Cancer - Is there anything that doesn't cause it?

Discussion in 'Science and Nature' started by JayF, Apr 8, 2011.

  1. I was just browsing through a news website and came across yet another alarmist story attempting to scare the world into believing that we're all going to die of cancer. I am sick of reading about what is going to give me it. It wouldn't surprise me if we soon hear a story telling us that we are at higher risk of developing testicular cancer if we wear our socks the wrong way round.

    I decided to do a quick Google News search for "cancer risk" and copied and pasted some of the results below. Note that all of these news stories have come just from March and April and appeared in about the first 20 pages of results. These aren't all of the examples I came across, there are plenty more. Some of them are direct causes, but many of them are clear examples of twisting correlation and causality for the benefit of journalistic effect.

    I included an example of a headline for each. Search for "cancer risk [risk factor]" for more information.

    Alcohol - "Alcohol can increase cancer risk"
    Parkinson's Disease - "Parkinson's disease linked to cancer"
    Oestrogen-only hormone therapy - Ostrogen-only hormone therapy 'could raise cancer risk'"
    Talcum Powder - "Talc Use Linked to Ovarian Cancer Risk"
    Human papilloma virus - Lung cancer patients more likely to have high-risk human papiloma virus"
    Sunbeds - "Pasty Pins or Cancer? Sunbeds Increase Your Risk of Skin Cancer by 50%!"
    Weight, Obesity - "Breast Cancer and Weight"
    Diabetes - "Cancer and diabetes: one may follow the other"
    Metabolic Syndrome - AACR: Liver Cancer Risk Rises With Metabolic Syndrome"
    Periodontal disease - Study links periodontal disease to higher incidence of breast cancer"
    Dental x-rays - "Does radiation from dental X-rays cause thyroid cancer?"
    Heart drug digoxin - reduced risk for prostate cancer - "Heart Drug May Cut Prostate Cancer Risk"
    Heart drug digoxin - increased risk for breast cancer - "Heart Drug Linked to Higher Breast Cancer Risk"
    Teen tanning before prom night - "Teen tanning before prom increases risk of skin cancer"
    Radiation - Well establish scientific fact, not just speculation and dubious studies.
    Airport full body screening - "Airport scanners may raise radiation risk if used improperly"
    Stress - "Stress can raise your risk of cancer, other diseases"
    Playing tennis - "The sun can be dangerous for tennis players"
    Living in Cork, Ireland - Cork men at higher risk of testicular cancer"
    Being rich - "Skin cancer risk is higher for rich women than for poor women, study finds"
    Chlorinated water - "Absorbing chlorinated water 'a cancer risk'"
    Space flight - "Health risk in long space missions"
    Smoking - Well known
    X-rays - "Unexpected Radiation Risks From X-Rays"
    Hair dye - "Dye and...die?"
    Working night shifts - "Updated: High Cancer risk for shift workers"
    Oral sex - "Oral sex linked to throat cancer risk"
    Incense sticks - "Incense sticks a cancer risk, Thailand says"
    Asbestos - Well known
    Using a mobile phone - "Headsets reduce risk of mobile-phone cancer"
    UV lights at nail salons - "Could UV Lights at Nail Salons Raise Skin Cancer Risk?"
    Western society - "Westernisation increasing breast cancer risk in Ghana"
    Being black - "Black Men At Highest Risk For Oral Cancer"
    Mustard Gas - "Working with mustard gas linked to lung cancer"


    Now I'm not a doctor so I'm in no position to comment on the validity of any of these claims, but that's not what my point is here. My point is that I'm fed up of the way the media is constantly instilling a fear of the disease into us. We know it's a horrible disease, we know there are risk factors everywhere, we don't need it shoving in our faces our whole lives. I can't think of one example where I have changed my behaviour due to one of these "studies" or "expert opinions".
     
  2. Haha. Good answer.
     
  3. The truth is, when your body gets old and weak enough, you're GOING to get cancer. It's inevitable. You have thousands of potential cancer cells in your body, but because you're young and resilient, you get rid of most of them.
     
