Why would someone think that cancer isn't preventable?

Question

Scientists estimate that more than 60 percent of cancer deaths in the United States are preventable through lifestyle changes. Although there is no certain way to avoid all cancers, reducing individual risk factors significantly decreases the likelihood of contracting many forms of this devastating disease.
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Answer 1

Because some cancers are not preventable. Babies can be born with certain types of cancers. Not all cancers are caused or exacerbated by external factors.

Answer 2

Because some cancers are caused by environmental factors - we all have to breathe, eat, drink etc. You can do everything 'right' and still have all the factors come together and get cancer.

Some people have a genetic predisposition to certain cancers and other's don't. Some people who have never smoked or lived with smokers get lung cancer while some smokers never do.

I guess I would have to ask why someone would think that cancer IS preventable? You can only do all you can, the rest is out of your hands.

Jen

EDIT: Yes, exactly - read your quote again and I think you will see that it says what almost all of us have said. You can change a lot of things but ultimately it is out of your hands. You can make a lot of lifestyle changes and improve your chances of not getting over 60 percent of known cancers. That leaves about 40 percent that you don't have any control over. Hmmmm... that sounds familiar.

Answer 3

The difficulty with this issue may lie in the distinction between 'prevention' and 'risk'. Many lifestyle issues clearly affect a person's risk for developing various cancers. But nothing can absolutely 'prevent' cancer from occurring in some people - no matter what they do. In fact, the longer you live, the more likely you are to develop cancer.

Many of the genetic changes that can contribute to carcinogenesis occur as a part normal metabolism. They are an inherent risk to life. Simply, there is a baseline, underlying 'risk' of cancer that comes with being alive. This risk is referred to as 'stochastic events' in the medical research literature

We all will die. Most of us (70%) will die of a chronic disease such as cancer, diabetes, and/or heart disease. We cannot prevent death, but we can delay it and minimize suffering from these chronic diseases by actively pursuing health-promoting lifestyles.

Best wishes. Hope this was helpful to this discussion.

Answer 4

I can only speak of the cancer that I am most familiar with, which is a childhood cancer that predominately strikes young boys. Here is what we know . . or don't know since nothing proven yet.

Childhood cancer does not necessarily refer to children who have cancer, it refers to the immature cells of childhood. My 17 year old son developed a rare abdominal sarcoma that is almost always a male oriented disease. It is not genetic . . no one else in the family has the disease . . nor is there any known environmental or carcinogentic or dietary connection. Because of the rarity of the disease we know many of the other patients who have this disease. And, we have compared notes to see if there is any connection, any thing that is similar, but there isn't anything that they all have in common . . except of course they are all predominately young males. The average age of onset of the disease is adolescence. Of course, as with every theory there are many exceptions to this average . . despite the predominince of males, young females can also have this disease but it presents as Uterine cancer. And, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of patients with the disease are young adults . . there are also cases of people being in their forties or fifties (very rare).
So, what do we have here . . is this a cancer that is preventable? Or is this a sarcoma that has affected the immature cells of childhood, due not to an outside element but to an internal hormonal clock? It seems likely that the disease is triggered by the onset of puberty. Yet . . children as young as four or five can also get this disease.
Many questions remain unanswered, but more and more it seems that it is the human body making the error in this instance.

If you look closely at other types of cancer you might also start to see similar patterns . . osteosarcoma also seems to predominately strike young adolescent males. No one knows why, although again . . the cancers seem to grow at the same time that growth spurts occur.

Not only are these childhood cancers unpredictable in who gets them . . they also appear to be unpreventable for now.

Answer 5

Getting any cancer can be unavoidable sometimes if "the stage is set": (1) What is your family history? If any type cancer runs in your family, no matter how far back and especially if it's "first generation" (ie: your Mother or Dad had some type of cancer), you have a 50 / 50 chance of getting it. (2) What type of lifestyle do you lead? Sometimes, certain types of cancer such as stomach, liver, etc. are traced back to the nelect of certain types of food not found in diets. Things high in vitamin C such as broccoli, oranges, and grapefruits are good cancer fighters / preventers, depending on the criteria previously mentioned. The scientific proof is not fool-proof yet, but the evidence is strong enough that it has turned the medical communities heads and the heads of some consumers regarding vitamin and mineral nelect being the precursor for some cancers.

Answer 6

Why do you think that it is? Honey, I personally know a young woman who died of lung cancer and she never smoked anything in her life. I know an older woman who had pancreatic cancer who was a health nut. I know a woman who had ovarian cancer with absolutely no precursers whatsoever. This list goes on. Frankly, your question is offensive. There are so many people who have their dignity stripped and their life taken away from something they have no controll over. And their loved ones are left with nothing but memories and tears. Are you some kind of scientist? I am assuming you must have some proof behind this question as you ask it as if it is common knowledge that cancer is as preventable as much as there is a cure for it. Until you have lived in someone elses shoes, don't you dare judge!

Answer 7

I heard that carbon causes cancer and that's in almost everything on earth

Answer 8

Ask the pharmaceutical companies

Answer 9

because sometimes its not.my mom was a health nut and never smoked and still got it

Answer 10

Your an idiot if you believe that!