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Thread: What Causes Cancer?

  1. #1
    *cocktail slut Elahiya's Avatar
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    Default What Causes Cancer?

    http://www.care2.com/greenliving/wha...es-cancer.html

    What causes cancer? When you think of all the things that are known or assumed to be cancer-causing and put them together–the list is pretty daunting. This summary comes straight from the book Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic (New Society Publishers, 2007) by Liz Armstrong, Guy Dauncey and Anne Wordsworth.
    This list does not claim to represent a complete summary of the contributing factors; but it is an indication that are many more factors than we usually think about. The good news is that many are avoidable. What do you think of this list? Do you take issue with any of the items here? Are there other items that you would add?
    Lifestyle and Diet Factors
    • Smoking and second-hand smoke.
    • Diet–too much meat, not enough fruits and vegetables.
    • Suntanning.
    • Absence of UV sunlight in some regions, reducing cancer-protecting vitamin D.
    • Obesity, and lack of regular exercise.
    Other Food Factors
    • Processed food such as nitrosamines, aspartame, some food colorants.
    • Bovine growth hormone in milk.
    • Some salt-cured, pickled, and smoked food.
    • Sugar and alcohol consumption.
    • Absence of cancer-protecting compounds in food not grown organically.
    • Food contaminated with pesticides and herbicides.
    Occupational Hazards
    • Workplace exposure to carcinogens including solvents, heavy metals, radiation, pesticides, diesel fuel, benzene, asbestos.
    Radiation
    • Solar UV radiation from ozone depletion.
    • Ionizing radiation from diagnostic x-rays, especially CT scans and mammograms; nuclear medicine, radiation therapy.
    • Electromagnetic radiation from power lines, cell towers, cellphones, electronic devices (both wired and wireless).
    • Ionizing radiation from uranium mining, nuclear power plants, atomic bomb tests, depleted uranium.
    Air Pollution
    • Carcinogens such as benzene, diesel vehicle exhaust, coal-fired power emissions, asbestos fibres, industrial chemicals, incinerators, pesticides, soot, wood dust, indoor air pollutants.
    Water Pollutants
    • Carcinogens such as chlorine by-products, industrial chemicals, heavy metals, pesticide residues, fluoride, arsenic, hormone-disrupting chemicals, coal-fired power wastes.
    Toxic Products
    • Toxic chemicals in household products such as cosmetics, fire-retardants, non-stick agents, solvents, cleaning products, building products.
    • Plasticizers such as bisphenol A and phthalates in various plastic food containers, water coolers and bottles, children’s toys, teethers, dental sealants, canned foods.
    • Some drugs including immunosuppressants, birth control pills, hormone pills, hormone replacement therapy, androgenic steroids, anti-depressants, proton pump inhibitors, behavior modifying drugs and drugs used to treat cancer.
    Natural Carcinogens
    • Foods contaminated with fungal aflatoxins.
    • Various phytochemicals in food.
    • Chewing betel nuts.
    • Radon gas leaking into buildings.
    • Cosmic and solar radiation.
    Infectious Agents
    • Infectious agents such as hepatitis B and C, HIV, human papilloma virus.
    Reduced Immunity
    • Toxic substances that weaken the immune system’s ability to fight cancer.
    Endocrine/Hormone Disrupters
    • Endocrine disrupting chemicals in air, water, and consumer products.
    • Increased exposure to a woman’s (endogenous) estrogens.
    • Loss of darkness related to rotating shift work, reducing cancer-protecting hormone melatonin.
    Other Factors
    • Windows of vulnerability: Exposure to toxic substances pre-conceptually, in utero, during infancy, during puberty.
    • Family history of cancer–shared habits, shared pollution, shared genes.
    • Parental and grandparental exposure to contaminants, causing faulty epigenetic expression.
    • Poverty.
    • Living near toxic sources.
    • Genetic variability–some people are more vulnerable than others.
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  2. #2
    missbettie's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    everything causes cancer. i might as well smoke.
    "i'm rejecting my reflection, cause i hate the way it judges me."

  3. #3

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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    ^that's depressing...the last thing I should be looking at.


  4. #4
    missbettie's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    <3 ^
    "i'm rejecting my reflection, cause i hate the way it judges me."

  5. #5
    Abe Froman Risker's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    None of those things cause cancer. They can increase your chances of developing it but not cause it.
    "I don't want to live on this planet any more" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth

  6. #6
    snivelingchild's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    ...um, that might be true for some of the things on the list (vit D deficiency) but most of those substances directly cause cancer cell formation and growth in your body. Most people have cancerous cells in their body all the time, and the body is constantly fighting them. You get a tumor when you have too many cancer-causing circumstances and not a strong enough system to fight them all off. Then they form into tumors.

    If you can put something on cells in a lab, and grow cancer cells, than that thing causes cancer.

