[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 21677-21678]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 CANCER

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, increasing scientific evidence indicates 
that what a person includes in his or her diet may be as important as 
what a person excludes. Scientists estimate that at least 30 to 40 
percent of all cancers are linked to diet and related lifestyle 
factors.
  Some foods contain substances known to increase the risk of cancer, 
including saturated fat, cholesterol, and oxidants.
  Avoiding these foods may reduce the risk of many of the most common 
forms of cancer, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, and colon 
cancer. I happen to have an extreme interest in that because I am a 
prostate cancer survivor. I am now told other foods contain substances 
that help protect against cancer and heart disease.
  A growing number of compounds in fruits, vegetables, and cereal 
grains have been found to interfere with the process of cancer 
development in laboratory research.
  Epidemiologists have found that populations that consume large 
amounts of plant-derived foods have lower incidence rates of some types 
of cancer.
  According to a study conducted by Stephanie London, a doctor and 
epidemiologist at the National Institutes of Environmental Health 
Sciences and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, broccoli and other 
members of the cruciferous vegetable family, including cabbage and bok 
choy, appear to protect humans from lung cancer.
  Several other studies have pointed to the cancer-prevention 
properties of phytochemicals found in these vegetables. According to 
Hien T. Le, Ph.D., a molecular biologist with the University of 
California Berkeley, consumption of these cruciferous vegetables has 
been linked with prevention of cancers

[[Page 21678]]

of the breast, endometrium, colon, and prostate cancer.
  One study further found these chemicals are ``novel,'' naturally 
occurring and could have potential in cancer prevention or treatment.
  Broccoli and related vegetables contain the chemical that kills the 
bacteria responsible for most stomach cancers, say researchers, 
confirming the dietary advice that moms have been handing out for 
years. Dr. Paul Talalay, a coresearcher at Johns Hopkins University, 
found the chemical sulforaphane even killed H. pylori, a bacteria that 
causes stomach ulcers and often fatal stomach cancers. Researchers 
stated:

       If clinical studies show that a food can relieve or prevent 
     disease associated with this bacterium in people, it could 
     have a significant public health implication in the United 
     States and around the world.

  The good news is there appears to be enough of this chemical in 
broccoli sprouts and some varieties of broccoli to significantly 
benefit people who eat them. However, researchers cannot now say how 
much broccoli one should eat for there to be such an impact. The actual 
amounts would need to be determined with long-term tests involving 
human trials. ``The levels at which we test it . . . is such that those 
could be achieved by eating broccoli or broccoli sprouts. It's a 
reasonable level that we think would be reached in the stomach,'' said 
Jed W. Fahey, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
  Researchers have created a synthetic version of the compound found in 
broccoli and other vegetables. ``It may be easier to take a cancer 
prevention pill once a day rather than rely on massive quantities of 
fruits and vegetables,'' says the study author, Jerome Kosmeder, 
another Ph.D. research assistant professor at the University of 
Illinois at Chicago. However, such drug development is several years 
away, I am informed.
  The reason for my statement today is that I recently met with Dean 
Ornish, a great friend, a medical doctor, founder and president of the 
Preventive Medicine Research Institute, and clinical professor of 
medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. According to 
Dr. Ornish, ``We often have had a hard time believing that the simple 
choices we make in our life each day--what we eat, how we respond to 
stress, how much exercise we get, whether or not we smoke, and the 
quality of our relationships--have such a powerful impact on our health 
and well-being.''
  With Dr. Ornish was Dr. S. Ward Casscells, a medical doctor who is 
the John Edward Tyson Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Public 
Health and vice president for biotechnology at the University of Texas 
Health Center in Houston.
  Dr. Casscells was diagnosed with very aggressive metastatic prostate 
cancer in July of 2001. He began utilizing diet and a lifestyle program 
that Dr. Ornish and his colleagues had developed, along with 
conventional drug treatment. Today, Dr. Casscells shows no sign of 
cancer. He shows no sign at all of a cancer that had metastasized.
  Meanwhile, researchers say populations should continue to eat healthy 
amounts of fruits and vegetables, enabling them to take advantage of 
cancer-fighting properties. Several other studies have pointed to the 
cancer prevention properties of the phyto-
chemicals found in vegetables, according to several other people.
  Mr. President, I emphasize, because of the nature of some of the 
moneys in this bill--I do believe we have spent a lot of Federal-tax 
payers' money on various approaches to cancer--I think we should 
concentrate more of the money we have available on these methods of 
prevention and methods of retarding the development of cancer once 
discovered.
  I yield the floor.

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