It is the the most lethal brain tumour of them all: glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a grade 4 astrocytoma with a global incidence of eight to nine cases per 100,000 people.
Glioblastoma multiforme is an incurable brain tumour that is also very aggressive. — AFP
GBM commonly affects men more than women. Although it affects people of all ages, it occurs most frequently in those aged between 55 to 60 years old.
It is also very hardy and constantly recurs despite the most aggressive treatments, rendering it incurable.
According to Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia consultant neurosurgeon Professor Dr Zamzuri Idris, studies have shown that GBM patients on treatment have an average survival of 15 months at best, with only approximately one-fifth of patients surviving two years after diagnosis.
Hospital Sungai Buloh Neurosurgery Department head Datuk Dr Azmin Kass Rosman says that the current standard treatment consists of surgical removal of the brain tumour, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The Stupp protocol, where the chemotherapy drug temozolamide is used with radiotherapy after surgery, has been adapted as the standard of care for treatment since its landmark introduction in 2005.
However, recent years have seen new breakthroughs in the cancer, especially in the understanding of glioblastoma biology, development of modern neurosurgery, improved radiotherapy options and the rapid advancements in immunotherapy.
Molecular checkpoints
Immunotherapy is a medical therapy designed to improve, supplement, or even replace conventional cancer treatments, in an attempt to reduce or remove cancerous growths by utilising the body’s natural defence mechanisms to fight off cancerous cells.
In fact, the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo for their work in describing this mechanism.
It is a very exciting field, and if it becomes viable, can hopefully help us to eradicate cancer.
Our immune system has the ability to discriminate between “self” (our own cells) and “non-self” (foreign cells) in order to protect the body against illnesses and infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites.
They can also eliminate unhealthy cells, including those that show signs of being cancerous.
In order to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy cells, our immune system is equipped with immune checkpoints, which can be the difference between cells living and dying.
When these immune checkpoints are hijacked by cancer cells, the immune system is “switched off”, allowing these cancer cells to gain the ability to disguise themselves and escape the checkpoint.
As the immune system now does not see these cells as unhealthy, it therefore allows them to multiply and the tumour grows.
For our immune system to identify these cancer cells as a problem and fight against them, it is crucial to remove these compromised immune checkpoints by using a checkpoint inhibitor.
By modulating the immune checkpoint’s activity via the checkpoint inhibitor, it is possible to harness our own immune system to act as an anti-cancer therapy.
Over the past few years, immunotherapy for GBM has gained wide interest.
The presence of the blood-brain barrier, which filters out many molecules, is the main challenge in GBM treatment.
However, studies have found that immune cells are capable of reaching brain tumours, making immunotherapy a viable treatment option.
Clinical development
Last year, the first randomised phase 3 clinical trial, CheckMate-143, of immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab was carried out to evaluate its efficacy and safety in patients with first recurrence of GBM.
However, it did not meet its primary endpoint of improved overall survival.
Several other immunotherapy treatments that showed promising results in early phase studies, had limited responses when observed in larger phase 3 clinical trials.
Meanwhile, a recent finding published in the journal Nature Medicine suggests that neoadjuvant administration (administration of therapeutic agents before a main treatment) of the checkpoint inhibitor enhances antitumour response and significantly extended overall survival of GBM patients.
This clinical trial may provide a way to extend survival in patients, alongside the use of chemotherapy, radiation or surgery.
Nevertheless, getting these GBM drugs to phase 3 trials is indeed a positive sign, seeing that it takes several years to even pass the phase 2 trials.
It is worth noting that clinical practice and laboratory studies are two different worlds.
Often, introducing new state-of-the-art treatment options into daily clinical practice is a gigantic task.
To date, immunotherapy is a promising field that holds boundless potential to succeed in areas where current therapies have not, but it is still necessary and crucial to acknowledge the capabilities and limitations of our resources and seek to understand the potential adverse effects of this new therapy.
Our ultimate aim would be to totally eradicate GBM not just by prolonging survival, but also by creating a meaningful and functional life for patients and their caregivers.
Straight from their own mouths, oncologists reveal why their goal isn't to treat you as an individual. These cancer patients found that truth hard to swallow and instead chose to buck the system, including a glioblastoma brain tumor patient who's still alive 19 years later because he did.
Atrocious State of Cancer Treatment in the U.S.
