When are we going to try and walk a little bit more like we used to in the old days, fete a little bit less, and consume less drinks and drugs?
Next time I want the minister to talk about the biggest killer in the modern world today and how we can tackle its effects.
STRESS!!!!
p.s Whilst we are running around firefighting diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and heart disease, what is the situation with our preventative care medicine in Dominica.
Is the minister still remebering to encourage us to wear our condoms? or have we forgotten about that now?
@Nathaniel Peltier:
Nathaniel, trust me, due to the fertilizer, and pesticides utilized in the production of agricultural products on the island, everyone residing in Dominica presently, and many of us who have left, have become vulnerably to cancer.
If you know of anyone from around 1955, who worked, for the Dominica Banana association, caring the motorized machines on their backs spraying what they called Leaf-spot then; that is a plant disease they said the plants developed, ( simply put it the leaves turn yellow) this chemical sprayed on the banana plant was supposed to eliminate that problem.
Unfortunately, just about all the men who carried the machines on their backs, spraying, and ingesting the chemical; all but a few are dead!
Cause of death?
Cancer!
Let me call the name of a relative mine, and former medical Doctor in Dominica, his name is Jonathan Provost, popularly called Dr. J, even he have a relative who succumb to cancer in the prime of her life at about twenty-eight to thirty years old.
All she ever did in Dominica is agricultural work, and dealing with fertilizer, and all of the other pesticides used, on the plantation, and let me make it abundantly clear, her cancer was not heredity.
I also have relatives who died from cancer, way back in the 1960’s, and I feel safe to associate their death to the same chemicals in question, deriving from the same source.
Just before Hurricane David, I went to Dominica, the taxi dropped me off about a thousand feet from my Grandmother’s house, by the time I walked the distance to the house, I was soaking wet, realizing that I became wet from a substance, that was not water, I ask my cousin Bentley Augustine, what’s that falling from the sky, he informed me that the crop dusters were earlier spraying the plantations from the air, thus when that happens, that chemical is blown by the wind for miles around.
That method of spraying caused that chemical to contaminate the drinking water source, on the other hand, when the fertilizer is spread on the plantation, when it rains, and the water run-off into the rivers, and streams, and that water is drank, what do we expect to happen?
Not only that, Dominica possesses as many artisans Wells, which is the source of our rivers, when the ground is saturated, and even without saturation, the chemical filters into the Wells, which again surface in our rivers, streams, and ultimately our drinking water.
Bentley himself succumbed to Cancer two years ago.
Again, his cancer is
was not heredity. The cause of Cancer is hitting Timothy, and his advisers, smack in their faces, but rather than tackle the problem, to try and resolve the situation, he sits there talking crap about Obesity.
Timothy himself, is obese according to the definition of the word, so he also might be vulnerable to cancer, and as I said before if his statement that obesity causes cancer is correct, by now approximately 99% of the world population would have already succumb to cancer, since just about every third person you walk past in the streets could be classified as an obese person.
So, something does not make in what he is saying!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
@Information:
Madam/Sir, the brief that I rote pertaining to cancer is medically, and scientific correct, that is taught in Medical School, I do not pull crap from out of the sky and present it to people.
Unless you have a medical background, unless you sit half-way through a medical program in medical School, or read the same books that I have studied from and read; be careful how you critique me because in the end I’ll leave you in my dust, and you will not know what hit you?
For your information please read Raven & Johnson Third Edition, and then return and argue with me.
You can also focus on Raven & Johnson Forth Edition also. Most of what you read from my submission you will diccover in both text.
If you read something and you do not understand what the heck you read it would be better if you shot your mouth, some of you the only language your language your petty commonsense causes you to understand and appreciate is the nasty politics you wash in each day Dominica.
I do not have to respond to anything that I read on DNO, however, if only one single person benefit from any of my response, I believe I would have made a minor contribution to someone on earth.
If you shut your mouth long enough, you might just learn something more than some garbage to picket up from a Website. Mine, derive from my academics, the many years I attended College, and University, it did not come to be from some Website, and a computer, okay!
So, till then shut-up, just shut-up!
If you like pseudo medical information, believe what Timothy said, if you want to be educated to the subject, perhaps you should give some thought to what I said.
I reiterate, Obesity does not actually cause Cancer?
Believe it if you wish, reject a known fact if you wish, I do not care!
You do not even have a name, yet you are arguing, and disputing someone who has a name and knows what I am talking about.
Do you think I am such an idiot to come here disseminating false information, talking crap knowing that there are medical doctors in my circle reading my submission on DNO?