  7. #7
    Abe Froman Risker's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    ^ I stand corrected. What I should have said is that no matter what you do, if you live long enough you'll develop cancer regardless.

    Some of it seems a bit suspect to me though...

    • Absence of cancer-protecting compounds in food not grown organically.
    • Electromagnetic radiation from power lines, cell towers, cellphones, electronic devices (both wired and wireless).
    • Plasticizers such as bisphenol A and phthalates in various plastic food containers, water coolers and bottles, children’s toys, teethers, dental sealants, canned foods.
    I don't think these are proven.
    "I don't want to live on this planet any more" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth

  8. #8
    snivelingchild's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    bisphenol A has a TON of proof behind it. Look at studies that test blood traces of it in people (and infants) with cancer. It's absorbed when food and beverage are stored, and especially heated in most plastics (different plastics contain different amounts of it). When plastics are sent to land fills, it even enters groundwater, and even the water supply, depending on where the landfill is placed.

    "Cancer-protecting compounds" are antioxidants in all fruits and other foods, organically grown or not. However, pesticides are linked to cancer (not proven by eating non-organic foods, but proven in larger amounts). It is also proven that pesticides reside in non-organic food (in different concentrations depending on the food, and you can find traces of pesticides in people's blood. It is jsut not certain how well, if at all, these substances are stored up or released from the body. Therefore, theoretically, eating pesticide ridden food can "lead to" cancer, but I would say it introduces carcinogenic substances to the body in much smaller amounts that other things.

    Electromagnetic radiation does adversely affect the body....in large amounts. In places where they have massive amounts of power lines in poor villages, some studies show more instances of childhood cancer. However, this is not a situation present in 1st world nations. I would call that another thing that causes cancer "in theory," or, IMO, it is cancer causing, but not more, by itself, than the body can handle....if that makes any sense...which when reading back it doesn't too much....but that's the way words kind of shit out of my mouth.

    Anyway. definitely research bisphenol A. You will find a LOT of SHIT on that crap. I think it works more on changing the amount of hormones in your body, because it's shown to increase estrogen in men. It's all about how trace things add up in your body over years. So, yeah, one tiny thing might not be "bad for your health," but a lifetime of things add up when substances are loaded up in human tissues. Just think of how fish have tons of heavy metal that is absorbed when you eat it. It's because they have "lifetimes" (quoted for being killed prematurely to be eaten) of eating sea plants with tiny amounts of heavy metal from water pollution. Anyway, I'm babbling, and have probably stopped making sensical connections in word and thought a while ago. meh.

  9. #9
    buttons's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    "Cancer-protecting compounds" are antioxidants in all fruits and other foods, organically grown or not. However, pesticides are linked to cancer (not proven by eating non-organic foods, but proven in larger amounts)."

    The level of anti-oxidants in a food doesn't necessarily translate to the level of anti-oxidants 'passed on' through ingestion of said food (I'm ineloquent!)'

    "In places where they have massive amounts of power lines in poor villages, some studies show more instances of childhood cancer. However, this is not a situation present in 1st world nations. I would call that another thing that causes cancer "in theory," or, IMO, it is cancer causing, but not more, by itself, than the body can handle....if that makes any sense...which when reading back it doesn't too much....but that's the way words kind of shit out of my mouth."

    Apparent 'cancer clusters' don't always necessarily indicate that sommet in the vicinity is causing the illnesses. Causation v.Correlation, really.

    I have no strong ancestral history of leukaemia/exposure to radiation/'bad' diet etc. I have come to believe that I got cancer...because I did. These things just happen.


    *chugs down green tea and reapplies sunscreen*

  10. #10
    buttons's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    This article is a good, pertinent example of bad usage of the word "causes". I'd like to see the peer-reviewed studies upon which he bases his claims!

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle1843718.ece

  11. #11
    gorillagorilla Gorilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    drugs used to treat cancer
    drugs used to treat cancer actually give you cancer?

    Radon gas leaking into buildings.
    as i have found out from having land searches done for selling my house, this stuff is everywhere, at least round here.

    Cosmic and solar radiation
    not much you can do to avoid that!

    Genetic variability–some people are more vulnerable than others
    exactly.
    'The word gorilla was derived from the Greek word Gorillai (a "tribe of hairy women")'

  12. #12
    Stu
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Quote Elahiya View Post
    ...
    And so, to sum up:

    Natural - good;
    unnatural - bad.