April 09, 2016 • 533,315views
Story at-a-glance
Despite a decades-long war on cancer, and the “most advanced” treatments known to 21st-century oncologists, many cancer diagnoses remain a death sentence
Patient requests for possible experimental, natural or outside-the-box treatments are typically denied by oncologists who refuse to deviate from the hospital’s standard protocol
The film “Surviving Terminal Cancer” follows the story of those who have survived terminal cancer by bucking the system and taking their health and cancer treatment into their own hands
By Dr. Mercola
Being diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain tumor, is considered a death sentence by modern medicine.
Despite a decades-long war on cancer, and the "most advanced" treatments known to 21st century oncologists, people who develop this aggressive, fast-growing cancer are given a prognosis of about 15 months to live — if they're lucky.
Aggressive treatment, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, is often started, even though oncologists know it won't cure the disease. If you ever find yourself in this type of nightmarish scenario, you can imagine the desperation you would feel to find something, anything, that might offer hope.
Most people turn to their oncologists or neurosurgeons with such requests for possible experimental or outside-the-box treatments, but you're unlikely to receive any help that deviates from the hospital's standard protocol.
It's not that such treatment options don't exist; they do. The problem is that the oncologist can't, or won't, prescribe them. To do so would risk his or her reputation and even medical license, should you decide to sue.
The film interviews a number of oncologists that carefully describe their predicament. But the problem is even larger than this. Modern cancer care is not set up to treat you, an individual. Their primary goal is to validate experimental therapies for future cancer patients many years down the road.
Due to regulatory red tape, drug-company greed, failures in the scientific process and lack of a universal will to do what's best for each and every patient, modern cancer care fails an unacceptable percentage of the time.
As Albert Einstein said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This describes modern cancer treatment in a nutshell.
How One Man Survived Terminal Cancer
Ben Williams, Ph.D., professor emeritus of Experimental Psychology at University of California, San Diego, shouldn't be here today. He should be one of the statistics — 1 of the more than 15,000 people who die from glioblastoma multiforme in the U.S. every year.1
Yet, he's alive — 19 years after his initial glioblastoma multiforme diagnosis. His survival was brushed off as a rare fluke by his doctors, but Williams believes otherwise.
In his book "Surviving Terminal Cancer: Clinical Trials, Drug Cocktails, and Other Treatments Your Oncologist Won't Tell You About," he details the multi-faceted strategy he used to overcome the disease. You can hear him tell his story first-hand in the film "Surviving Terminal Cancer," above.
It's becoming increasingly clear that in order to outsmart cancer, you've got to attack it from multiple angles, especially in the case of complex brain cancer. And that's what Williams did.
He described a mushroom extract that's used routinely to treat cancer in Japan. It has zero toxicity, but it's not even mentioned in the U.S.
He did his own research, finding out about the potential to use existing non-cancer medications off label to treat the deadly disease. Once a patent expires on a drug, its potential to rake in major profits plummets. As such, drug companies typically abandon them in favor of newer, more profitable pursuits.
Abandoned Drugs Show Promise but Oncologists Won't Prescribe Them
Some of these abandoned drugs have shown promise for glioblastoma multiforme, but they're not offered to U.S. patients. While I'm not in favor of over-prescribing medications, if you're facing a deadly prognosis you're probably willing to risk the side effects if it gives you a chance for survival.
High-dose tamoxifen, a breast cancer drug, is one such medication that has shown some promise in treating glioblastoma multiforme.2
The anti-malaria drug chloroquine is another.3 There's even a good chance your neuro-oncologist may be aware of the promising studies done with these drugs, but he or she won't offer them as a potential treatment because they're considered experimental. As Williams said:
"It made absolutely no sense to me not to use everything that might have a benefit as long as the toxicities were acceptable. Why wouldn't anyone want to add them? It seemed to be totally irrational that people didn't use everything that was available."
When Modern Medicine Fails Them, Cancer Patients Turn to Self-Medication and the Black Market
In order to survive, Williams turned to self-medicating, a dangerous prospect by any account but, again, when your life is at stake you're willing to take the risk. And his story is not unique.
Many have traveled to other countries, forged prescriptions, feigned illnesses to get access to different medications and even traded medications and nutraceuticals on the "black market" in order to have even a chance at survival.
In Williams' case, his daily cocktail of off-label medications and natural products worked. In just six months, his brain tumor had disappeared and it hasn't been back since.
