Bayer adjunct loses plea about ignoring safety

Top court in California rejects Monsanto appeal in case where jury ruled that herbicide caused cancer

The California Supreme Court has turned down both defendant and plaintiff appeals in a case where a jury decided the weed-killer Roundup was the reason the defendant contracted cancer.

A story by Bob Egelko in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle explains that the court denied Monsanto's appeal of a "groundbreaking verdict that found the company's widely used herbicide caused a school groundskeeper's cancer and that the company disregarded public safety in marketing its product."

Simultaneously, however, it rejected a review of the plaintiff's appeal of a lower-court ruling that reduced his damages from $78.5 million to $21.5 million.

The case had been the first in the United States to go to trial among many thousands filed against the giant agribusiness now owned by Bayer, which paid $63 billion for it in 2018. Cancer victims maintain that the problem is glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and a more concentrated version called Ranger Pro.

Dewayne Johnson

The plaintiff in the groundbreaking case, Dewayne Johnson, had developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a blood cancer, after using the Ranger Pro from two to three hours a day over a four-year period as a groundskeeper and pest-control manager for the Benicia School District. At the time of the 2018 trial, lesions covered his body. 

The Vallejo resident testified, Egelko's story says, that "he wore protective clothing but couldn't fully protect his face from wind-blown spray, and twice was drenched with herbicide sprays from a detached hose and a leaking container."

According to the Chronicle article, the jury determined that Monsanto "should have known the product was carcinogenic, and 'acted with malice or oppression' by failing to notify Johnson's employer."

Bayer has indicated it may consider further review of Wednesday's rulings, which most likely would mean seeking a federal court judgment. The company has previously said it would pay nearly $10 billion to upwards of 125,000 claimants, as well as setting aside another billion for potential future plaintiffs. Those settlements, announced in June, haven't yet been finalized and, in fact, have been challenged by some plaintiffs' lawyers. 

Information on other suits against manufacturers can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Children's four-part tale of wizard, fairies due

Publication date set for kids' book, 'Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates' 

Hooray! A tentative publication date, Jan. 1, has been established for 'Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates.'

The 50-page children's book, a true collaboration of me, Woody Weingarten, and my granddaughter, Hannah Schifrin, has been — as Hollywood publicists often shout — "five years in the making."

Surprisingly, perhaps, recent delays weren't caused by Covid-19 but by our desire to make the book the best possible available for readers between the ages of 6 and 10. 

A four-part fantasy, 'Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates' focuses on how a sorcerer, Grandpa Graybeard, repeatedly gets his granddaughter, Lily, and her best friend, Penny, out of trouble after they mess up their magic spells. It also shows how the girls learn from their misadventures.

Hannah was only eight years old when she co-wrote the book, which is colorfully illustrated by Joe Marciniak.

While you're waiting, for anybody who wants to see first-hand that I can put one word after another, why not check out your local bookstore or Amazon and get a copy of "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress volume I aimed at male caregivers (one, admittedly, that I'm considering updating). 

And look, probably in mid-2021, for "The Roving I," a compilation of columns I'd written for a group of weekly newspapers over an 11-year period.

Docs push 'peace of mind' surgeries over survival

Double mastectomies gain favor as ratio of 1 in 8 U.S. women getting breast cancer remains the same

Women with cancer in a single breast are increasingly opting to remove both — prophylactically.

That's despite more treatment possibilities now being available and despite medical experts saying the double mastectomy doesn't necessarily lead to better outcomes.

Reporting by Alexandra Sifferlin in a Time magazine story cites a study of 5,080 women with early stage breast cancer published in JAMA Surgery to the effect that a 20% increase is being driven in part by the patients' surgeons. The study, which considered women who had an average risk for cancer in the second breast, also surveyed 377 of the patients' surgeons.

Although the doctors — who generally did recommend a double mastectomy for patients at high risk — initially leaned toward breast-conserving surgery for average-risk patients rather than CPM, or contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, they were apt to change their minds, the story says.

Why? 

"To give patients peace of mind" and to "avoid patient conflict" — rather than "to reduce recurrence or improve survival."

Women whose surgeons were among those most reluctant to perform a double mastectomy "had only a 4% chance" of having one, the study showed, while the likelihood of women whose doctors were most open to getting CPM having both breasts removed was 34%.

Dr. Steven Katz

Sifferlin's story quotes Dr. Steven Katz, prof at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan, as saying, "The emotional reactions to cancer frequently prime patients to desire the most aggressive approach. Our results underscore that most surgeons today favor less aggressive approaches to surgery, and it's challenging for them to communicate with their patients that bigger is not better."

