Is your reproductive system in danger? (Science & Technology, Sept. 14) was misleading. Rates of breast cancer are stable, not "soaring." The increased incidence of this disease from 1980 to 1992 was due to improved detection methods. Screening mammography became widespread, and more low grade tumors were detected; note that mortality rates were level during this same period and now show a slight decline.

Yes

by Kenneth E. Legins
In 1903 Mark Twain wrote of Christian Science: "The power which a man's imagination has over his body to heal it or make it sick is a force which none of us is born without. The first man had it, the last one will possess it." The power of the mind over the body is often indisputable, even among the staunchest defenders of the scientific method. The biologic effect of hope or faith, which scientists sometimes refer to as the placebo effect, is little understood in the medical community.

Americans tried living with an unregulated marketplace in the last century. Even medical licensure was undone under Jacksonian democracy. But the tide began to turn early in this century: A response to abuses in the patent-medicine industry was the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, which required ingredient disclosure on product labels and thus eliminated secret-formula "remedies." In 1910 Medical Education in the United States and Canada now more popularly known as the Flexner report was published. It cited many diploma mills and paved the way for new medical-school standards.

Development of the hair-removal method called "electrolysis" began in 1869. By 1875 St. Louis ophthalmologist Charles Michel effectively used a very thin wire attached to a battery to remove ingrown eyelashes (which can cause blindness) permanently.

Among the neologisms in the field of nutrition that have entered the lay vocabulary are the synonyms "designer food," "functional food," and "nutraceutical." These expressions, as well as "pharmafood," refer to foods whose constituents include naturally occurring compounds that (a) are customarily considered neither nutrients nor toxins and (b) may contribute to preventing or curing disease. Related expressions include "medical food," "nutrichemical," "optimum food," "phytochemical," "phytomin," "phytonutrient," and "therapeutic food." But common usage has created a definitional morass:

Background
While food safety in the United States has been and continues to be very good, outbreaks of foodborne illness and deaths attributable to such illnesses have caught the attention of the public, the media,1,2 and governmental agencies. The perception that such outbreaks are increasingly frequent and serious are prompting queries into the best means of reducing their frequency and extent.

This week, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) confirmed that the apparent increase of brain tumors in children over the last 20 years is the direct result of our improved ability to detect them.
In actuality, there has been little change in the rates of brain tumors. With the help of technology, specifically high tech screening devices, we re simply doing a better job of diagnosing them.
Yet the environmentalist community continues to warn us that the United States is experiencing a cancer epidemic and that chemicals are to blame.

New York, NY, August 28, l998 Scientists at the American Council on Science and Health today criticized the Kellogg Company s full page advertisement touting the eating of Kellogg s All Bran as a means of reducing colon cancer risk. In making its claim for the cancer protection effect of its cereal, Kellogg points to the results of a recent laboratory animal study showing cancer protection linked to the consumption of a particular type of processed wheat bran.

New York, NY, August 27, 1998 The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) today applauded the Food and Drug Administration for its clarification of the rules governing the labeling of dietary supplements.
ACSH agrees with the FDA s specification of the types of health related claims that can be used on dietary supplement labels. This clarification should help manufacturers provide accurate information to consumers,

First edition, December 1997; reprinted August 1998; second edition, July 2000
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