There are more than a handful of others who have defied odds and lived long term with glioblastoma multiforme, and they've taken matters into their own hands too.
Williams now spends the bulk of his time trying to help others with terminal cancer, and he makes his book, which he updates annually, free to cancer patients in need.
Natural Cancer Fighters Overlooked by Modern Medicine
Nature is an invaluable resource for fighting cancer, yet natural products, even those that have been intensely studied, are also left out of cancer patients' treatment plans. Curcumin — one of the most well-studied bioactive ingredients in turmeric — is one glaring example.
It exhibits over 150 potentially therapeutic activities, including anti-cancer properties.
As noted by Dr. William LaValley — a leading natural medicine cancer physician whom I've previously interviewed on this topic — curcumin is unique in that it appears to be universally useful for just about every type of cancer.
Superficially, this appears unusual considering the fact that cancer consists of a wide variety of different nuclear genetic defects. One reason for this universal anti-cancer proclivity is curcumin's ability to decrease the primary mitochondrial dysfunction that is likely one of the foundational causes of cancer. Once it gets into a cell, it also affects more than 100 different molecular pathways.
And, as explained by LaValley, whether the curcumin molecule causes an increase in activity of a particular molecular target or decrease/inhibition of activity, studies repeatedly show that the end result is a potent anti-cancer activity. Moreover, curcumin is virtually non-toxic, and does not adversely affect healthy cells, suggesting it selectively targets cancer cells — all of which are clear benefits in cancer treatment.
Research has even shown that it works synergistically with certain chemotherapy drugs, enhancing the elimination of cancer cells. If you have cancer, curcumin is one substance you should be taking, but your oncologist won't recommend it.
To Survive Cancer, Many Must Defy Their Doctors
Should you bring up the fact that you are using approaches to fight cancer that are outside of your oncologist's realm of experience — things like supplements, medical marijuana, herbal preparations, and more — you might be scolded, berated, threatened or even fired from the practice.
Williams never told his oncologists about his self-prescribed treatment; he knew it would fall on deaf ears. The cancer industry should be learning from the people who have beaten the odds and survived terminal cancer — studying their methods and trying to apply them to others — but instead they're ignored.
It's an unfortunate state of affairs when patients must actively defy their doctors in order to survive. As Williams explained, going against the advice of his doctors was initially an act of desperation, but it was necessary to save his life. This certainly applies to the majority of conventional oncologists, but there are exceptions — doctors who are blazing a new trail to find a cancer cure.
This includes Dr. Marc-Eric Halatsch, a professor and senior consultant neurosurgeon at the University of Ulm, Germany, who, along with colleagues have developed a new treatment protocol for relapsed glioblastoma.
It's based on a combination of drugs (very similar to the early HIV treatments) "not traditionally thought of as chemotherapy agents, but that have a robust history of being well-tolerated and are already marketed and used for other non-cancer indications."4 As noted in the featured film, even though the protocol uses mainstream medications, he's put his reputation on the line to step outside the conventional cancer-treatment box.
Cancer Patients Should Have Access to the Best of Eastern and Western Medicine
Dr. Raymond Chang, who is featured in the video above, is one such pioneer in the integration of Eastern and Western medicine. He is known for his work on anti-cancer Chinese botanicals especially involving bioactive polysaccharides and medicinal mushrooms.
He and colleagues with the Institute of East-West Medicine have created the Asian Anti-Cancer Materia Database, which brings together traditional Asian medicines that have potential anti-cancer activity into one database that can be accessed by all.5 In his book, "Beyond the Magic Bullet ― The Anti-Cancer Cocktail," Dr. Chang explained:
"While scientists win occasional skirmishes in the battle against cancer, the overall war continues to go badly. Stories abound about revolutionary drugs that may be available in the future, but offer no real help to those who have cancer today. At present, conventional approaches continue to rely on a narrowly focused strategy of treatments, with doctors using, at best, only one or two drugs or other therapies at a time.
While this may be acceptable in a laboratory setting or a clinical trial, it has done little to diminish the number of people who die each year from this dread disease. Recently, however, conventional medicine's core strategy has been re-examined, and a new, potentially more effective approach has emerged ― one that combines the best of Eastern wisdom with Western science."