  13. #13
    cobweb
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    ^ and as you'd be hard pressed to find much left that's really 'natural' nowadays, we're f***ed

  14. #14
    pathologist
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Just to say - drugs (and other therapies) used to treat cancer are indeed one of the major causes of cancer - (mainly leukaemia and tumours of soft tissue) because they interfere with cell division!
    of course to some extent it is unhelpful to discuss "cancer" as if it were one entity; in fact it is a group of thousands of diseases, all of which have a different range of causes.
    (One of the parts of my job is to diagnose cancer in tissue samples)

  15. #15
    cobweb
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    ^
    that is very interesting

    i have always said that if i was diagnosed with cancer i would refuse drug therapy or possibly any therapy atall. Lots of my family members have died of different types of Cancer after suffering with both the disease and the hideous effects of 'treatment'. This is one reason i refuse to have further cervical smear tests done.

    If you were ever in the horrendous position of discovering you have Cancer, what treatment options would you go for, mjnewbould? .

  16. #16
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Well - I think it is always difficult to know before it happens. I think I would have conventional therapy (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy etc). Almost evryone does in that situation. Usually each form of cancer has a different therapy defined. the type of cancer may also come into it. In some cases the aim of therapy is cure - in other cases it is palliative. often one would be helping others because all the data from many cancers is collected and this helps define what treatment is to be. My sister died of cancer of the colon (surgery can be curative here - but is in only about half the cases) - she had all the treatment and it gave her four more years of life that were very important to her; she also helped others by opting to try various treatments that were experimental. My husband had a high grade lyphoma in 2000(one always goes for a cure here by a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy). He had his treatment for 6 months and is now considered to be cured. Sorry if I'm a bit technical here

  17. #17
    cobweb
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    no, that's fine, it's good, i wish doctors would run through the options properly before making assumptions. I guess i would have a tumour removed but i don't fancy the drug therapies.

  18. #18
    missbettie's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    wow mjnewbould, you have been through a lot... <3
    "i'm rejecting my reflection, cause i hate the way it judges me."

  19. #19
    gorillagorilla Gorilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Quote cobweb View Post
    This is one reason i refuse to have further cervical smear tests done.
    i'm sorry members of your family have suffered cancer cobweb, but please - that's no reason to stop having smear tests. smear tests can spot pre-cancerous cells so you can get them treated before they become cancer. treatment doesn't involve drugs and can save your life, cervical cancer is totally preventable.

    sorry to sound preachy but i really think you should reconsider.
    'The word gorilla was derived from the Greek word Gorillai (a "tribe of hairy women")'

  20. #20
    cobweb
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Quote Gorilla View Post
    i'm sorry members of your family have suffered cancer cobweb, but please - that's no reason to stop having smear tests. smear tests can spot pre-cancerous cells so you can get them treated before they become cancer. treatment doesn't involve drugs and can save your life, cervical cancer is totally preventable.

    sorry to sound preachy but i really think you should reconsider.

    well thanks for caring Gorilla - i'm trying to find out if one needs smear tests if not sexually active
    but i sometimes wonder what the point is if i wouldn't take treatment anyway, hmm
    (*am a bit paranoid due to some very vivid dreams i had*)

  21. #21
    gorillagorilla Gorilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    i know you're not currently sexually active but you could've picked up the virus which causes it in the past and it's been lying dormant. please don't think i'm implying anything about your sex life! i just worry so much about cervical cancer, it scares me a lot - and i hate to think of any woman dying young from it, let alone someone i consider a friend.

    i realise it's a difficult subject for some people - i can't bear having smear tests but i do anyway because i think it's important. i don't mean any offence though.
    'The word gorilla was derived from the Greek word Gorillai (a "tribe of hairy women")'

  22. #22
    cobweb
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    i'm in no way offended!

    i have had them before but not since i stopped having sex. I have made 2 appointments and then cancelled them .

  23. #23
    gorillagorilla Gorilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    glad you're not offended, i was worried i might sound a bit critical. it's up to you of course but i think the virus can be dormant in the body for many years before pre-cancerous cells develop.

    i'm by no means an expert - just concerned for your well-being
    'The word gorilla was derived from the Greek word Gorillai (a "tribe of hairy women")'

  24. #24
    cobweb
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    thanks, i never say no to a bit of friendly concern!

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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Thanks for your concern - Miss Bettie - but I have to say it was other people who went through everything- not me- and because my sister was so brave we got four more years with her. Because my husband went through what he went through I still have him. I'm not sure I would be as brave as they were! Actually it seems that many people find that when it happens to them they just get on with it and do their best for themselves and everyone around them. I suppose its a very common and ordinary sort of bravery really - serious illness is common and something that lots of us will face sometime.

  26. #26
    BlackCats
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    I always think that I wouldn't have lots of medical treatment if I had cancer. I know people that have had chemo and they said they would rather die than have to go through chemo again, but I suppose you don't know what your reaction would be if you were faced with a life threatening physical illness.

  27. #27
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    My friend that died recently did have surgery and chemo, but she got the docs to tell her what the odds of each treatment working were and what was likely to happen if she didn't have it.

