Joel Brind

Last updated
Joel L. Brind
Alma mater
Known for Abortion-breast cancer hypothesis
Scientific career
Fields Endocrinology
Institutions Baruch College
Thesis Studies on the androgen-dependent differentiation of cells of the mouse preputial gland : metabolism of testosterone and effects of selected drugs and hormones  (1981)
Website Brind's faculty page

Joel Lewis Brind is a professor of human biology and endocrinology at Baruch College, City University of New York and a leading advocate of the abortion-breast cancer hypothesis, which posits that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. [1] This idea is rejected by mainstream medical professional organizations and there is overwhelming evidence in the peer-reviewed medical literature debunking it. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Brind is openly contemptuous of mainstream medical professional organizations and journals, accusing them of conducting a deliberate cover-up with the goal of "protecting the abortion industry." [7]

Contents

Early life, education, and religious conversion

Brind grew up in Laurelton, Queens, where he decided he wanted to become a biochemist at the age of 10 after reading an issue of Life magazine where the cover story described the discoveries scientists had recently made about the inner workings of the cell, using electron microscopy. [1] He has a bachelor's degree from Yale (1971) [8] and a Ph.D. from New York University in biochemistry, immunology and physiology. [9] Four years after receiving his PhD in 1981, Brind converted to Christianity, [10] and decided to try to use science to pursue what he saw as a "noble task" of discouraging women from having abortions. [1]

Advocacy of Non-Mainstream Medical Hypotheses

Abortion-Breast-Cancer Hypothesis

Following his conversion to Christianity, [10] Brind began working as a consultant and expert witness for the anti-abortion cause. [7] Discover magazine reported in 2003 that since 1997, "Brind has spent about 90 percent of his time outside the classroom investigating and publicizing" his claimed abortion-breast cancer link, testifying "in courthouses and statehouses in Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, Ohio, North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Alaska." [7]

He fought against the legalization of mifepristone for non-surgical abortions in the USA, testifying at a federal hearing that "thousands upon thousands" of women would develop breast cancer as a result of using the drug. [11] Brind was an invitee to the National Cancer Institute's conference on the abortion-breast-cancer issue [12] where he was the only member to file a dissenting opinion. [13] In a meeting between Colorado Right To Life and the Denver affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure regarding Komen grants to Planned Parenthood, Brind urged the breast cancer group to re-consider the idea that abortion is linked to breast cancer. [14]

In 1999, Brind co-founded the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, a non-profit group which promotes a link between abortion and breast cancer. The group is identified in the academic literature as an anti-abortion activist group that promotes "the notion that a link to cancer has been both irrefutably proved and deliberately concealed by the medical establishment." [15]

Glycine Supplements

While he was working on studies concerning amino acid metabolism and aging, Brind began promoting the hypothesis that most diets are deficient in the amino acid glycine, and that this deficiency is responsible for illnesses caused by chronic inflammation, including arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. These hypotheses are not supported by mainstream medical or nutritional science. [16] He also claims to have prevented himself from suffering ordinary pain and stiffness after strenuous exercise, and after severe injury, by taking glycine supplements, and, to have accelerated the healing of sunburn, by the same means. [17] In 2010, Brind founded Natural Food Science, LLC, through which glycine supplement products Proglyta and Sweetamine are manufactured and sold. [18]

Meta-analysis

Brind et al. (1996) conducted a meta-analysis of 23 independent epidemiologic studies of abortion and breast cancer. [19] It calculated that there was on average a relative risk of 1.3 (1.2 - 1.4) increased risk of breast cancer. The meta-analysis was criticized in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute for ignoring the role of response bias and for a "blurring of association with causation." [20] It was also criticized for selection bias by using studies with widely varying results, using different types of studies and not working with the raw data from several studies, and including studies that have methodological weaknesses. [21] [22] The statistician who collaborated with Brind later stated of their findings: "I have some doubts. I don't think the issue has been resolved. When we were talking about the conclusions, he [Brind] wanted to make the strongest statements. I tried to temper them a little bit, but Dr. Brind is very adamant about his opinion." [7]

Criticism

Experts believe Brind overlooks the methodological weaknesses of some studies he uses as evidence for an abortion-breast cancer link. Furthermore, medical researchers note Brind overstates his findings since his own research shows a "barely statistically significant" increase in breast cancer rates. [22] In reaction to the criticism, an editor of the journal that published Brind's study noted, with concern:

However, in the light of recent unease about appropriate but open communication of risks associated with oral contraceptive pills, it will surely be agreed that open discussion of risks is vital and must include the people – in this case the women – concerned. I believe that if you take a view (as I do), which is often called 'pro-choice', you need at the same time to have a view which might be called 'pro-information' without excessive paternalistic censorship (or interpretation) of the data. [23]

Related Research Articles

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of all pregnancies. When deliberate steps are taken to end a pregnancy, it is called an induced abortion, or less frequently "induced miscarriage". The unmodified word abortion generally refers to an induced abortion. The reasons why women have abortions are diverse and vary across the world. Reasons include maternal health, an inability to afford a child, domestic violence, lack of support, feeling they are too young, wishing to complete education or advance a career, and not being able or willing to raise a child conceived as a result of rape or incest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breast cancer</span> Cancer that originates in mammary glands

Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a red or scaly patch of skin. In those with distant spread of the disease, there may be bone pain, swollen lymph nodes, shortness of breath, or yellow skin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mammography</span> Process of using low-energy X-rays to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening

Mammography is the process of using low-energy X-rays to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, typically through detection of characteristic masses or microcalcifications.