More Than Half a Million People Expected to Die From Cancer in 2016
In 2016, nearly 1.7 million new cases of cancer are expected to be diagnosed in the U.S., while nearly 600,000 will die from the disease.6 That is nearly 1,650 people dying EVERY DAY in the U.S. alone. Public health agencies claim that we are winning the war against cancer, but from 2003 to 2012 death rates from cancer decreased by only 1.8 percent per year among men and 1.4 percent per year among women.7
Meanwhile, the 2014 World Cancer Report issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted worldwide cancer rates to rise by 57 percent in the next two decades.8
The report refers to the prediction as "an imminent human disaster," noting countries around the world need to renew their focus on prevention rather than treatment only. Christopher Wild, Ph.D., director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, told CNN:9
"We cannot treat our way out of the cancer problem. More commitment to prevention and early detection is desperately needed in order to complement improved treatments and address the alarming rise in cancer burden globally."
There is so much you can do to lower your risk for cancer, but please don't wait until you get the diagnosis — you have to take preventative steps now. Cancer doesn't typically develop overnight, which means you have a chance to make changes that can potentially prevent cancer from developing in the first place. Most of us carry around microscopic cancer cell clusters in our bodies all the time.
The reason why we all don't develop cancer is because as long as your body has the ability to balance angiogenesis properly, it will prevent blood vessels from forming to feed these microscopic tumors. Trouble will only arise if, and when, the cancer cells manage to get their own blood supply, at which point they can transform from harmless to deadly. It's much easier to prevent cancer than to treat it once it takes hold.
Top Cancer Prevention Strategies
I believe you can virtually eliminate your risk of cancer and chronic disease and significantly improve your chances of recovering from cancer if you currently have it, by following these relatively simple strategies.
1.Eat REAL Food: Seek to eliminate all processed food in your diet. Eat at least one-third of your food raw. Avoid frying or charbroiling; boil, poach or steam your foods instead. Consider adding cancer-fighting whole foods, herbs, spices and supplements to your diet, such as broccoli sprouts, curcumin and resveratrol.
2.Carbohydrates and Sugar: Sugar/fructose and grain-based foods from your diet need to be reduced and eventually eliminated. This applies to whole unprocessed organic grains as well, as they tend to rapidly break down and drive up your insulin level.
The evidence is quite clear that if you want to avoid cancer, or you currently have cancer, you absolutely MUST avoid all forms of sugar, especially fructose, which are dirty fuels generating excessive free radicals and secondary mitochondrial damage.
3.Protein and Fat: Consider reducing your protein levels to 1 gram of protein for every kilogram of lean body mass, or one-half gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. Replace excess protein with high-quality fats, such as organic eggs from pastured hens, high-quality grass-fed meats, raw pastured butter, avocados, pecans, macadamias, and coconut oil.
4.GMOs: Avoid genetically engineered foods as they are typically treated with herbicides such as Roundup (glyphosate), and are likely to be carcinogenic and contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction. Choose fresh, organic, and preferably locally grown foods.
5.Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats: Normalize your ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats by consuming anchovies, sardines, wild Alaskan salmon or taking a high-quality krill oil and reducing your intake of processed vegetable oils.
6.Optimize Your Gut Flora: This will reduce inflammation and strengthen your immune response. Researchers have found a microbe-dependent mechanism through which some cancers mount an inflammatory response that fuels their development and growth.
They suggest that inhibiting inflammatory cytokines might slow cancer progression and improve the response to chemotherapy. Fermented foods are especially beneficial for gut health, and the fermentation process involved in creating sauerkraut produces cancer-fighting compounds such as isothiocyanates, indoles and sulforaphane.
7.Exercise and Move More: Sit less, move around more and try to take 10,000 steps a day. Exercise also lowers insulin levels, which creates a low-sugar environment that discourages the growth and spread of cancer cells. In a three-month study, exercisewas found to alter immune cells into a more potent disease-fighting form in cancer survivors who had just completed chemotherapy.
Researchers and cancer organizations increasingly recommend making regular exercise a priority in order to reduce your risk of cancer and help improve cancer outcomes. Exercise may also help trigger apoptosis (programmed cell death) in cancer cells. Ideally, your exercise program should include balance, strength, flexibility, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). For help getting started, refer to my Peak Fitness Program.
