Letter to the Editor

Keep up the good work

Friday, August 12, 2005

Dear Editor,

After reading the article "Congratulations on area events" I felt grateful that we have concerned people in the McCook area who are willing to give so generously to health charities. If we had more folks finding clever fundraising techniques like you did, we could fund a lot more research.

I would like to suggest that perhaps the American Cancer Society is not the best charity to give that hard-earned money to. Here's why:

First, the ACS still uses out-of-date animal testing to research human cancer. All over the world, our top doctors and scientists are telling us that the differences between man and animals makes animal-based re-search ineffective, a waste of time and research money, and actually dangerous to humans.

Many drugs are shown safe in animals but deadly in people, and vice versa. Human disease research using animals has led researchers into dead ends countless times. Even when they can cure the animal disease, it just doesn't work on people.

The place where money works its hardest is in a research organization that focuses on human -- not animal -- cancer, and the ACS does not do that.

Second, ACS's "Cancer Facts & Figures 2003 states: "Many epidemiologic studies have shown that populations that eat diets high in vegetables and fruit and low in animal fat, meat, and/or calories have reduced risk of some of the most common cancers."

According to the same report, "the best advice is to emphasize whole foods and the consumption of a mostly plant-based diet."

Yet after publishing this, the ACS collaborated with the owners of the Buckhead Beef Co. in Atlanta, Ga., to sponsor a "Cattle Barons' Ball" which featured such "ranch-style cuisine" as beef tenderloin donated by Outback Steakhouse.

As long ago as 1982, the National Research Council linked beef to cancer of the breast and other organs. Since then, Harvard studies that included tens of thousands of people have shown that eating meat regularly increases colon cancer risk 200 to 300 percent.

Yet the American Cancer Society teamed up with a beef company and served meat to raise money. They have been accused of being more committed to making money than fighting cancer.

There are many cancer charities that take their mission far more seriously, including the American Breast Cancer Foundation, the Cancer Project, and the Cancer Treatment Research Foundation.

Lots of information on these charities is available on the Web, including ways to raise funds locally.

In closing, I want to say that three out of four of my grandparents, my great uncle and aunt, and my wife's aunt all died from cancer. I want to see this disease eradicated. But in this day and age it is vital to know exactly where your donations are going.

And always remember to get your information from an objective third party that has no financial interest in the charity you are investigating.

Bless you for your generosity and keep up the good work!

Larry Claassen,

via e-mail

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