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Mon 27 Jun, 2005 04:34 am
'Cancer myths' believed in U.S., poll shows
By LEE BOWMAN
Monday, June 27, 2005
Updated at 6:32 AM EDT
Scripps Howard News Service
Nearly half of American adults mistakenly believe that surgery can spread cancer, according to a new survey, and more than one in four thinks that a cure for cancer exists but is being kept from the public by a profit-driven health-care industry.
Results of the poll, done for the American Cancer Society, are being published in a coming issue of Cancer, the society's medical journal.
The national telephone survey, led by Dr. Ted Gansler, involved 957 adults with no history of cancer, and sought to assess Americans' understanding of the disease and its management.
The respondents were asked whether five statements of "cancer myths" were true or false. Only 25 per cent identified all the misconceptions as false.
Forty-one per cent said surgical treatments actually spread cancer in the body; another 13 per cent were unsure.
Twenty-seven per cent said there is a cure for cancer available that's being held back by the health-care industry; another 14 per cent were uncertain about this.
Nineteen per cent mistakenly believed that pain medications are ineffective in treating cancer pain and 13 per cent said they didn't know.
On the positive side, 89 per cent disagreed with the claim that "all you need to beat cancer is a positive attitude," and 87 per cent disagreed with the statement that "cancer is something that cannot be effectively treated."
People who were 65 years of age or older, of non-white race, residents of the South or who identified themselves as not having much understanding of cancer were more likely to subscribe to more of the cancer myths.
Dr. Gansler said the findings are troubling given the advances in treatment of cancer and survival rates for the most common forms of the disease over the past three decades.
"These results indicate that public and patient education interventions are most urgently needed in cancer centres, medical practices and other community organizations," the researcher said, particularly those that serve people from the demographic groups shown to be least well-informed.
The survey found there was little relation between people's own assessment of their cancer knowledge and the accuracy of their answers, except that those who thought they were poorly informed were generally right.
The researchers note that other studies have shown a patient's own cultural beliefs and understanding of cancer may influence their health behaviour, including whether they are regularly screened for the disease and if they seek treatment once diagnosed.
© Copyright 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
There will never be one all-inclusive cure for cancer. Cancer is not one disease, but a multitude of ailments, with one overriding characteristic. The cancer cells multiply more rapidly than other, normal cells. Cancer cells are relatively weak and immature, but it is their unbridled ability to proliferate that gets a person in trouble. Treatment and prognosis relates to the particular variety of cancer that a person has.
The poll is really meant as a hook to get people to examine this thread. Not very effective.
My own take is, there certainly are cures that work and the government and drug companiies don't want people to know about or use them. As Phoenix relates, cancer is a group of conditions, and one method of cure may be effective for one and no help at all to another. My ex boss had chest cancer. She refused surgery, chemo, etc., and went to Mexico for shark cartilage-based treatment. She was cured about ten years ago and continues to have no relapses. Due to her overall poor health and horrible eating habits, she has over the past few years developed kidney failure, among other conditions, but none is related to the cancer exactly (except that she really did not change her ways). The government suppresses shark cartilage treatment, but there are scientists trying to develop expensive drugs that do the same thing, so I read about four years ago.
There are salves that heal skin cancer and other tumors, touting a ninety-eight percent cure rate for the conditions they are meant to treat. I had skin vancer from my scalp to my ankles. I felt the doctors' treatment would be too severe and opted to use prducts known as Cansema and Can-X, after an initial trial with Curaderm. Cansema and Can-X are not gentle, and can leave some distinct scars, but they get the cancer out. Lately, the feds discovered a woman who misused Cansema and mixed it with an unrelated product, despite written warnings and advice to only use the products while consulting a doctor. They used it for an excuse to shut down the entire Cansema operation, and then they shut down Can-X. Fortunately these salves are still available from other sources.
In the 1950s, Johanna Budwig of Germany, began the study of diet as related to cancer. She worked for the industry that supplied margerine and other hydrogenated oil products. When she informed them that their products were a primal cause of cancer, they attempted to suppress her, putting her on trial for falsely using medicine or something. Unfortunately for the prosecution's case, a person who had been cured by Budwig was instrumental in the evidence presented and she was found not guilty. She personally has cured over a thousand cancer patients with her flax oil diet. People who take flax today are beholden to this woman.
Doctors can often cure patients too, but I never have believed radiation should be used, although there have been some cures from it, I suppose.
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