The Time article also says that Katz's earlier research "found that a woman's fear about cancer recurrence or her desire to avoid regret can also lead to a decision between her and her doctor to choose more aggressive surgery."

Katz suggests women should consider getting a second opinion, although 95% of breast-cancer patients are treated by the first physician they see.

In a companion Time story that acts as an introduction to Sifferlin's, Alice Park notes that "women now have more information about their disease — down to the very DNA of their tumors — than ever before, so they can make more informed decisions about how aggressively they want to be treated."

She further writes that "scientists also have an evolving understanding of how women can better endure treatment with fewer side effects — and they have plenty of options to do so, from getting more sleep to practicing yoga or eating healthfully."

In addition, Park contends, "women are becoming empowered to make better decisions, and research is even revealing what they should know about the potential biases of the doctors who treat them."

More information about choices of treatment can be obtained by reading "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Finishing touches being done on kids' book about misadventures of sorcerer and young fairies

Last-minute enhancements are being added to the front and back covers of "Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates."

When they're completed, the text and illustrations of the children's book, co-authored by me, Woody Weingarten, and my granddaughter, Hannah Schifrin, will be done except for a few technical details. Can publication of the fantasy be far behind?

Enchanting, full-color illustrations by Joe Marciniak greatly enrich the storyline, which features a sorcerer, Grandpa Graybeard, who frequently has to get his granddaughter, Lily, and her best friend, Penny, out of trouble when the two eight-year-old fairies mess up their magic spells. Their misadventures become great fun for all three and for young readers who love to let their imaginations run wild.

While "Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates" is being finalized, I'm also editing "The Roving I," a book that will contain a compilation of columns I'd penned over an 11-year period. By deleting some hyper-local references, I expect the book's appeal to be more universal.

Meanwhile, for those who want to see first-hand that I can put one word after another, check out through your local bookstore or Amazon "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress volume I aimed at male caregivers (one, indeed, that I'm thinking about updating). 

If 80% benefit from a treatment, is that enough?

Researchers confirm lone targeted radiation dose may work as well as longer breast-cancer course 

Can one dose of targeted radiation be as effective a breast-cancer treatment as a longer course of radiation?

Yes, according to a story by BBC health reporter Rachel Schraer last week that reports as well that researchers "said people who received the shorter treatment were also less likely to die of other cancers and heart disease." 

There exists a challenge to the study, however.

Some cancer specialists point out, the BBC piece says, that 20 percent of the patients studied received extra doses of radiotherapy.

         Professor Jayant Vaidya

According to Schraer's article, Professor Jayant Vaidya, lead author of the study, while noting that 80 percent still benefitted, "said he had expected a proportion of the women to need extra radiotherapy, since post-op tests could reveal tumors were bigger or more aggressive than expected."

Targeted Intraoperative Radiotherapy, which was developed by doctors at University College London, where Vaidya toils in addition to having a private practice, involves the lone dose being delivered by a small device placed inside the breast directly on the site of the cancer immediately after the tumor is surgically removed.

The procedure takes place during the same operation as the removal.

Standard radiation treatments normally call for between 15 and 30 additional hospital visits, although that number has temporarily been reduced to about five because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Findings, involving 2,298 women with breast cancer in 10 countries, were based on 10-year marks and reported in original research. This follow-up study, which tracked women up to five years after their treatment, confirmed the original conclusion.

Previous studies, not incidentally, "had shown the [single-dose] treatment also had fewer radiation-related side-effects, including pain and changes to the breast's appearance," Schraer writes. 

Information about other treatments can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers. 

Story of wizard and fairies 'in homestretch'

Children's fantasy by the author of 'Rollercoaster' and granddaughter is getting close to publication

Illustration by Joe Marciniak for 'Grampy…'

Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night, to borrow a phrase, can stop my writing. 

Nor can the coronavirus. 

Although Covid-19 has caused a major delay in the publication of "MysteryDates," which may not find its audience for another year or so, it won't be able to stop the public from seeing "Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates," a children's fantasy co-written by me, Woody Weingarten, and my granddaughter, Hannah Schifrin.

The collaborative effort — about a wizard, his fairy grandaughter and her fairy best friend will be published any month now, even though we're Sheltering in Place just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Pre-publication details, as they say, are rapidly being ironed out — and are entering the proverbial homestretch.

Also in the offing (a little further down the 2020 road) is "The Roving I," a compilation of columns I'd penned over an 11-year period.