8.Vitamin D: There is scientific evidence you can decrease your risk of cancer by more than halfsimply by optimizing your vitamin D levels with appropriate sun exposure. Your serum level should hold steady at 50 to 70 ng/ml, but if you are being treated for cancer, it should be closer to 80 to 90 ng/ml for optimal benefit.
If you take oral vitamin D and have cancer, it would be very prudent to monitor your vitamin D blood levels regularly, as well as supplementing with vitamin K2, as K2 deficiency is actually what produces the symptoms of vitamin D toxicity.
9.Sleep: Make sure you are getting enough restorative sleep. Poor sleep can interfere with your melatonin production, which is associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance and weight gain, both of which contribute to cancer's virility.
10.Exposure to Toxins: Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, herbicides, household chemical cleaners, plastics chemicals, synthetic air fresheners and toxic cosmetics.
11.Exposure to Radiation: Limit your exposure and protect yourself from radiation produced by cell phones, towers, base stations, and Wi-Fi stations, as well as minimizing your exposure from radiation-based medical scans, including dental x-rays, CT scans, and mammograms.
12.Stress Management: Stress from all causes is a major contributor to disease. It is likely that stress and unresolved emotional issues may be more important than the physical ones, so make sure this is addressed. My favorite tool for resolving emotional challenges is the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).
Have You Been Diagnosed With Cancer?
One of the most essential strategies I know of to treat cancer is to starve the cells by depriving them of their food source. Unlike your body cells, which can burn carbs or fat for fuel, cancer cells have lost that metabolic flexibility. Dr. Otto Warburg was given a Nobel Prize over 75 years ago for figuring this out, but virtually no oncologist actually uses this information.
You can review my interview with Dominic D'Agostino, Ph.D. below for more details. Integrating a ketogenic diet with hyperbaric oxygen therapy is deadly to cancer cells. It debilitates them by starving them of their fuel source. This would be the strategy I would recommend to my family members if they were diagnosed with cancer.
Your health is under siege from every direction. Environmental toxins, ultra-processed foods, EMFs, government-subsidized GMOs and a host of other threats surround us. It is simply not possible to protect yourself unless you are armed with cutting edge health information.
The most complex tasks can be made easy if you just take one step at a time. Taken as a whole, this 30-tip plan makes for a comprehensive guide that can change your life. Just a few of the topics addressed are:
What to eat and when to eat it
Exercise strategies that you can implement today
The power of emotional health
Enhancing your health with essentials like air, sunshine and water
How to get the restorative sleep that your body requires
It may seem that health and wellness are no longer the norm. An opioid epidemic sweeps the country, the obesity rate is skyrocketing, life expectancy is dropping and chronic diseases are rampant. Our communities are being damaged at every level and the only way to reverse these trends is through education and personal example. My 30-tip plan provides you with the tools you need to take control of your health. The time is ripe for revolution — a health revolution.
Could there actually be a risk worse than a brain tumor from using a cellphone? Researchers recently concluded a $30 million study to evaluate the effects of prolonged exposure in mammals, reflecting the average person's use of their cellphone. After this exhaustive two-year study, here's what they found. May 23, 2017
Exposure to cellphone radiation may or may not increase your risk of brain tumor formation, but this is a minor risk compared to damage done by free radicals from peroxynitrites that radically impair mitochondrial function
Science has linked exposure to peroxynitrites from low-frequency microwave radiation emitted from cellphones and Wi-Fi networks with chronic diseases such as heart disease, obesity and inflammatory bowel disease
You can reduce your exposure by shutting off your Wi-Fi at night, keeping cellphones in airplane mode unless using them, using the speaker phone and using a selfie stick when talking on it
By Dr. Mercola
As I discuss in this video, the debate over whether cellphone exposure causes brain tumors may be counterproductive. Think about the number of people you know who carry and use cellphones daily. According to the United Nations more people worldwide have cellphones than have access to toilets.1
While nearly everyone you know carries a cellphone, and probably has for a decade or more, it’s likely you don’t know anyone who has a brain tumor. Every year approximately 80,000 U.S. men, women and children are diagnosed with a brain tumor.2 In comparison, 787,000 people die each year from heart disease.3
The relative rarity of brain cancer may lead you to believe that your cellphone is safe. After all, when 91 percent of the adult population of the U.S. carries a cellphone4 and less than 0.02 percent5 develop a brain tumor, it may appear that using a cellphone is benign.
