Everything causes cancer

[SoCalDem]

An interesting article..

http://www.theyorker.co.uk/lifestyle/scienceand%20technology/11102

Everything causes cancer
April 9th, 2012

There was an article this week that made it into over one hundred news outlets across the globe - a scientific study that linked height to ovarian cancer. But, as always, different outlets decide to phrase it in a certain way. The Daily Mail went with the surprisingly long and detailed "Taller women 'at greater risk of ovarian cancer' as every two inches of height increases threat by 7 per cent", and the Daily Telegraph went with "Taller women at higher risk of ovarian cancer". Other UK media outlets had similar headlines, also using the word "risk", as if women were endangering themselves by making them taller - as if high heels were the cause, or something.

Sky News Australia went with "Ovarian cancer more likely in tall women" and the Daily Pioneer stated that "Ovarian cancer hits tall women more". The clearly more knowledgeable MedPageToday went with a different route - "Higher BMI Tied to Ovarian Cancer Risk" - that noted that height played a factor but BMI was the more dangerous enemy.

Famously, the Daily Mail claims that all sorts of things can drive cancer - and the Daily Dust compiled a list of articles stating that the following things, according to the Mail, causes cancer: facebook, wine, a cold, deodorant, chips, oral sex, vitamin E, sausages, burgers, soup, hair dye, mouthwash, sun cream, pringles, hula-hoops, x-rays, talcum powder, moisturisers, mobile phones, red meat, tooth whitener, chocolates and other bagged foods. The official list contains many even-more worrying objects; fibre, fruit, vegetables, exercise, infections, occupations, hormones, etc. etc.

Of course when you look at this with a scientific eye, you notice something completely different - only two things are higher than the 5% error margin found in a sample size of 400 people - obesity and tobacco. In fact, obesity is only a 6.9% increase, whilst tobacco is responsible for well over double that figure. Alcohol, UV rays and infections - all popularly known cancer causes - are almost exactly as dangerous as fruit and vegetables. But when the Guardian came to report on it, they stated that "The Cancer Research UK report found more than 100,000 cancers each year in the UK are caused by four lifestyle factors - smoking, unhealthy diets, alcohol and people being too fat.". Notice that whilst alcohol represents an increase of 3.3% in women and 4.6% in men (according to their data), fruit and vegetables cause 3.4% and 6.1% respectively. In fact, according to their data, obesity only causes an increase of 4.1%, and therefore, scientifically, fruit and vegetables are the second biggest causes of cancer in men.

snip

[cindyperry2010]

1. most of it is

from lifestyle choices

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. This is my father's favorite saying.

[PlanetBev]

11. My late father's favorite saying

"If my grandmother had wheels, she's be a trolleycar".

[silverweb]

3. Distraction.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]It all focuses attention away from the fact that the poisons that industrial society has been pumping into our environment are really the main cause for many if not most cancers. But we don't need no stinkin' EPA....

[SoCalDem]

5. The sheer number of them protects industry from ever owning up to them.. we are all lab-rats

[elleng]

4. 'Fruit and vegetables are the second biggest causes of cancer in men!!!'

Nothing like statistics!

[Silver Swan]

6. The two greatest risk factors for breast cancer are

1. Being cis-female

2. Growing older.


I was recently diagnosed with breast cancer at age 65. This was clearly my fault because I am a woman, and I didn't properly control my age.

[Speck Tater]

7. It's no wonder that people can be so easily convinced that global warming is not real.

They see science and a huge collection of contradictions and conflicts between people who can't agree on anything, and change their opinions every three days. Is it any wonder people no longer take "scientific studies" seriously?

[surrealAmerican]

17. This is an important point.

People who read these articles in the popular press learn to distrust "scientific" results because the press does a truly terrible job of screening out the meaningless noise, and explaining the useful findings.

[Speck Tater]

18. That's because the press is only interested in...

earning advertising money, and that means drawing in the rubes with marvelous tales of wonder. Every day.

[MineralMan]

8. Being a human and being alive gives you

an 83% greater chance of developing cancer. Every human cancer occurs in a living person. Therefore, being alive causes cancer.

[smirkymonkey]

13. That's why I'm indulging in all those unhealthy practices while I'm young...

So I can die early and therefore prevent my risk of cancer due to the aging process.

[MineralMan]

14. Very clever you are and quite well-reasoned.

Life is for living. Getting old and dying pretty much sucks. As an ancient geezer, myself, I'm glad I sowed bushels and bushels of wild oats in my youth.

Go and do likewise!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

20. It is really just about your immune system.

We were all freaked about this when we learned this in whatever science class we learned this in.

[MineralMan]

21. Actually, I've never been freaked by the concept of death.

We are born, we live, and then we die. The schedule of that is very uncertain, and the manner of our death is even more uncertain. Since childhood, I have awoken every day with the knowledge that it might be my last day. I'm quite surprised and gratified that I have reached my current age. I'm still waking up each morning with the same knowledge.

Death is not something that I'm afraid of, and I've been near it...very near. It just is. Life just is. It's all very interesting.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

22. I've gotten less and less freaked by the concept of death...

...as I age. I used to be BUGGED by the concept, even though from a young age, I've been dealing with death. Now I'm just going with the flow. I'll die when I die. My mom's side tend to live into their 70s and 80s. My dad died when he was 62. His sister is still alive and she's like 75. Of course, they're all heavy smokers, so who knows how long I'm going to keep kicking. I'm not that concerned, really.

[MineralMan]

23. A wise philosophy, I think.

Enjoy!

[Bluenorthwest]

9. There's no cure, there's no answer....

[waddirum]

15. one of the best

Joe is mensch enough to publish sheet music for many of his songs, including one for "Cancer". I'm a diligent student, going back 30 years now.

[get the red out]

10. I bet worrying ourselves over evey study causes cancer too

Which means we are all so fucked......

[MrScorpio]

12. On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

[Gman]

16. Living causes death

[YellowRubberDuckie]

19. Birth is a terminal disease.

The fact is, there are different triggers for everyone. Some are genetic. Some are outside forces. Fact is, no one really knows 100% what causes cancer. Just like no one knows what causes autism or what exactly it is.