Environmental Lawyer Al Meyerhoff's Chemical War On Cancer

Before his passing on Dec. 21, environmental lawyer Al Meyerhoff wrote an op-ed for the LA Times, discussing what he called the "irony" of being diagnosed with leukemia and relying on chemicals to wage a "war on cancer" after a lifetime of fighting against wider use of chemicals believed to be dangerous and carcinogenic:

I have leukemia. Those must be among the most frightening words in the English language. My particular form of the disease, called acute myeloid leukemia, was diagnosed a few weeks ago. It was a shock but not a complete surprise. About a year ago, I was found to have a rare blood disorder called myelodysplastic syndrome, which attacks red blood cells, causing anemia. My form of that disorder had only about a 5% chance of morphing into AML. It beat the odds.

Leukemia was once a death sentence. No more. Through a combination of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, it now is actually curable. Sometimes.

The rest of his op-ed, "Chemicals: Our champions, our killers" is available on the LA Times' site.

Meyerhoff's obituary in the LA Times recounted his character and battles:

"He was a rare combination of intellect, passion, humor, creativity and absolute commitment to the public interest, particularly those less fortunate in terms of economic and social circumstances," Reynolds said. "He had a brilliant mind and a heart as big as a Volkswagen."

To pressure the chemical industry to agree to tougher standards on pesticides, Meyerhoff invoked a little-used Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act amendment that prohibited animal carcinogens in processed foods.

"The tactic forced a crisis requiring the industry to negotiation," Meyerhoff later recounted, and led to the Food Quality Protection Act, which resulted in the ban of several dozen carcinogenic pesticides.

Comments

[TimNorman]

Dont forget stabilized rice bran, dulse and kelp (eat twice as much red seaweed as green) organic hemp oil. Oxygen suplements. The earth has 70% less oxygen in 100 years. Healthy electromagentic pulse therapy machines are available too. Vitamin C if you were a 180 pound bear you would produce 20-30 grams of Vitamin c per day.

[drblack]

Water is a chemical. Water isn't organic though.
Life would not exist if there were no chemicals.
In order to protect the environment people MUST understand science.
Learn the meaning of words and the terminology to start.

[ZellaBee]

RIP. He sounds like a great guy. It's sad that someone fighting so hard to decrease the chemical usage on this planet has left us so soon.

[zanbama]

Oh Wow! I just got home a few hours ago from the hospital visiting my friend. She was diagnosed about 2 yrs ago with breast cancer. She had her right breast removed , but the cancer spread to her lungs now. She has been doing CHEMO, but it is making her so ill, so ill since I've been helping her at home she has been to the hospital at least 5 x's. Today she told me the cancer spread to her brain. No more Chemo for a while until her radiation is finished, but I think she decided to stop the chemo. A friend told me about CANCERTUTOR.COM....alternative medicine. I'm hoping I can find someone to help explain the info on this website.

[ddanimal]

For starters, there are several nutrients/foods that your friend should read about, and take in large doses:

Coenzyme Q10
Vitamin K2 (MK7+MK4 forms)
Iodine
Vitamin D
Vitamin C
Raw liver
Cod liver oil
Curcumin
alpha lipoic acid

And of course, my favorite, coffee enemas.

There is s strong link between breast cancer and bromine exposure.

more info at www.lef.org

[ddanimal]

Chemotherapy generally doesnt work on people over about 50 years old. This guy should not have taken chemo. If you are past middle age, chemo will kill you more quickly, even if it reduces the size of the tumor. There are much better natural treatments (CoQ10, vitmain D, vitamin K2, juicing, raw liver...).

[danaherbert]

RAW foods will help prevent and help reverse cancer. Everything must be RAW, not cooked, processed or pasteurized. William Donald Kelley, DDS who wrote "One Answer For Cancer" said "if you plant a raw potato it will grow. If you boil a potato and plant it, it will not grow, it will only rot."

[Sheila S]

Al believed that there was often a 30-year latency period between chemical exposure and cancer. He spent many years in and around the farms and fields in the California valley fighting for the health and civil rights of migrant workers in the early 70s. I hope that in some ironic twist of fate his work during those years, and his exposure to the chemicals that he fought so long and hard to have banned, did not lead to his tragic death at such an early age.

He will be missed.

[wildmother]

Bless everyone who is fighting and educating about the chemicals that are destroying our health and planet.

I have been displaced from my home and very ill with nuero toxic exposure for over three years. The Philadelphia political connections with this 
contaminated site have done everything possible to cover it up.  This article is about the connection of violence with toxic neighborhoods.

 http://www.zerowasteamerica.org/Toxics&Violence.htm

This is a video of Kids doing a "Toxic Soil Buster" project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVujmVfL1Z8

This is my fight www.greenuptoxicphiladelphia.com

I need some earth warriors like Al Meyerhoff to help me!