However, the primary pathology behind cellphone damage is not related specifically to brain tumors, or even to cancer. Instead, the real danger lies in damage from the reactive nitrogen species peroxynitrites. Increased peroxynitrites from cellphone exposure will damage your mitochondria.
The Debate Over Brain Tumors and Cellphone Exposure Continues
An Italian court recently weighed in on the debate over cellphone use and the development of brain tumors when they found in favor of a longtime telecommunication employee, Roberto Romeo, who claimed a benign brain tumor resulted in hearing loss in one ear.6Interestingly, both Romeo7 and his attorney made reference to inappropriate use of a cellphone that led to the development of the tumor. Romeo reportedly used his cellphone for three hours a day over 15 years while doing his job for the mobile phone company.
This is not the first time the Italian court found in favor of a plaintiff claiming cellphone use triggered a brain tumor.8 In 2012, the Italian Supreme Court upheld a ruling linking an executive’s cellphone use to a tumor on the same side of his head he held his cellphone five to six hours a day for over 12 years.9
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has long held to the safety of cellphone use, as has the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Environmental Health Science and the National Cancer Institute.10 The consensus appears to be:11
“The majority of studies published have failed to show an association between exposure to radiofrequency (RF) from a cellphone and health problems.”
SAR Rating Has Little to Do With Safety
Cellphone companies, on the other hand, appear to believe there is some danger, warning users to keep the phone at least 1 inch from your body, and to minimize the amount of time you spend with the phone up to your ear. The warning is usually found in tiny print in the manual or deep inside the legal section of your phone.12
The biologic reality, however, is far worse. Keeping the phone 1 inch away from your skull will have a relatively modest reduction in exposure. You need to move it 2 TO 3 FEET (around 1 meter) away from your head to reduce the exposure by over 90 percent, as I show in the above video.
The FCC13 developed specific absorption rates (SAR) that set “safe” exposure limits for the radiation emitted from cellphones. The maximum, determined by lab testing 20 years ago based on a 200-pound man, was determined to be 1.6 watts per kilogram.14
SAR information is published on the cellphone manufacturer’s website or, using the FCC ID number of the phone, on the FCC database.15 The American Academy of Pediatrics warns these standards do not account for the unique use pattern and development fragility of children and should be revised.16
Please understand that the SAR information is virtually useless, as it seeks to measure thermal (heat) damage, and that is not the source of the pathology. It is the damage to your mitochondria from peroxynitrite and other factors that is the problem.
Physicians from Yale and Harvard also warn pregnant women to limit their exposure to cellphones to reduce the impact RF radiation may have on their child’s developing neurological system.17 The CTIA, the association representing U.S. wireless communications industry, has a different view, saying:18
“CTIA and the wireless industry defer to the scientific community when it comes to cellphones and health effects. The peer-reviewed scientific evidence has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices do not pose a public health risk for adults or children.”
Not All Radiation Is Created Equally
There are two general categories of EMF radiation — native (natural) and non-native (artificial). Native radiation comes from natural sources of energy, such as the sun, and is actually is healthy for you. Artificial or non-native EMF can be broken down into four different categories, one of which is important to cellphone users.
The first is magnetic, involving the interaction of a charge with a magnetic field.19 The second is electromagnetic interference (EMI, commonly referred to in layman’s terms as “dirty electricity”).20 It appears EMI has the ability to increase mitochondrial free radical damage and contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction. The third is artificial light, such as LED or fluorescent lighting that contributes to a decrease in melatonin at night, affecting your sleep and mitochondria.
The type of EMF your cellphone, microwave and Wi-Fi emit is in the microwave megahertz to less than 10 gigahertz range. Your microwave oven is not a significant factor as your exposure is typically intermittent and not usually close to your body. Other devices, however, consistently emit microwave radiation at levels that damage your mitochondria.
Devices include your portable phone, cellphone, cellphone towers and Wi-Fi router and modem. Radiation is categorized across a spectrum from high-frequency to low-frequency.21 X-rays or gamma rays fall into the category of high-frequency, also called ionizing radiation.
This means they have enough non-native energy to cause the production of reactive nitrogen species like peroxynitrite that remove an electron and damage the DNA inside your mitochondria and the nucleus of your cells. Increased peroxynitrite generation has also been associated with increased levels of systemic inflammation by triggering cytokine storms, autonomic hormonal dysfunction and, of course most importantly, mitochondrial dysfunction.