You crazy or something!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
Whilst obesity and fast food are certainly becoming an issue with the youngsters of today, the prevalence of cancer is Dominica surely has more to do with the toxic agro chemicals used routinely and indiscriminately by so much of Dominica’s farming community. For example, the Herbicide Gramoxone contains a highly carcinogenic ingredient, Paraquat, already banned for sale in most developed countries, yet nevertheless still pedalled to nations like ours willing to import these killer chemicals for distribution among farmers who rarely read the small print on the packaging. Many of DOWASCO’s catchment areas like, for example, Salisbury and Morne Rachet, contain a lot of farmland where such chemicals are used intensively. Every time we have heavy rain it all washes down into our water supply!
I am just sick of all them talk talk talk.
Start to improve our health conditions in Dominica by making health care available to all….stop all this talk.
It is long over due,,,make funds available for improved health care. Stop wasting the little money we have on all sorts of nonesense.
I am just fed up with all this talk and no action.
Choops
Ps.
You have to also appreciate that when the Mr. Timothy makes a statement on health issues he is not pulling the information from his …
He is not a medical professional and therefore, is supported by a network of them. It is true that we need a long term plan for chronic diseases at home but that does not take away from the issue that obesity is a problem on the island.
By the way, I am not a supporter of this particular government, I just needed to clarify some erroneous statements/ concepts here.
Pesticides and other carcinogens also cause cancer as others have mentioned
@FET and others
Before you write statements about topics for which you are not experts of, a basic search on the Internet would educate you.
Please visit http://www.cancer.gov
the diseases listed below are of particular interest to the population in Dominica.
In 2001, experts concluded that cancers of the colon, breast (postmenopausal), endometrium (the lining of the uterus), kidney, and esophagus are associated with obesity. Some studies have also reported links between obesity and cancers of the gallbladder, ovaries, and pancreas (4).
—-
Obesity and physical inactivity may account for 25 to 30 percent of several major cancers—colon, breast (postmenopausal), endometrial, kidney, and cancer of the esophagus (4).
Preventing weight gain can reduce the risk of many cancers. Experts recommend that people establish habits of healthy eating and physical activity early in life to prevent overweight and obesity. Those who are already overweight or obese are advised to avoid additional weight gain, and to lose weight through a low-calorie diet and exercise. Even a weight loss of only 5 to 10 percent of total weight can provide health benefits (4).
FET Hypothesis you meant right? Lol! OMG!
You want to reduce the cancer rate on this island?
Then turn it back to what it was 100 yrs. ago in the way of farming and producing its own food, free from herbicides, pesticides (except natural ones), and adulterated processed food stuffs being imported which contain GMO’s and plastics with BPA (bisphenyl A) in which most drinks are housed. They are now also lining tin cans with BPA so that it leaches into the food inside the cans, that includes pet foods also.
Test the agriculture products coming from other countries such as Guyana, the U.S. and other countries through Dexia for pesticides especially the rice. I am almost positive that you will find contaminants.
If you want to prevent cancer, start looking at what is coming into the country, the toxic fertilizers and chemicals and educate people that chemicals are NOT generally safe as the manufacturers want you to believe and should be used minimally. They want you to buy their products and don’t care if you get sick from them. Especially those toxic moth balls from China which contain benzene.
The body does not recognize or know what to do with food stuffs, such as GMO foods, so it stores them as fat. Pesticides and herbicides are also stored in fat. The fats on the meats eaten have stored toxins from foods that the animal has eaten.
The reason people used to live so long here a century ago was because most of the food consumed was grown right here on the island with no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, artificial hormones or herbicides in the food.
Now these substances are taken up by the plants and animals grown and passed on into our systems when they are eaten as a part of the food chain.
We can stop this by demanding true organically grown food substances and cleaning up and discontinuing the practice of chemical farming on this island. A nature island doesn’t practice chemical farming.
Simply put, cancer is caused by trauma or toxins which at some point cause mutation on the cellular level. There are also cancer genes called oncogenes which can be triggered at some point to initiate and perpetuate the development of cancer, which is comprised of cells which are adulterated and multiply at different rates and are oblivious to other surrounding tissues, though some cancers may eventually invade those tissues also as it spreads.
Make Dominica a true nature island again.
Zem,
I’m really happy for the number of infrastructural projects our government is doing for us…… BUT…BUT….. I’ve notice that this government is a very reactive government!!!
You’re asking ..what long or short term plans the government has in place??? Sorry to tell you that but as I said… I’ve noticed that our government is a very reactive one…. [especially when it comes to the social development of our land].
the answer is little or none!!
