By Daniel Taylor
Related: Consumer Alert: BPA-Free Goods Still Contain Toxic Bisphenol
Cancer is a major business. It seems that massive amounts of money are raised in a “race for the cure” while the cause of cancer is ignored. The influence of foundations, corporations and entrenched scientific theory are all at work in this business.
The Molecular Vision of Life
Cancer research has historically focused on narrowly technical aspects of the disease. The same can be said for western medicine in general. This is largely due to the influential wealth of the captains of industry that have shaped the overall structure and focus of scientific research. This “molecular vision of life” has been the dominant view of western medicine since the beginning of the 20th century. E. Richard Brown writes in Rockefeller Medicine Men,
“Like the foundations and individual capitalists earlier in the century, federal health research has focused on the narrowly technical components of disease and death rather than on the broader economic and physical environments so central to… health… Neither the National Cancer Institute nor the American Cancer Society has shown much interest in investigating the environmental contribution to cancer.”
Today, cancer research is focused heavily on what may be called the “narrowly technical” model of genetics and heredity. While this research has revealed valuable information, there is another level of genetics that plays a dominant role in genetic expression. This upper level of genetics is called Epigenetics, and it is radically changing the entire field. This new field of study is showing that environmental toxins, diet and other factors play a major role in whether or not certain genes express themselves. It is in fact showing us that we have more control over our health than previously thought.
Bisphenol A – Do you know who actually makes it?
Bisphenol A (BPA) is one out of many of these environmental factors. It is found in a staggering amount of every day materials including soup cans and cash register receipts. Studies conducted by the CDC found Bisphenol A in the urine of 95% of adults sampled in 1988–1994 and in 93% of children and adults tested in 2003–04. In March of 2012 the FDA blocked a ban on BPA, saying that there was a lack of evidence to support such a measure.
Due to public pressure and mounting evidence pointing to the fact that BPA is carcinogenic, companies are opting out of using BPA. Campbell’s soup announced in March of this year that they will no longer use BPA in their cans. Six companies announced in 2009 that they would stop using BPA in baby products.
While many companies have stopped using BPA, the suppliers of the substance are still selling it. 4.7 tons of BPA is expected to be made in 2012 alone. Now, unknown to most consumers, BPA is being replaced with an equally toxic substance called Bisphenol S.
We have all likely heard of BPA and its negative effects on our health, but do we know who actually makes it? The mainstream media doesn’t seem to have followed through on this story, but it is one that you should know about.
The Huntsman Corporation: “Well… we do produce BPA”
There are several major manufacturers of BPA in the United States. They include AkzoNobel N.V., Dover Chemical Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company, Huntsman Corporation, Rhodia (Solvay Group), and SI Group, Inc.
The Huntsman Corporation was founded by Jon M. Huntsman Sr. in 1982. He was close friends with Occidental Petroleum chairman Armand Hammer, who served as Huntsman’s mentor. Armand Hammer’s father, Dr. Julius Hammer, worked for the Socialist Labor Party under Vladimir Lenin. Hammer’s connection to the Soviet Union is well established by Edward J. Epstein in Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer.
Back to Bisphenol A; BPA was first synthesized by Dr. Pierre Castan in 1936. His epoxy was licensed by Ciba Ltd. in Switzerland. The Huntsman Corporation acquired Ciba in the 1990′s and is now part of the advanced materials business at Huntsman. The corporation sells plastics to mega corporations like McDonalds in the form of burger containers and other materials. Peter Huntsman, brother of Jon Huntsman Jr. and current President of the Huntsman Corporation, reminded us in a Q2 2010 earnings call, “Well, you remember, we do produce epi and bisphenol A.”
While studies in 2006 from Tufts University School of Medicine strongly linked BPA to breast cancer in rats, a 2009 document from the Huntsman Corporation detailing product handling safety states that “…animal studies have not provided grounds for suspecting that liquid bisphenol A epoxy resins may be carcinogenic.”
The Huntsman Cancer Institute: “…we have not investigated the role of Bisphenol A (BPA) in cancer development in humans.”
The Huntsman Cancer Institute was Founded in 1995 by Jon Huntsman Sr., who is himself a cancer survivor. It is funded in part by the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, which is housed inside the Huntsman Corporation’s world headquarters.
Conflict of interest?
In January of 2012, Jon Huntsman Jr. was named chairman of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The very next month the Huntsman Corporation announced the appointment of Huntsman Jr. to their board of directors. Additionally, Huntsman Jr. attended the scorned Bilderberg 2012 meeting in Chantilly Virginia.
As noted at the beginning of this article, cancer research has been influenced by wealthy elites and tax exempt foundations for decades. The scope of this “narrowly technical” research has been defined by its benefactors. This trend has continued to the present day.
Is the Huntsman Cancer Institute another example?
Old-Thinker News contacted the public affairs office of the Huntsman Cancer Institute and asked the question; “Has your organization investigated the role, if it has any, of Bisphenol A (BPA) in cancer development in humans?”
Garrett Harding, a cancer information specialist working at the institute, responded by saying that the focus of the organization is based purely on genetics. “Because of this focus, we have not investigated the role of Bisphenol A (BPA) in cancer development in humans,” Harding said. Harding pointed to the FDA for more information on BPA.
In summation, there are several factors at play in modern medicine; In this case cancer research. While the Huntsman Cancer Institute may offer some benefit to the cancer research field, it is in spite of the overall system not because of it. The historic trend of cancer research has been guided by wealthy elites and engrained scientific theory. Additionally, the influence of the close connection between the cancer research business and the corporate world cannot be overlooked.