Remember, microwave radiation exposure does not directly break covalent bonds and damage your DNA in the way that ionizing radiation from X or gamma rays do. Please reread the previous three paragraphs a few times as virtually no health professional understands or is teaching this. I can assure you this is vital leading-edge information that if properly applied will have enormous beneficial impacts on your health.
Failure to integrate this into your health program will seriously impair your body’s ability to remove toxins and significantly impair your immune response to address the large variety of pathogenic infectious assaults you regularly encounter, especially parasites.
Recent Study Finds Association Between Radiofrequency and Cell Damage
In a recent $30 million study undertaken by the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP),22 David McCormick, Ph.D., from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, used an animal model to evaluate the effects of prolonged RF radiation exposure in mammals.23 He discusses the results in the video.
After exposure for nine hours a day for two years, the researchers found a statistically significant increase in the number of health problems and brain tumors in the rats.24 While you may think the number of hours of exposure is high, it approximates the number of hours Americans are using their phones.
According to the Pew Research Center, 90 percent of adults say their phone is frequently with them and rarely turned off.25 Americans are so attached to their smartphones and social networks that they check Facebook and Twitter an astounding 17 times each day on average, increasing exposure with data or Wi-Fi enabled.26 Please, do NOT fall into this trap. Keep your phone in airplane mode unless you are using it.
Airplane mode will not eliminate your exposure but will radically reduce it. I carry my phone with me on my beach walks and in addition to being in airplane mode I put it in a faraday bag that stops virtually all radiation. McCormick commented on the results of the study, in which they found cellphone radiation in the laboratory caused cancer in mice and rats:27
"What we are saying here is that based on the animal studies, there is a possible risk cellphone RF is potentially carcinogenic in humans. These are uncommon lesions in rodents, so it is our conclusion that they are exposure related."
Who Is Using Cellphones?
McCormick believes the result of damage from cellphone radiation may not be fully realized for another 10 or 15 years as a major portion of the population has been using this technology for only about 15 years. While that may seem like a long time, it may take even more years before damage is acknowledged.
The largest danger to the population exists with children who use their phones more frequently and for longer periods of time each day than adults, starting from the time they’re very young. The average age a child receives their first smartphone is just over 10 years,28and half of children under 10 already have a smartphone.29
Children in the U.K. spend four hours or more each day on their mobile phones, with that number increasing over school breaks by up to two hours a day.30 American students spend close to double that time, with teens using media nine hours a day31 and college students up to 10 hours each day.32
Dr. Jonathan Samet, a pulmonary physician and epidemiologist at the University of Southern California, supervised the report from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer that classified cellphones as possibly carcinogenic to humans (class 2B).33 He comments:34
“Pretty soon, the whole world’s population will be exposed to radiation from devices from an early age. It’s something that should be taken very seriously, and we should be doing our best to understand if there’s any risk.”
A group of 255 scientists from across the world, including Columbia University, Harvard and the University of Southern California, wrote a letter to WHO about their concerns regarding the pervasive exposure to electromagnetic fields and the organizations response, writing:35
“By not taking action, the WHO is failing to fulfill its role as the pre-eminent international public health agency. The various agencies setting safety standards have failed to impose sufficient guidelines to protect the general public, particularly children who are more vulnerable to the effects of (electromagnetic fields).”
MASSIVE Increase in Your Exposure to This Non-Native EMF
According the WHO, the average background radiation worldwide in 2000 was less than 1 microwatt per centimeter squared. I realize most of you are not familiar with this measurement but it is the standard energy measurement for microwave radiation in the U.S. The important point is that it was LESS THAN 1 microwatt per centimeter squared literally 17 years ago. As I show in the video above, it can go to well over 100 times that. I have done many measurements since I shot this video to find it rise well over 500 times higher.
This is why it is so important to keep your phone in airplane mode when you aren’t using it. But it is not only your phone; it is also your Wi-Fi router that can easily push levels over 500 to 1,000 microwatts per centimeter squared. So, ideally, you will want to keep your Wi-Fi off whenever possible, and certainly at night. The concern about this massive and relatively recent increase in this EMF exposure is largely related to its ability to generate peroxynitrite, which I discuss in more detail in the next section.