  4. Weed slows the cancer process
     

  5. But the most popular way of administering that causes cancer :(
     
  6. psycho-somatic. gotta keep the fear alive to make money.
     
  7. It's less about how everything causes cancer and more about how everything you do will contribute to your death.

    Happy thought, right?

    I'm beyond the point of giving much thought to those things... The cigarettes I smoke will give me cancer, the cell phone I use will give me cancer, the car I drive will give me cancer, the alcohol I drink will give me cancer, the hot dogs I eat will give me cancer, the french fries I eat will give me cancer.

    Everything will give you cancer! :poke:

    Albeit some faster than others of course... But lets face it, we're all going to die sooner or later. Some of us will die of cancer in our 50's, some of us will die of cancer in our 60's, some of us will get hit by a car and die before we even get to be old, some of us will end up being cancer free and die of a sex-induced heart attack when we're 85. We'll call those people the lucky ones. :p


    I'm just going to keep living my life the way I want to live it, and I'll die eventually like everyone else, and meh, oh well. I'm not going to start living as if refraining from one package of nitrite & nitrate filled hot dogs is going to save me from cancer 35 years from now. ;)
     
  8. true but untrue at the same time. Young people still get cancer. I'm 25 and just fought testicular cancer. If cancer runs in the family, you have a much higher chance of getting cancer, even if you don't smoke/drink/etc. Genetics plays a part in it big time.

    I'm not saying you're wrong though. That's definately why cancer wards are filled with 95% old people. But at the same time, just because you're old does not mean you're guaranteed to get cancer. There's plenty of people out there who have lived to be old & died without ever getting a form of cancer.


    Anyways, they definately do say that waaaay too many things cause cancer. But waaaaay too many things can kill you in an instant just from walking outside your house. It's definately the fact that technology is advancing so much that they can find something wrong with EVERYTHING that we deal with on a daily basis.

    My suggestion is to just live life to the fullest cuz you never know what will hit you. Basically what Junkiedays said.


    btw, smoking marijuana does not cause cancer. Yes the smoke is bad for your lungs, but there is no evidence backing smoking mj causing cancer. Plus, that's why they make edibles :D
     
  9. Being black?

    Wow that sucks.
     
  10. A little light reading for you guys! ;)



    Antitumor Activity of Plant Cannabinoids with Emphasis on the Effect of Cannabidiol on Human Breast Carcinoma (full - 2006)
    Antitumor Activity of Plant Cannabinoids with Emphasis on the Effect of Cannabidiol on Human Breast Carcinoma

    9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Inhibits Cell Cycle Progression in Human Breast Cancer through Cdc2 Regulation (full - 2006)
    Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Inhibits Cell Cycle Progression in Human Breast Cancer Cells through Cdc2 Regulation



    Medical marijuana news. Cannabidiol stops the spread of breast cancer.
    (news - 2010)
    http://www.examiner.com/x-19678-Cannabis-Revolution-Examiner~y2010m2d27-Medical-marijuana-news--Cannabidiol-stops-the-spread-of-breast-cancer

    Marijuana Ingredients Slow Invasion by Cervical and Lung Cancer Cells
    (news - 2007)
    Pot Slows Cancer in Test Tube


    Marijuana takes on colon cancer (news - 2008)
    Marijuana takes on colon cancer - health - 01 August 2008 - New Scientist


    The effect of cannnabinoid to gastric cancer (abst - 2006)
    [FONT=&quot]The effect of cannnabinoid to gastric cancer -- Miyato et al. 2006 (1): 958 -- AACR Meeting Abstracts

    [/FONT] Cannabis extract makes brain tumors shrink, halts growth of blood vessels
    (news - 2004)
    [FONT=&quot]Cannabis extract makes brain tumors shrink, halts growth of blood vessels

    [/FONT]
    THC initiates brain cancer cells to destroy themselves (news - 2009)
    [FONT=&quot]THC initiates brain cancer cells to destroy themselves | Worldhealth.net Anti-Aging News[/FONT]

    Cannabis Inhalation Associated With Spontaneous Tumor Regression (news - 2010) [FONT=&quot]Cannabis Inhalation Associated With Spontaneous Tumor Regression, Study Says | NORML Blog, Marijuana Law Reform