Hear that Al! Send in an army!

[unabletostomachit]

what a wonderful human being, someone who truely dedicated themselves to the service of others. Over the years there has been lots of research done regarding cancer, believe it or not, some of the research indicates diet as a leading cause and the most promising way to combat it. Unforfunately the cancer industry is just that, an "industry"

[JayZee]

A quote from the article:

"There is no organic chemotherapy. In fact, I think of these chemicals as my soldiers in a war going on in my blood. A war on cancer, if you will. The old industry slogan was right: Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible.'

so sad to read that he had to drink the kool aid before his death.
Many plants have effective anti-mycobacterial and cytotoxic properties, a plant needs antifungals to survive.Sheesh.

"Chemotherapy has had good results with a few rare cancers, about five percent of cancer patients yearly. But according to author Ralph Moss, the drugs were given to at least 700,000 people in 1991. It is alarming to note that very few doctors would take their own medicine if they contracted cancer. In one survey of 118 doctors, 79 responded. Fifty-eight (73 percent) said they would never take any chemotherapy due to its high toxicity and ineffectiveness. The pharmaceutical companies are making a fortune though. Chemotherapy drug sales were 3.1 billion in 1989, by 1995 they had almost tripled to 8.6 billion. Predicted sales in 1999 were 13.7 billion."
http://www.getipm.com/personal/cancer-racket.htm

[Trebla]

JayZee,
this is just not true. I am a physician and I have had chemotherapy for my Lymphoma. I'm doing fine, thanks for asking. When I was in medical school 30 years ago my chance for 5 year survival from this was about 5%. Now it is about 95%. My uncle, my great uncle, my grandmother and my aunt all died from my kind of cancer. It seems I have to find another mode of exit because of the obvious success of chemotherapy

[ddanimal]

There are some specific cancers for which chemotherapy is effective. What kind of lymphoma are you referring to? Your experience with lymphoma is the exception rather than the rule.

Outside of cancers in young people under 30, there is little evidence that chemotherapy is effective. And when it doesnt work, it kills you faster and more painfully.

[MossyOak]

If you are a physician then you are part of the problem if you prescribe the amount of unnecessary pharmaceuticals given out to people in this country. I dropped out of med school because all I heard was "drug for this, drug for that" and that "nutrition" was nonsense. Since then I have sat in on on drug company dinners where the reps tell doctors, "If you sell X amount of Y drug, we'll send you and your wife to Hawaii." You need to ask yourself why you and the rest of your family have lymphoma and look for the cause instead of touting the pharmaceutical "cure."

[ddanimal]

Drug companies are criminal organizations, and doctors are their brainwashed pawns.

Its no wonder that drug companies want to keep medical marijuana illegal. marijuana has anti-cancer effects, too.

[LordMoon]

This is so sad.

[meme13]

Rest in Peace. Thank you for fighting the good fight all these years until the very end.

[fcsakes]

An immeasurable loss to family and friends - a devastating loss of a brilliant, tireless fighter for us all.

[bathreya]

Al Meyerhoff was also a tremendous champion for ending the abuse of sweatshop workers. He litigated the groundbreaking case against two dozen major garment companies to end the trafficking and abuse of Asian sweatshop workers in Saipan. He will be sorely missed.

[drricklippin]

A tragic loss and a brave person to write this.

A partial legacy/tribute to Al Meyerhoff WOULD be a re-write of the US TSCA law to become more like European model

However believe it when I tell you that most cancers are multifactoral and RARELY from a single synthetic chemical. Genetics, health habits and the general and workplace environments usually play interactive roles.

While young people get cancer without a doubt the biggest risk for cancer is the aging process.

So we will never "cure" all cancers. Those who tell you that are being dishonest.

Reducing toxic chemicals will help

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton, Pa

[FoundingMothers]

Yes - total load eventually creates the tipping point that blossoms into cancer.

I think we have underestimated the effect toxic chemicals play in the total load though. Cancer is just the end game.
Testing was never required to see how the body is affected by constant low level exposure. Testing usually looks at death and cancer.
Exposure to toxic chemicals uses up nutrients. Some chemicals mimic hormones in the body. Constant exposures can lead to the break down of protective mechanisms - as in the nose.


The real activity of toxic chemicals on the human body falls far and wide outside the narrow parameters of the field of toxicology and we better work on a better understanding of just how.

[PerfumeisToxic]

We are being bombarded everyday with toxic cancer causing petrochemicals and no one is concerned. People use toxic fragrances everywhere, even around babies, eat toxic food, use toxic cleaning products, and then wonder why they are getting sick.