The politicization of science for political gain occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The politicization of science may also negatively affect academic and scientific freedom, and as a result it is considered taboo to mix politics with science. Historically, groups have conducted various campaigns to promote their interests in defiance of scientific consensus, and in an effort to manipulate public policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisphosphonate</span> Pharmaceutical drugs for preventing bone loss

Bisphosphonates are a class of drugs that prevent the loss of bone density, used to treat osteoporosis and similar diseases. They are the most commonly prescribed drugs used to treat osteoporosis. They are called bisphosphonates because they have two phosphonate groups. They are thus also called diphosphonates.

The abortion–breast cancer hypothesis posits that having an induced abortion can increase the risk of getting breast cancer. This hypothesis is at odds with mainstream scientific opinion and is rejected by major medical professional organizations; despite this, it continues to be widely propagated as pseudoscience, typically in service of an anti-abortion agenda.

In epidemiological research, recall bias is a systematic error caused by differences in the accuracy or completeness of the recollections retrieved ("recalled") by study participants regarding events or experiences from the past. It is sometimes also referred to as response bias, responder bias or reporting bias.

In biology and human medicine, gravidity and parity are the number of times a female is or has been pregnant (gravidity) and carried the pregnancies to a viable gestational age (parity). These terms are usually coupled, sometimes with additional terms, to indicate more details of the woman's obstetric history. When using these terms:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States anti-abortion movement</span> Movement in the United States opposing abortion

The United States anti-abortion movement contains elements opposing induced abortion on both moral and religious grounds and supports its legal prohibition or restriction. Advocates generally argue that human life begins at conception and that the human zygote, embryo or fetus is a person and therefore has a right to life. The anti-abortion movement includes a variety of organizations, with no single centralized decision-making body. There are diverse arguments and rationales for the anti-abortion stance. Some anti-abortion activists allow for some permissible abortions, including therapeutic abortions, in exceptional circumstances such as incest, rape, severe fetal defects, or when the woman's health is at risk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Association of American Physicians and Surgeons</span> Conservative political advocacy organization

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a politically conservative non-profit association that promotes conspiracy theories and medical misinformation, such as HIV/AIDS denialism, the abortion-breast cancer hypothesis, and vaccine and autism connections. The association was founded in 1943 to oppose a government attempt to nationalize health care. The group has included notable members, including American Republican politicians Ron Paul, Rand Paul and Tom Price.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Observational study</span> Study with uncontrolled variable of interest

In fields such as epidemiology, social sciences, psychology and statistics, an observational study draws inferences from a sample to a population where the independent variable is not under the control of the researcher because of ethical concerns or logistical constraints. One common observational study is about the possible effect of a treatment on subjects, where the assignment of subjects into a treated group versus a control group is outside the control of the investigator. This is in contrast with experiments, such as randomized controlled trials, where each subject is randomly assigned to a treated group or a control group. Observational studies, for lacking an assignment mechanism, naturally present difficulties for inferential analysis.

Risk factors for breast cancer may be divided into preventable and non-preventable. Their study belongs in the field of epidemiology. Breast cancer, like other forms of cancer, can result from multiple environmental and hereditary risk factors. The term "environmental", as used by cancer researchers, means any risk factor that is not genetically inherited.

Priscilla Kari Coleman is a retired professor who worked in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She has published a number of articles claiming a statistical correlation or causal relationship between abortion and mental health problems.

The relationship between alcohol and breast cancer is clear: drinking alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer, or liquor, is a risk factor for breast cancer, as well as some other forms of cancer. Drinking alcohol causes more than 100,000 cases of breast cancer worldwide every year. Globally, almost one in 10 cases of breast cancer is caused by women drinking alcoholic beverages. Drinking alcoholic beverages is among the most common modifiable risk factors.

<i>BRCA</i> mutation Medical condition

A BRCA mutation is a mutation in either of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are tumour suppressor genes. Hundreds of different types of mutations in these genes have been identified, some of which have been determined to be harmful, while others have no proven impact. Harmful mutations in these genes may produce a hereditary breast–ovarian cancer syndrome in affected persons. Only 5–10% of breast cancer cases in women are attributed to BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, but the impact on women with the gene mutation is more profound. Women with harmful mutations in either BRCA1 or BRCA2 have a risk of breast cancer that is about five times the normal risk, and a risk of ovarian cancer that is about ten to thirty times normal. The risk of breast and ovarian cancer is higher for women with a high-risk BRCA1 mutation than with a BRCA2 mutation. Having a high-risk mutation does not guarantee that the woman will develop any type of cancer, or imply that any cancer that appears was actually caused by the mutation, rather than some other factor.