    [/FONT]

    Marijuana May Reduce Risk of Certain Cancers, Study Says (news - 2009)
    Join Together | The Partnership at Drugfree.org

    Cannabinoids induce incomplete maturation of cultured human leukemia cells (full - 1987)
    [FONT=&quot] Cannabinoids induce incomplete maturation of cultured human leukemia cells.[/FONT]



    Cannabidiol inhibits tumour growth in leukaemia and breast cancer in animal studies (news - 2006)
    [FONT=&quot]International Association for Cannabis as Medicine[/FONT]


    Delta(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits epithelial growth factor-induced lung cancer cell migration in vitro as well as its growth and metastasis in vivo
    (abst - 2007)
    Unbound MEDLINE | Delta(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits epithelial growth factor-induced lung cancer cell migration in vitro as well as its growth and metastasis in vivo. PubMed Journal article abstract

    Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study Shows (news - 2007)
    Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study Shows


    Lymphoma may be slowed by cannabis (news - 2002)
    Marijuana Ro Club - Lymphoma may be slowed by cannabis


    Cannabinoid receptors as novel targets for the treatment of melanoma
    (full - 2006)
    [FONT=&quot]Cannabinoid receptors as novel targets for the treatment of melanoma[/FONT]


    Cannabinoids Inhibit Cellular Respiration of Human Oral Cancer Cells
    (abst - 2010)
    Cannabinoids inhibit cellular respiration of human... [Pharmacology. 2010] - PubMed result


    Cannabinoids Halt Pancreatic Cancer, Breast Cancer Growth, Studies Say
    (news - 2006)
    Cannabinoids Halt Pancreatic Cancer, Breast Cancer Growth, Studies Say: The Hempire - [cannabis, hemp]


    Chemicals in cannabis found to stop prostate cancer (news - 2009)
    [FONT=&quot]http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-19678-Cannabis-Revolution-Examiner~y2009m8d19-Chemicals-in-cannabis-found-to-stop-prostate-cancer[/FONT]


    Inhibition of skin tumor growth and angiogenesis in vivo by activation of cannabinoid receptors (full - 2003)
    [FONT=&quot] http://www.jci.org/cgi/content/full/111/1/43?ijkey=MpUgjDbqHybAU

    [/FONT] Unpublished Federal Study Found THC-Treated Rats Lived Longer, Had Less Cancer (news - no date)
    The Medical Marijuana Magazine

    Marijuana May Prevent Cancer, Not Cause It (news - 2008)
    Entheology

    Cannabis Compounds have "Palliative" and "Curative" Effects on Cancer
    (news - 2009)
    Illinois NORML - Cannabis Compounds have "Palliative" and "Curative" Effects on Cancer

    Worth Repeating: You Can't Censor Cannabis Cancer Treatment (news – 2011)
    Worth Repeating: You Can't Censor Cannabis Cancer Treatment - Toke of the Town


    Any questions? :smoke:

    If you'd like more, just click that first link in my sig!


    Granny :wave:
     
  11. I think its inevitable. Picture a few human-like creatures, on an earth-like planet. Then fast-forward a couple of years
     
  12. FuckingClassy amd junkiedays, you have essentially just summed up my philosophy also. Live life to the fullest while you can. We only have a limited amount of time on this earth, to spend it worrying that everything you do is going to give you cancer 30 years down the road, to me, would seem like a waste.


    I'm sure being white or Asian is sure to give you some other type of cancer, I just didn't happen to come across an example.

    My point is that no matter what your ancestry, what you do, where you live and how you live your life, something, somewhere along the line you are going to be runing the risk of giving yourself cancer. Worrying about these things is futile and pointless.
     
  13. They think that may be because of low Vit. D levels. So, if you are Black, take your D:)
    Medscape: Medscape Access

    Vitamin D - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
     
  14. Being alive causes cancer.
     
  15. There are just as many random-ass studies about strawberries or whatever preventing cancer as there are about cooked meat and stuff giving you cancer.
     

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