Page 77 - Spring2020

All Thumbs Book Reviews

The Great Prostate Hoax and you have billions of reasons why they do it.
By Richard J. Ablin, PhD I said earlier that the PSA test is worthless.
and Ronald Piana I should clarify that it depends on your point
St. Martin’s Press LLC of view. For the medical industry, the test is
not worthless. It’s a gold mine. For the unwary
The more quotes I read from Ben Franklin, customer, it is worse than worthless.
the more I like the old guy. Page one of The If treatment was effective, then maybe there
Great Prostate Hoax starts off with one of his would be some justification for this test, but
quotes: “He’s the best physician that knows survival rates for treated men are the same as for
the worthlessness of most medicines.” In more men who opt out of treatment. These treatments
recent times, that quote could be expanded to are not exactly harmless either. The typical re-
include many tests, like the PSA test. The first sult of surgery is incontinence and impotence.
author, Dr. Ablin, discovered PSA in 1970, so Prostate cancer is usually very slow-moving,
he knows exactly what it is—and what it isn’t. and most men will die with prostate cancer, not
When men have their PSA checked, what because of it. In fact, only 3 percent die because
the test measures is the infinitesimal amount of of it. Robotic surgery has been promoted as
PSA in the bloodstream. The first key point Ab- a better and safer option. Technology always
lin makes is that there is no “normal” PSA level. makes things better, right? Strangely, the data
But that is how millions of men are screened say that robots don’t do any better than mere
for prostate cancer, right? Right. So how does human doctors. Prostate
that work? That’s the next key point. It doesn’t. The pattern is familiar. The health care
Why do the test? For most who have lived system deems that there must be lots of testing. cancer is
on this planet for a while and have been pay- The tests often measure things that just are not usually very
ing attention, you know the answer, but for the that important, like cholesterol, PSA or blood slow-moving,
newbies, here’s how it works. Millions of men pressure. Even if the results are not completely
get tested every year ($). The tests generate a lot useless, they are mischaracterized and used to and most
of false positives. That means additional, more panic the victims into hasty and expensive deci- men will die
expensive tests or biopsies ($$). Many of those sions that can ruin their life. But, hey, at least with prostate
biopsies are bound to find cancer, especially in someone is making a lot of money. The thumb cancer, not
older men ($$$). This leads to treatment and in is UP for this book.
many cases, surgery ($$$$$$$$). Add all that up, Review by Tim Boyd because of it.

INVITATION TO WAPF MEMBERS
We invite all members of the Weston A. Price Foundation to join our exclusive members-only closed group on
Facebook. Over two thousand members have already joined. Go to this link and click on the Join Group button and
answer the questions it asks: facebook.com/groups/westonapricefoundation. (Please note: It may take a week or so to
verify your membership and add you to the group once you ask to join on Facebook.)
This is an opportunity to be part of an active and supportive online community as you navigate our dietary recom-
mendations. This group was created for current WAPF members as a supportive forum for questions, comments and
discussion about food, farming and the healing arts. We welcome all members regardless of your level of familiarity with
our dietary recommendations! Here’s what members are saying about being part of this group:
Linda L.: “I can’t express enough how much it means to me to have a safe place for discussion of these some-
times controversial topics. The members here are respectful of one another and it fosters a wonderful community of
encouragement. A seemingly rare thing these days.”
Renate D.: “I love love love this group! One of my favorite parts of being a member. I feel like I know some people
here even though we haven’t met. I’ll definitely be at the conference in November so we can chat in person.”

SPRING 2020 Wise Traditions 77