Date published: 2007/08/09
The BBC says:
Too much food, alcohol and sun has fuelled a massive rise in some forms of cancer, warn UK experts.
Cases of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, have risen by 40% in the past decade, figures from Cancer Research UK show.
And mouth cancer, which is associated with smoking and drinking, has risen by almost a quarter.
Research has suggested that around half of all cancers could be prevented by changes to lifestyle.
Rates of kidney cancer and womb cancer - both linked to obesity - have also shown rapid increases over the past 10 years.
Overweight and obese women are twice as likely to develop womb cancer as women of a healthy weight due to higher than normal exposure to the hormone oestrogen.
The charity is particularly concerned about rates of malignant melanoma which have doubled in women and tripled in men since the mid-80s.
In 2004 there were 8,939 cases of malignant melanoma compared with 5,783 in 1995.
They said heavy sun exposure accounted for the vast majority of cases.
However, the figures from the UK Association of Cancer Registries show rates of cervical cancers are falling as a result of the national screening programme.
And due to fewer people smoking, lung cancer rates are continuing to decrease, especially in men.
...
[Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK's director of health information, said:] "Everyone can help reduce their risk of cancer by avoiding smoking, keeping a healthy body weight, eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruit, vegetables and fibre and taking regular exercise".
Another "end of the world" story. The BBC tries to (partly) blame smoking for mouth cancer in the third paragraph and then manages to point out later that in fact fewer people are smoking now. But why let a little contradiction get in the way of a good story.
And the numbers quoted are not that dramatic. The "8939 cases of malignant melanoma" represents about 1 in 6700 people, i.e. about 0.015%. Multiply by 70 years to get around a one percent chance of having a malignant melanoma in your lifetime (which of course is not necessarily lethal). Should society really be getting hysterical about this? (And they of course do not mention that there are benefits from getting some sun.)
Part of the reason for more malignant melanomas might be that more people are going on holiday abroad, to sunny countries like Spain, and even Britain is warmer these days, so perhaps people are spending more time outdoors. Most people would no doubt rather have this lifestyle and put up with a small risk of getting a malignant melanoma, than the alternative lifestyle that Cancer Research UK and the other members of the ruling elite seem to want to foist on ordinary people.
Obesity is one thing that has increased recently, and that could be resulting in more cancers. But everybody already knows that being fat is not good for you, we don't really need patronising advice from the ruling elite to confirm it.
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