As-salamu `alaikum,

There are many known facts and a great deal of fiction about what causes cancer — and most people will know a little bit of both. Most families have experienced cancer near at hand so it’s not surprising that people have gathered information along the way, picked up from word of mouth, the television and magazines. Unfortunately, not all information passed around is entirely accurate and the myths that circulate can result in people believing wrongly about the causes and control of the disease. This may cause people to suffer unnecessary guilt and anxiety — about whether or not they caused their own cancer and about how the course of the illness will run. For example, it is commonly supposed that having cancer implies a lingering and painful death, which is not true.

It is true that the number of people diagnosed with cancer is increasing; there are reasons for this that will be explained later. Fortunately, it is also true that treatments are improving continually and many cancers, such as Hodgkin’s disease that would have been fatal in the past, can now often be cured.

Understanding the facts

  • Cancer is not one but many different diseases with different causes; for example, chemical in tobacco smoke cause lung cancer but these do not cause breast cancer.
  • Cancers are caused by substances known as carcinogens; materials that are found commonly in the environment to which our bodies are exposed, over a period of time. Two centuries ago a man named Percival Potts linked the development of cancer of the scrotum to chimney sweeps but it was not until the twentieth century that scientists found a carcinogen in soot.
  • Studies by scientists over the years have shown that certain groups of people are more prone to some kinds of cancer than other people; genetics (family history) and environmental issues both play a part in this disease pattern.
  • Cancer rates differ in countries around the world. By comparing Japanese people with people in the UK it is known that the Japanese death rate for stomach cancer is double that of people in England and Wales, whilst the death rate for breast cancer is very much higher in this country.
  • There is sufficient, proven evidence available to accurately pinpoint the cause of some cancers deriving from what people eat, work; for example how they live and the relationship with their work; for example, asbestos is a known work-related carcinogen.

”Caring for someone with cancer” by Toni Battison.