The KInd Life Community Forum

Interestingly, as brought out in the China Study, they clearly observed that it was not the amounts of toxic elements that made cancer progress. Toxins begin the process, but the diet controlled (very clearly) whether or not the cancer continued to grow and threaten the well being of the subjects involved. No matter how much they were exposed to, the cancer would not grow if the subject was eating a plant based diet. Dr. Campbell is trying to spread the word of his astonishing findings so that more people can live without so much fear of external sources of toxicity. He was not trying to say that people who are sick should only blame themselves.

yes, diet is a huge factor but not the only one for sure! Example: I've been a whole foods non-sugar non-processed food vegan for many many years and recently became ill - they finally discovered I had high levels of PCBs in me, I had neurotoxicity. I don't care how great my diet was, it was not going to protect me from the exposure I had! I could have been superhero out the whazoo - exposure to neurotoxin is exposure to neurotoxin - and a lot of stuff like this is left undiscovered and is a part of disease. I did indeed use diet to help me heal - became a whole foods non-sugar vegan who no longer eats soy, wheat or corn - taking every stress I could off of my body.

I totally understand where you are coming from Inner Winds, and see people around me who eat total crap leading long lives in which they are healthy - while I have been so careful for over 20 years and still had something come up - diet is a part of things, but I agree, its not always all of it and in some cases I think can offer little in terms of protection.

You could be superhero from birth, but perhaps the "organic" veggies you eat have chemicals on them (and they are allowed by law to use some on stuff labeled organic) or the water you bathe in is high in chlorine or the urban area you live in has a toxic superfund site three blocks away or the tampoons you use have dioxin in them etc....

as much as I wish it were (!!!) its not always (or usually!) all in our control!

HI Cierra,

I wanted to post Campbell's response to Minger.

http://www.vegsource.com/news/2010/07/china-study-author-colin-campbell-slaps-down-critic-denise-minger.html

I am sure Denise Minger is a well-meaning person, but she lists her occupation as "professional sock-puppeteer" and preschool teacher. Campbell is an esteemed professor of nutrition at an ivy league university (Cornell), and has spent his entire career producing peer-reviewed research. When another academic scientist attempted to offer a critique of Minger's analyses on her blog, Minger deleted the comments.

I am not a scientist, but I have published in peer-reviewed academic journals in my own discipline. "Blind peer-review" is an extremely rigorous evaluation in which your research is critiqued by anonymous experts in your field; the whole process is overseen by the editorial board of the publication and everyone's reputation is riding on making sure that what is published is valid. Its like fact-checking times 1000. Only a small percentage of research submitted to academic journals ever reaches the publication stage due to the strictness of the evaluation procedure.

So, understanding this process, when I read Minger's claims, I figured no one could possibly take her seriously. But the internet is a powerful thing where any opinion can be passed around as though an "expert" has written it...even if that expert is a "professional sock-puppeteer" with no scientific background, let alone experience with statistical analyses.

Thank you Justin for your beautifully written response.