Most types of cancer traced to 'bad luck' rather than risk factors, say scientists

Sunday, January 4th 2015 - 06:39 UTC

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Most types of cancer can be put down to bad luck rather than risk factors such as smoking, a study has suggested. US teams were trying to explain why some tissues were millions of times more vulnerable to cancer than others. Read full article

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Clyde15
I remember about 50 years ago I had to attend an examination of a new imported piece of scientific equipment at the Royal Beatson Hospital in Glasgow. This hospital specialised in the treatment of cancers. The chief scientific officer explained what the equipment was used for and in a general discussion about the causes of cancer he told me this which I have never forgotten.
Every year, he said, we are being exposed to new chemical compounds which do not exist naturally in nature. The human body has developed over hundreds of thousands of years alongside naturally occurring substances some of which are carcinogenic. We are now exposing ourselves to new compounds which the human body has never had to deal with and we do not know the long term effects on our physiology.
Think of the number of chemicals and products which were common and have now been banned from use. DDT, Agent orange as used in Vietnam and available as a garden weedkiller, trichloroethylene used in dry cleaning.
Asbestos was considered safe and now any building with asbestos has to be closed and specialist teams in NBC clothing brought in to remove it.
It makes you wonder what else is ticking away !
Jan 04th, 2015 - 12:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Porto Margaret
#1 Clyde15 indeed what else is ticking away

Most types of cancer traced to 'bad luck' rather than risk factors, say scientists:

Peronism, the earliest Neoplasm which was first known about in mid 1940‘s Argentina, has over time mutated into Kirchnerism Necrosis of normal life, with a nasty and variant offspring the malignant tumor Cámporaism. All are clearly seen in the social laboratory that is the Argentine.

There are some teratoma, more familiar as Castro-Timerman-Filmus, although not especially harmful as they are more dense and dopey.

Bad luck Argies. Get yourselves to a working MRI scanner.
Jan 04th, 2015 - 05:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Briton
They cant afford one,
that one reason they would like to get to the islands,
to steal,,,,sorry--borrow the islanders..
Jan 04th, 2015 - 07:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Bongo
The human body has developed over hundreds of thousands of years?

Took us long enough to invent Google Glass then.
Jan 06th, 2015 - 12:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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