Scientific and medical expert bodies have repeatedly concluded that abortion poses no greater mental health risks than carrying an unintended pregnancy to term. Nevertheless, the relationship between induced abortion and mental health is an area of political controversy. In 2008, the American Psychological Association concluded after a review of available evidence that induced abortion did not increase the risk of mental-health problems. In 2011, the U.K. National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health similarly concluded that first-time abortion in the first trimester does not increase the risk of mental-health problems compared with bringing the pregnancy to term. In 2018, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded that abortion does not lead to depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. The U.K. Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists likewise summarized the evidence by finding that abortion did not increase the risk of mental-health problems compared to women carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term. Two studies conducted on the Danish population in 2011 and 2012 analysed the association between abortion and psychiatric admission found no increase in admissions after an abortion. The same study, in fact, found an increase in psychiatric admission after first child-birth. A 2008 systematic review of the medical literature on abortion and mental health found that high-quality studies consistently showed few or no mental-health consequences of abortion, while poor-quality studies were more likely to report negative consequences.

The Silent No More Awareness Campaign is a United States-based anti-abortion campaign of two larger organizations, Priests for Life and Anglicans for Life. It was co-founded in 2003 by Janet Morana, Executive Director of Priests for Life, and Georgette Forney, President of Anglicans for Life.

Toxic abortion is a medical phenomenon of spontaneous abortion, miscarriage, or stillbirth caused by toxins in the environment of the mother during pregnancy, especially as caused by toxic environmental pollutants, though sometimes reported as caused by naturally occurring plant toxins

Janet R. Daling is an American epidemiologist. She is a member emeritus of the Public Health Sciences Division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, as well as an emeritus professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington.

Vernon M. Chinchilli is an American biostatistician and Distinguished Professor of Public Health Sciences at the Penn State College of Medicine, where he is also Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences. He is also a professor of Statistics at Penn State University.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mooney, Chris (October 2004). "Research and Destroy: How the Religious Right Promotes Its Own 'Experts' to Combat Mainstream Science". Washington Monthly . Archived from the original on April 4, 2008.
  2. ↑ "The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion" (PDF). Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-10-31. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  3. ↑ "Is Abortion Linked to Breast Cancer?". American Cancer Society. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "WHO – Induced abortion does not increase breast cancer risk". who.int. Archived from the original on 13 January 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  5. ↑ Safe abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems (PDF) (2nd ed.). World Health Organization. 2012. p. 49. ISBN   9789241548434. Sound epidemiological data show no increased risk of breast cancer for women following spontaneous or induced abortion.
  6. ↑ Committee On Gynecologic, Practice (June 2009). "ACOG Committee Opinion No. 434: induced abortion and breast cancer risk". Obstetrics and Gynecology. 113 (6): 1417–8. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0b013e3181ac067d . PMID   19461458.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Yeoman, Barry (January 31, 2003). "The scientist who hated abortion". Discover .
  8. ↑ "short bio of Brind". Archived from the original on 2004-12-25. Retrieved 2005-06-10.
  9. ↑ "Joel Brind, Department of Natural Sciences, Baruch College".
  10. 1 2 Chamberlain, Pam (Summer 2006). "Politicized Science How Anti-Abortion Myths Feed the Christian Right Agenda". The Public Eye . Vol. 20, no. 2.
  11. ↑ "Concerned Women for America - Family Voice". Archived from the original on 1 March 2012.
  12. ↑ "Summary Report: Early Reproductive Events Workshop". National Cancer Institute. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11.
  13. ↑ "Minority dissenting opinion". Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ↑ "Race for the Cure Protest".
  15. ↑ Jasen, Patricia (Oct 2005). "Breast Cancer and the Politics of Abortion in the United States". Med. Hist. 49 (4): 423–444. doi:10.1017/s0025727300009145. PMC   1251638 . PMID   16562329.
  16. ↑ "Glycine: Uses and Risks".
  17. ↑ "About Dr. Brind « Sweetamine".
  18. ↑ "About Natural Food Science". Proglyta. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  19. ↑ Brind J, Chinchilli VM, Severs WB, Summy-Long J (1996). "Induced abortion as an independent risk factor for breast cancer: a comprehensive review and meta-analysis". Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 50 (5): 481–96. doi:10.1136/jech.50.5.481. PMC   1060338 . PMID   8944853.
  20. ↑ Weed DL, Kramer BS (1996). "Induced abortion, bias, and breast cancer: why epidemiology hasn't reached its limit". J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 88 (23): 1698–700. doi: 10.1093/jnci/88.23.1698 . PMID   8943995.
  21. ↑ "Planned Parenthood - Anti-Choice Claims About Abortion and Breast Cancer published". plannedparenthood.org. Archived from the original on October 25, 2008. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
  22. 1 2 SkepticFiles.org: Study Linking Breast Cancer, Abortion Widely Criticized
  23. ↑ Donnan S (December 1996). "Abortion, breast cancer, and impact factors--in this number and the last". J Epidemiol Community Health. 50 (6): 605. doi:10.1136/jech.50.6.605. PMC   1060372 . PMID   9039374.
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