For those who need to see that I can put one word after another, check out "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I aimed at male caregivers (and which I'm seriously thinking about updating). 

Workload blocks woman from finding disease

Eagle-eyed viewer in Tampa tips off TV reporter to neck lump that's cancerous and requires surgery

A 28-year-old Tampa TV investigative reporter last week credited a viewer with helping her find a cancerous lump.

Victoria Price

According to a story by Johnny Diaz in The New York Times, Victoria Price was to undergo surgery today to remove a neck tumor, her thyroid "and a couple of lymph nodes."

Price reportedly has been fatigued but had attributed that to her heavy workload. "Full-throttle, never-ending shifts in a never-ending news cycle" is how the Florida reporter labeled it in a Twitter post.

Then she added, "Had I never received that email, I never would have called my doctor. The cancer would have continued to spread. It's a scary and humbling thought."

She also said she expected to "be forever grateful for the woman who went out of her way to email me, a total stranger. She had zero obligation to, but she did anyway."

Said Price, pointing out that the catchphrase of her station, WFLA-TV, is "8 On Your Side" but the woman had reversed the roles, putting "a viewer on MY side."

Diaz also wrote that it's "not the first time a keen viewer has spotted a medical issue of a TV personality." One of them came to light in April of last year "when Deborah Norville, the anchor of the syndicated news program 'Inside Edition' had surgery to remove a cancerous nodule from her neck. She said she had been monitoring the lump after a viewer noticed it on her neck and brought it to her attention."

In a video message, Norville had said: "We live in a world of 'see something, say something,' and I'm really glad we do."

Clearly, early detection of a disease can be of great medical benefit. More examples can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

'Alternative care' ads are perilous, says debunker

Pseudoscientific advertising on social media swamps cancer patient who exposes it in N.Y. Times op ed

Facebook targets users who have cancer with "alternative care" ads.

At least that's the opinion of Anne Borden King, a consultant for Bad Science Watch, who published an article to that effect in The New York Times last week.

King, who's also the founder of the Campaign Against Phony Autism Cures, insisted she'll never fall for those ads because she's "an advocate against pseudoscience."

Her opinion piece held high a red flag proclaiming that "being targeted by those who traffic in false promises feels like a 'slap in the face' to patients like me," according to a secondary headline in the Times.

Unfortunately, King postulated, there may be no hope that Facebook will change its policies on how it handles "hate speech and misinformation." As proof, she cited a meeting the social media giant had last week with representatives of the advocacy group Stop Hate for Profit. 

"In the view of the organizers," she wrote, "the meeting did not go well."

Jessica J. Gonzalez 

King, in fact, quoted Jessica J. González, one of those organizers, who in January was named co-CEO of Free Press, a media advocacy group: "Facebook approached our meeting today like it was nothing more than a PR exercise."

The op ed writer, whom the Times describes as "an advocate working to prevent the spread of medical misinformation," noted that the Facebook ads promoted "everything from cumin seeds to colloidal silver as cancer treatments. Some ads promise luxury clinics — or even 'nontoxic cancer therapies' on a beach in Mexico."

She further noted that she's "learned to recognized the hallmarks of pseudoscience marketing: unproven and sometimes dangerous treatments, promising simplistic solutions and support. Things like 'bleach cures' that promise to treat everything from Covid-19 to autism." 

King also indicated that she found it interesting that no "legitimate cancer care ads" have appeared in her newsfeed, "just pseudoscience. This may be because pseudoscience companies rely on social media in a way that order forms of health care don't."

She elaborated: Pseudoscience companies "use influencers and patient testimonials [and sometimes] recruit members through Facebook 'support groups' to sell their products in pyramid schemes."

And the social media environment, she wrote, gives patients "a sense of belonging, which makes it harder  for them to question a product."

Cancer patients, she alleged, "are especially vulnerable to this stealth marketing" because it becomes normal for them to be "told where to go, how to sit and what to take. It can be painful and scary and — and then all our hair falls out. During the pandemic, many of us are also isolated. Our loved ones can't come to our appointments or even visit us in the hospital. Now, more than ever, who is there to hold our hand?"

Pseudoscience companies, King added, have found a way to "tap directly into our fears and isolation, offering us a sense of control, while claiming their products can end our pain. They exploit our emotions to offer phony alternatives."

She then voiced a strong statement that "the evidence is clear: Death rates are much higher for people with cancer who choose alternative therapies instead of standard care."

More debunking of pseudoscientific cures can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.