because of pollution in the States.used to be rare to get cancer. why dont people care that there dieing off. In the future it will be fifty % , then 75% then 100% of the people getting cancer,when will we learn?. and and least slow down on allowing so much chemicals & mercury and such.into the invironment. in our foods, our water.our air.? Panda, above me, hit the nail square on the head.
I'm a cancer survivor, and I'd like to tell you a true story that concerns a conversation held between myself and my oncologist. While deciding on a treatment option for my third relapse of Hodgkin's Disease Lymphoma, my doctor clearly outlined the frustrations of those trying to cure and treat this disease. I taped the conversation, so these are exact qoutes. It'll be brief, but here's what was said.
Me: "If we don't figure out what's causing this, how can I avoid getting it over and over again?"
Dr. Zuckerman: "You're asking a question that's been asked for centuries by people in far worse shape than you. There's a lot of theories flying around about Hodgkin's... Gasoline fumes, pesticides, food preservatives. But Hodgkin's was first described in the early eighteen hundreds*--and none of these things existed back then. We have to admit that we just don't know what causes it [people to get cancer]. We only know that some do, while others living in the very same environment don't. It points a finger at immune function, since everyone alive faces some form of cancer."
Me: "Really?"
Dr. Zuckerman: "Oh, yeah. But there's something in the immune system that recognizes it and removes it. Cancer's mostly mutated cells, and the immune system recognizes that. Carries it away like a virus or bacteria. The thing about you is, your immune system sees no problem--or, if it does, it's overwhelmed by it. That's why I'd like to send you to Seattle. [In referance to a trip I made to Seattle to receive a donor stem cell transplant, in hopes that the donor's cells would re-create an immune system that recognizes and removes that particular cancer cell.]"
*Hodgkin's Disease was first discovered in 1832 by a physician named Thomas Hodgkin.
That's why the best advice doctors can recommend for preventing cancer are, really, just guidelines to maximize a person's overall health. Quiting smoking (smoking most certainly raises the risk of lung cancer--that much we know for sure), eating a more balanced diet, excercise, proper handling of chemicals, ect. Perhaps we'll never nail down the exact causes. Conspiracy theorists have some pretty outlandish ideas, sure... but medical professionals, seeking truth, have found very little definative proof--and it isn't for lack of trying; these people have families they care about, too.
The truth is that the "rise" of cancer cases really is more an indicator that our diagnostic equipment is better, so more cases are correctly identified now. Add to that the fact that people are living longer than ever before, and the chances that one will get cancer grows larger because the human lifespan itself increases--an infant who dies from suffocation will never get cancer, for example. The reason why so many people now know they have this disease is because we HAVE learned more. It was always there--since the dawn of life itself. We're just better able to see it for what it is now. Hey, thanks! That means a lot to me. Report It
You realize that cancer is a very old disease? That it has been around since the beginning of humanity. There are fossilized remains of humans with cancer. The first written mention of cancer is around 1600 AD where they write about breast tumors.
The reason that I mention this is that no one really knows what causes all cancer. It might be environmental, or diet, or chemicials, or mercury, or genetic . . or smoking . . no one really knows why one person gets cancer while the person beside him does not. Why does one person in a family get bone cancer . . but not anyone else? It is not so simple to say that the pollution is 'causing' cancer . . because not everyone is getting cancer. Why? Why doesn't everyone get cancer if it is in the environment or caused by chemicals and mercury or something in the food, or water or air? Why isn't the statistic four out of four?
Cancer is a complicated disease. There are no simple answers as to why one person develops cancer but the majority of people do not develop cancer. If the answer were simple, than the mystery of cancer would have been solved years ago.
And, of course people care, but there aren't any solid answers to the questions. It is not at all clear that the environment causes all cancer . . though it may be a contributing factor in some types of cancer. |