Peroxynitrite at the Heart of Cellphone Damage
Peroxynitrite is an unstable structural ion produced in your body after nitric oxide is exposed to superoxide. This complex chemical process begins with exposure to low-frequency microwave radiation from your cellphone, Wi-Fi and cellphone towers.
The process begins when low-frequency microwave radiation activates voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCC), producing calcium inside your cells and mitochondria.36Nitic oxide is dependent on the presence of calcium to activate. With additional calcium present, nitric oxide is then activated in the cells.37
Nitric oxide is a substance present in all vertebrates, and helps to control blood flow, neural activity and clotting.38 While it has many health benefits, it can become destructive when superoxide molecules, an ionized oxygen molecule, is released during pathological change, such as a stroke or muscle injury.39
This reaction between nitric oxide and superoxide produces peroxynitrites, believed to be one root cause for many of today’s chronic diseases.40 Nitric oxide is the only molecule in your body produced at high enough concentrations to outcompete other molecules for superoxide and is a precursor for peroxynitrite.41
Peroxynitrite in Your Body
Once formed, peroxynitrite reacts relatively slowly with biological molecules, making it a selective oxidant. Inside your body, peroxynitrites modify tyrosine molecules in proteins to create a new substance, nitrotyrosine and nitration of a structural protein.42
These changes from nitration are visible in human biopsies of atherosclerosis, myocardial ischemia, inflammatory bowel disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and septic lung disease.43 Significant oxidative stress from peroxynitrites may also result in single-strand breaks of DNA.44
This pathway of oxidative destruction triggered by low-frequency radiation emitted from mobile devices may partially explain the unprecedented growth rate of chronic disease since 1990.45 This, truly, is a FAR greater concern than brain tumors, when it comes to the hazards of cellphones.
Information from the scientific literature reveals a dramatic acceleration in a single generation in the prevalence of a long list of diseases. Once you understand that cellphones can contribute to these chronic diseases — not just brain tumors — you may be more apt to take a few precautions to limit your exposure.
Although the major health threats continue to be cardiovascular disease, cancer and infections, it should be noted that the following list of conditions often create significant challenges in the lives of those who suffer. Some of these diseases were not even public knowledge prior to 1980.46
Protect Yourself and Your Family From Long-Term Health Damage
While cellphone use is ubiquitous, and there’s no turning back now, there are strategies you can use to protect yourself from RF radiation emitted from these devices. Remember, your cellphone, portable phone, Wi-Fi router and modem are the primary devices in your home emitting microwave radiation consistently.
To protect yourself and your family, get in the habit of using these strategies regularly. Cell damage builds over time. It may feel safe to use your devices as you always have since you don’t experience the health effects immediately, but it definitely is not.
•Keep the phone away from your head
Consider moving your cellphone away from your head when it’s turned on or the Wi-Fi, data or Bluetooth are enabled. You may do this by using a selfie-stick, speaking on the speaker phone or using a headset. Short conversations and texting more than talking also reduce your exposure.
•Increase your distance from RF-emitting devices
The closer the device, the more radiation you absorb. Find a way to transport your phone other than you pants pocket or bra, and avoid keeping your phone and tablets in your bedroom while you’re sleeping.
•Turn off your Wi-Fi routers
When they aren’t in use, such as at night, turn your Wi-Fi, modem and cellphone off. Many routers can be linked with an inexpensive remote, making the process simple and easy.
•Spices may reduce damage
Researchers have discovered certain spices may help prevent or repair damage from peroxynitrites.47,48 Spices rich in phenolics, specifically cloves, rosemary, turmeric, cinnamon and ginger root exhibited some protective capacity against peroxynitrite-induced damage.
However, while this is good news, it is not a reason to ignore strategies that reduce your exposure to electromagnetic radiation, since your home is not the only place you are at risk. Any public venue that hosts Wi-Fi or has a cellular tower nearby increases your exposure to microwave radiation.
Some of the most important steps I cannot report on yet as I am in the process of evaluating shielding EMF remediation strategies, such as Faraday canopies for beds and EMF-shielding paint. Once I complete my analysis I will report on it. One thing I am certain of, though, is that the hundreds, or more likely thousands, of devices that you can attach to your phone do nothing to reduce this radiation exposure. They fail miserably in blocking this energy.
They may have some biological benefit in mediating the way this energy interacts with your body, but I would not delude myself into believing this is sufficient and fail to adopt the proactive protective measures described above.