***Thank you STAFFEE****** You made a good point and let me also add………………
Is the government even thinking about banning certain imported processed foods or drinks???????? NO!!!! So stop talking foolishness for us Mr. minister because your government is not serious yet about aggressively taking action!! Once again we always asked people to do this and do that……..but we still have the IMPORT GATE wide open so anybody can import all kind of foolish drinks & foods we see on american television!!!!!. Ground provision is not good enough for us anymore.
well i guess we must pack up all dem k.f.c n dominioes,,,to much chemicals in our soil,,,which end up in our water supply,,,,but he won’t say that for it would cause fear n panic hhhhmmm,,,i simply believe in d.a too many times we know the problem but refuse to act on them,,,,,we only speak speak and more speak,,,now when someone does bring up a solution of some sort,,,then we say undertaking such would be a burden on gov’t treasury hhhhhmmmmmm
@Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque:
I really do hope that your opinion is wrong. If you are right this would mean that we have just started to see cases of cancer.
I think that if that was the case the number would be much bigger.
On another note what are we to draw from the medical lecture you have put forward.
tHE USE OF CHLORINE IN DOMINICA’S PIPPED WATER IS SEVERELY UNREGULATED. tHIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE IN THE COUNTRY AREAS. cHLORINE IS A POISION! CHLORINE IS ALSO THE ELEMENT IN YOUR BODY RESPONSIBLE FOR INCREASING YOUR APPETITE. MR. MINISTER, IF THE PEOPLE ARE FAT LOOK TO THE HILLS FROM WHENCE IT CAME FROM. WHEREFORE UPON THOSE GREEN AND BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS AND HILLS DOES CORRUPTION MINGLETH IN OUR WATER?
” There is no other didderence between the normal and cancer-inducing forms of the ras gene.”
The above quote in my previous submission should read: ” there is no other difference between the normal and cancer-inducing forms of gene. ”
Whereas I am on the subject, I wish to clarify something here: Though I am absolutely correct that ” obesity” does not cause cancer!
I need to explain that obesity might be a contributing factor to ” proliferation and tumor formation.”
We know the fat cells of the breasts are very suspect, since cancer like fat cells, however the way in which Timothy stated it; is disseminating incorrect information.
And let us not forget that Fertilizer and pesticides are both very carcinogenic, substances, which I believe has caused many of our citizens since the late 1950’s to fall victim to cancer. Our concentration should be on cleaning up the mess that has made its way into our drinking water system, and even the ground ( the earth which we like to sit on and argue, and drink the bad rum.
Hahahahahahahahahahah!
We consume too much local food that, is saturated with fertilizer, and pesticides, and unless we curtail the consumption of these chemicals via the food we eat, and the water we drink, cancer will become epidemic in Dominica.
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
“Escalating obesity epedermics and the consumption of processed foods brings in the spike in cancer cases”
Too much big belly people around. The restaurants must bring back the dasheens, tania, yam, green bananas, the plantain, fresh meat, fresh fish… vegies and local juices… passion fruit, orange, grape fruit, and bois banday.
And too much stale chicken, as for sodas.. soft drinks, and pizzas etc.
Some of the diseases will remain where those nutty foods came out.
The Minister of Health has no Moral Authority to advice anyone about the dangers of Cancer. He and his DLP GOVT. has failed the people, saying one thing and doing the exact opposite…….. He should be ASHAMED. REALLY ASHAMED.
Just recently, The Minister of Health, the Minister of the Environment, and the entire DLP Govt. never supported the residents of Layou who were concerned about their HEALTH, blocked roads, advocated consistently to NO AVAIL about the building of an ASPHALT PLANT close to their village. NONE of them listened.
The DLP Govt. agreed with the Big Money man, Gardakhan instead. Planning Division gave the businessman permission to build even though initially he began illegally, putting things in place, ordered equipment without first obtaining a license to do so.
The ASPHALT PLANT releases millions of pounds of chemicals to the air during production including many cancer-causing toxic air pollutants such as ARSENIC, BENZENE, FORMALDEHYDE and CADMIUM. Other toxic chemicals, including volatile organic compounds, HYDROCARBONS and very fine condensed particles are released into the air as the asphalt is loaded unto trucks and hauled from the plant site.
The villagers were concerned about the negative impacts that the fumes from that ASPHALT Plant would have on their health. Exposure of those TOXIC HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS cause CANCER, CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM PROBLEMS, LIVER DAMAGE, RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS and SKIN IRRITATION. ASPHALT FUMES also contain substances known to cause COUGHING, WHEEZING, OR SHORTAGE OF BREATH, HEADACHES, DIZZINESS and NAUSEA.
So Govt. on one hand, disregarded the residents of Layou, disrespected their legitimate concerns especially relating to their health, gives the BIG MAN permission to build ASPHALT PLANT close to their village that would cause CANCER, then hypocritically, talks of all kinds of Nonsense to the CANCER SOCIETY. Who is the Minister fooling again? What is that Govt. up to again? The usual PAWOL en BOUCHE. FOOLING THE PEOPLE AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN…
Mr Minister what the role of your ministry, the ministry of Education, and Agriculture regarding Cancer prevention and healthy lifestyles? Cancer has to be dealt with in a well organized way not by one ministry!
