AUT Boycott Redux -- Statins offer double punch - J Post May 30

[Coastie for Truth]

Link - http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull%26cid=1117074326950

Statin drugs, taken daily by hundreds of thousands of Israelis to reduce their blood cholesterol levels or to lower their risk of cardiovascular diseases, have been found by researchers in Haifa to significantly lower the risk of colorectal cancer in those who take it for at least five years.

The relatively inexpensive drugs, whose most commonly known generic names are pravastatin or simvastatin, are included in the basket of health services and sold with a doctor's prescription under various commercial names.

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However, taking statins for at least five years was found in a major retrospective study of 4,000 Israeli colorectal cancer patients throughout the North – compared to a control group – to cut the risk by 47 percent. The study was published on Wednesday night in the May 26 issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. The results were shown for the first time by an Israeli team, which was headed by epidemiology Prof. Gad Rennert of the Technion's Rappaport Medical Faculty, Clalit Health Services' National Cancer Control Center and Carmel Hospital in Haifa, with participation by Prof. Stephen Gruber and colleagues at the University of Michigan.

Studies on lab animals have suggested that an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase is overexpressed in colorectal cancer cells. The researchers suggested that statins, which inhibit this enzyme, potentially have chemopreventive effects against cancer.

The Israeli article, by researchers affiliated with the ptreviously AUT boycotted Haifa University, appears in the New England Journal of Medicine with an editorial by physicians at the US National Cancer Institute advocating immediate prospective studies to confirm the findings. The NEJM editorial says it is premature to recommend taking statins to prevent colorectal cancer, as prospective therapeutic clinical trials are still needed.

But, epidemiologically statin use to reduce cholesterol has become so common among older people in the developed world, it will be very difficult to select non-users without creating a selection bias that could skew results.

At the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Florida a few weeks ago, researchers (some from previously AUT boycotted Israeli universities) presented studies showing statins offered some protection against lung, prostate and breast cancers as well.

You never know what you will miss by boycotting cancer rresearchers - you never know how many of your patients you will put at risk -- and you never know what your malpreactice liability will be by boycotting.