You all didn't believe me about the high iron and cancer connection?



>Roberta Crawford, president/founder of the Iron Overload Diseases
Association, recently received the 1997 Florida Medical Association
"Distinguished Layman" Award.  Presented at the state convention in Miami
by FMA president, Dr. Richard Bagby, Crawford was singled out in the state
of Florida for founding the Iron Overload Diseases Association (IODA), the
international clearinghouse for information on hereditary hemochromatosis
(HH) also known as iron overload. Her dedication to increasing awareness of
HH is well known throughout the nation and world by patients and doctors
alike.  Considered one of the leading experts on hemochromatosis, Crawford
founded IODA when she was diagnosed with HH herself 18 years ago.
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>The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has proclaimed HH the most common
genetic disease in the USA.  This common but little known disorder has
symptoms which can include heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, chronic
fatigue, impotence, infertility, and cirrhosis/cancer of the liver.  These
"symptoms" are usually treated, but the underlying cause, excess iron, goes
undiscovered until vital body organs are damaged beyond repair or death has
occurred.  Crawford, along with many experts in the field, feel that
routine screening for HH would prevent this damage from occurring.
Ironically, treatment consists of simply giving blood, as in a blood
donation, until iron stores are normal again.  Blood removal is continued
for life to keep iron levels in a normal range.
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>It is estimated that 1.5 million Americans have the double gene for HH,
however, 98% of them do not know it.  Another 32 million Americans are
"silent carriers" of the single gene which can be passed on to their
children.  A new affordable DNA test is now commercially available which
would help identify those people who carry the gene(s).  "Americans are
dying of ignorance," Crawford says, "because we have the methods to
completely control this disease and prevent the illnesses and premature
death that it can cause."
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