Please Get it right Sir! When will folks in Dominica get out of the tou chaud to flame mentality? When its Aids week every man jack talking bout Aids, when its Drugs sure to fine some bright person to come and spice up the people and then- see your next year; and the list goes on…. This seasonal way of thinking is a perfect of bad planning and goal setting. There has to be plan to deal with issues of state, be it long term or short term…
So now you hearing about cancer- which is indeed serious – but what plans have the state put in place – long term and short term…
“The minister, who addressed the annual general meeting of the Dominica Cancer Society recently, said that escalating obesity epidemics and the consumption of processed foods would bring on this spike in cancer cases.”
Is the above quote correct?
I would have to leave, that question to a Dominica born Cancer specialist living here in America, to answer that question from a medical point of view, and though I am of the opinion that processed food can be a contributing factor to some form of cancer due to the chemicals used in the processed food, I must refute Timothy’s claim, since modern medicine does not support his hypostasis, nor theory.
However, if obesity caused cancer as Timothy claimed, it’s probable that 99% of the worlds population would have long succumb to Cancer.
In Dominica’s case one of the major causes of cancer might be in my personal opinion, the amount of chemical, and pesticides, used on the agricultural plantations. When it rains residue of these pesticides run off and settle into our drinking water system. Thus the water we drink may not be fit for human consumption.
Perhaps rather than talking crap about obesity, we may spend some time on one of the real problem, which might be these chemicals through run-off; makes its way even into our Artisan Wells, which are the main sources of our water supply.
Dr. Johnny, I think I would appreciate your input on this one since you are a specialist in that field of medicine
Nevertheless, though I am not a practicing medical doctor, here is a brief on what I was taught sometime during the short period when I attempted to become a medical doctor:
The analysis of a number of onc genes associated with cancers of various tissues has led to the following conclusions:
The induction of many cancers involves changes in cellular activities that occur at the inner surface of the plasma membrane. In a normal cell these activities are associated with the initiation of cell division. In one well-studied example a cellular regulatory protene, epidremal growth factor (EGF), binds to a specific receptor on the inner plasma membrane, acts as a tyrosine kinases, and triggers cell division.
In this process a protein encoded by a gene called ras is associated with membrane EGF receptor site and detrmines what cellular levels of EGF are adequate to initiate cell division.
In several forms of human cancer the cancerous, or onc, version of the ras-encoded protein activates the receptor site in response to much lower levels of EGF that does the normal version of the proteine.
The difference between a normal gene encoding the proteins that carry out cell division, and a cancer-inducing onc version need only be a single-point mutation in the DNA. In several human carcinomas induced by ras, a single nucleotide alteration is the only difference between the normal and the cancer-caus-ing version of the gene; in one case of ras-induced blader cancer, for example, a single deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) base change from G to T converts a glycine in the normal ras protein into a valine in the cancer-causing protein.
There is no other didderence between the normal and cancer-inducing forms of the ras gene.
The mutation of a gene such as ras to an onc form in different tissues can lead to different forms of cancer. There are probably no more than a few dozen different genes whose mutation can lead to cancer, and there may be far fewer than that.
Cancer, unrestrained invasive cell growth; a tumor of cell mass resulting from uncontrollable cell devision, a result of mutational damage that destroys the normal control of cell division. A cancer cell is said to be “malignant,” although by no means all tissues, malignant cells can migrate to other body regions (metastasize), where they form secondary tumors.
The induction of many cancers involves the action of two or more different onc genes. The initiation of cancer may require changes at both the plasma membrane and in the nucleus. This may be the reason why most cancers occur in people over 40 years old.
It is as if human cells accumulate mutational changes, and time is requied for several such mutations to occur in the same cells.
The emerging picture of cancer is one that involves aborted regulation of the genes that normally signal the onset of cell proliferation. Cancer seems to occur when several of the controls that cells normally impose on their own growth and division becomes inoperative.
Among the examples that have been studied in detail, the specific means whereby these controls are evaded vary, nonetheless, many of them involve one of two general causes. In the first case, cancer may result from the mutation of a cellular gene with a regulatory function,as in the case of the ras gene, whose mutant onc from induces human bladder carcinomas.
In the second case, cancer may result from the introduction of a normal cellular gene with a regulatory function into a cell as part of a virus, so that the gene escapes the cell’s regulation.
Note: Cancer is a growth disease of cells, in which the controls that normally restrict cell proliferation do not operate. The critical factor in inducing cancer seems to be the inappropriate activation of one or more proteins that regulate cell division, transforming cells to a state of cancerous growth.
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
As long as there are Gramoxone, and other dangerous chemicals on the Island, the cancer rates will rise for sure. Time to re-think the chemicals we put into our soil and our bodies!