    She was quite unlucky regarding the cancer spreading, and the last time the docs had to admit that additional chemo probably wouldn't make much difference to her life expectancy, and so she decided not to have it and just make the most of the time she had left.

    The treatment she had previously had did probably buy her some extra years and her last months were mostly pretty good with just palliative care.

    So I would probably adopt the same policy in her place - i.e. find out as much as I could about probable outcomes and quality of life with and without treatment, and then decide for myself at each stage.

  28. #28
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Well - the thing is - it depends entirely on what disease you have - most people who have a chance of a cure will usually chose to do what it takes. I have to say my husband was not really ill with the chemotherapy and radiotherapy- he had some trouble sleeping, some mucositis (ie sore mouth and throat) and one episode of pyrexia for which he had to be hospitalized for 4 days and have antibiotics, so for him it was definitely worth it - within a month or so he felt completely well.

  29. #29
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    My theory - The only cause of cancer is electromagnetic radiation, in one form or another. Whether it be directly from the sun as gamma rays, or released as alpha/beta rays as a result of some chemical reaction involving enzymes and some questionable food that is rotting away in the intestines (eat more fibre !!)

    It has the power to mutate cells, and without it, I don't think evolution would've happened. Radiation is everywhere, and so cells are being broken all the time, but most of the time, the human body has an uncanny ability to remove them. In the end, its just real bad luck if one cluster of cells mutates in the wrong way, and can't be dealt with without some external help.

    Well, thats just my theory, so take it or leave it...

  30. #30
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Quote mjnewbould View Post
    most people who have a chance of a cure will usually chose to do what it takes.
    Agreed - if there'd been a realistic chance of a cure I'm sure my friend would have gone for it as well.

  31. #31
    Stu
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Quote threeheadedpuppy View Post
    My theory - The only cause of cancer is electromagnetic radiation, in one form or another. Whether it be directly from the sun as gamma rays, or released as alpha/beta rays as a result of some chemical reaction involving enzymes and some questionable food that is rotting away in the intestines (eat more fibre !!)

    It has the power to mutate cells, and without it, I don't think evolution would've happened. Radiation is everywhere, and so cells are being broken all the time, but most of the time, the human body has an uncanny ability to remove them. In the end, its just real bad luck if one cluster of cells mutates in the wrong way, and can't be dealt with without some external help.

    Well, thats just my theory, so take it or leave it...
    This sex beast is too clever for my brain.

  32. #32
    threeheadedpuppy's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Quote Stu View Post
    This sex beast is too clever for my brain.
    Thats the nicest thing anyones ever said to me

  33. #33
    Stu
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    You're also very handsome, by the way.

  34. #34
    threeheadedpuppy's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    such a charmer stu

  35. #35
    Stu
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Hey baby.

  36. #36
    Festival Buddy Frank's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Quote cobweb View Post

    Lots of my family members have died of different types of Cancer after suffering with both the disease and the hideous effects of 'treatment'. This is one reason i refuse to have further cervical smear tests done.
    In order to treat a condition - you first have to know you've got it.

    This is the first step.

    If you miss this, you may well be too ill to treat anyway.

    You would not like to know you are going to die and not see your son get to uni, get his degree, get his first girlfirend, get engaged, get married, have children - and everything else you can realise with everyone else you know.

    All that verses one simple test is well worth it.

    The tests that are available are there for a reason - your interests - and some would argue - the interests of your loved ones too.

    So consider doing it for their well being - as well as your own :smile:
    I Think, Therefore I Am A Vegan

  37. #37
    cobweb
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    but that was my point, Frank, if i'm not going to get my (at the moment hypothetical) illness treated then why torture myself knowing i had it?

    or do you mean that i should make that choice only after having the facts?

    hmm, i hear what you say about my son, i will think about it.x

  38. #38
    gorillagorilla Gorilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    but cobweb you can get pre-cancerous cells removed before you develop the disease, it's quick and drug-free, would you be against doing that? that's more what the smear test is for, to catch cells before they start becoming cancerous.
    'The word gorilla was derived from the Greek word Gorillai (a "tribe of hairy women")'

  39. #39
    cobweb
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    ok, i surrender guys!

    i keep getting reminders from my health centre so i suppose i'll make an appointment (*grumble grumble*)

  40. #40
    gorillagorilla Gorilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    it's just because we care about you, cobby
    'The word gorilla was derived from the Greek word Gorillai (a "tribe of hairy women")'

  41. #41
    cobweb
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Quote Gorilla View Post
    it's just because we care about you, cobby

    i know, and that is really sweet x
    would you like me to make a photo diary of the appointment day?

  42. #42
    Festival Buddy Frank's Avatar
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    Default Re: What Causes Cancer?

    Quote cobweb View Post
    ok, i surrender guys!
    :smile:
    I Think, Therefore I Am A Vegan

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