Everyone fears cancer, yet few make a concerted effort to prevent it – tragically, most are indoctrinated to believe cancer is largely genetic, back luck, or both. Consequentially, the nation and the world for that matter have been spending enormous resources to chase the illusive cure while the real solution is just under our nose. The genetic deterministic dogma claiming personal genetic makeup drives cancer development is convenient and profitable, but flat wrong.
- Cancer was rare 80 years ago, so what drove the relentless increase of cancer incidence after WW II despite all the medical advances? The human gene pool has not changed; even if changed, the cancer incidence should go down, not up – the outcome of evolution or natural selection.
- The bad-luck theory, stating two thirds of cancer are due to random mutations and thus unavoidable, is factually wrong despite its notability of being published in the prestigious journal Science and extensively covered by the media.
- In spite of the fact that DNA has been fully sequenced, no cancer genes have been found. Even the infamous BRAC1 and BRAC2 are not cancer genes – before 1940, only about a quarter of the mutation carriers developed breast cancer lifetime but now it is about 80%. The fact that three quarters of the carriers would not develop cancer before 1940 clearly shows environmental factors played the major role.
- A study published by the American Cancer Society shows the cancer mortality rate of all males in the US was 88.9 per 100,000 in 1930, but by 1990, the rate jumped nearly 3-fold. Are genes to blame?
- In the past three decades, more and more younger people are getting cancer. An article published in 2023 by the BMJ Oncology shows global incidence of early-onset cancer increased by 79.1% between 1990 and 2019. Are genes the culprit?
- A large study analyzing 44,788 pairs of twins listed in the Swedish, Danish, and Finnish twin registries reveals less than 10% of the cancers are due to genetic factors.
The bottom line: Our genes are not our destiny. Cancers are preventable despite the fact that every cancer cell has genetic mutations – the question is, what causes the mutations?
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