Afetse1

Komi Afetse
Chip Douglas
UWRT-1102
November,19, 2016
Cancer: Causes and Prevention.
Can cancer be prevented?
Cancer is a disease that existed long before. It does not date from this century. To this
day, cancer is an incurable disease which kills millions of people every year. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO): Cancers figure among the leading causes of morbidity and
mortality worldwide, with approximately 14 million new cases and 8.2 million cancer related
deaths in 2012. Cancer is manifested by an uncontrolled proliferation of cells, resulting in the
formation of a tumor. There are over one hundred types of cancer. Some forms of cancer are
gender specific. For example, Breast cancer is most frequent in women. What are the types of
cancer that are more common in men? Which ones are specific to men? This disease which a lot
of people, including myself, do not know the causes and how to prevent it, makes thousands of
victims each day. According to some people, cancer is due to bad luck. It cannot be prevented.
At the same time, other people support the idea that cancer is a preventable disease. What are the
causes of cancer? Why are they responsible for causing cancer? Can cancer be prevented?
Cancer is a terrible and merciless disease that attacks anyone. Cancer affects all types of
people, regardless of the ethnicity, the gender or the age. However, there are types of cancer that
are gender specific and more frequent depending on the gender. So, what are the types of cancer
that are more common in men? The most common cancers in men are prostate cancer, lung
cancer, liver cancer and colorectal cancer (WHO). The prostate cancer is a disease that affects

Afetse2
only men. Why? Indeed, the prostate is an organ that only men have, it is for this reason that only
men are affected by this type of cancer. For a man, the probability to be diagnosed with a
prostate cancer is approximately fifteen percent. Also, most of the time, prostate cancer is not the
cause of the death of men who have it. According to the American Cancer Society: Prostate
cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer.
About 1 man in 39 will die of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer can be a serious disease, but most
men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it. In fact, more than 2.9 million men in the
United States who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point are still alive today.
Furthermore, lung cancer, liver cancer, and colorectal cancer are likely to affect everyone. These
types of cancer are among the deadliest cancers worldwide. According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), in 2012, 1.59 million persons died from lung cancer, 745,000 people died
from liver cancer, and 694,000 people have succumbed to colorectal cancer. A development of a
tumor in organs is responsible for all these types of cancer. What are the factors that cause
cancer? How are these factors responsible for causing cancer?
Cancer, in general, is due to exposure to radiations such as ultraviolet radiations
(radiations from the sun), and X-rays. Radiation is responsible for changes(mutations) in the
cells. These mutations may lead to the uncontrolled proliferation of cells, thus resulting in the
formation of a tumor. This tumor will become cancer. Smoking(tobacco) and the abusive
consumption of alcohol are also major causes of cancer. The tobaccos smoke contains more
than forty substances -ammonia, cyanide, formaldehyde, benzene, etc.- that cause cancer.
These substances interact with the development of cells in the organism, by damaging the DNA
of cells. Therefore, the damaged cells create other unhealthy cells. These unhealthy cells will
conduct to a development of a cancer. Similarly, in the organism, alcohol turns into a toxic

Afetse3
chemical called acetaldehyde. This chemical damages the DNA and prevents cells from repairing
it. In this way, unhealthy cells will grow, will divide, and become cancer.
In addition, a bad diet (non-healthy and unbalanced) and a physical inactivity are
important factors that can lead to cancer. How? A bad diet and a lack of physical exercises are
the primary cause of obesity. Obesity is a condition in which people have a lot of body fat. An
abnormally high level of fat is not good for the organism. Indeed, a lot of fat influence negatively
the hormone metabolism and the growth factors (substances that regulate and stimulate cellular
division). In obese people, growth factors do not correctly perform their functions anymore.
Hence, cells proliferate anarchically. This uncontrolled cell division will lead to a cancer. Also,
the environmental pollution is another factor that may cause cancer. Brett Israel clearly shows
this fact in his article: benzene, a known cause of human leukemia, is a common pollutant in
vehicle exhaust. Radon, a natural radioactive gas found in many homes, raises the risk of lung
cancer. Arsenic, linked to skin, liver, bladder and lung cancer, contaminates some drinking water
supplies. In fact, environmental pollutants contain many carcinogens, which interfere with the
cellular division. All these factors are called extrinsic factors.
Extrinsic factors are risk factors that depend entirely on people environment. There are
other risk factors that are called intrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors are risk factors that are directly
related to the organism of people. People do not have any control on the intrinsic factors. The
genetic inherited defects are intrinsic factors. According to the American Cancer society, Only
about 5% to 10% of all cancers result directly from gene defects (called mutations) inherited
from a parent. Since, cancer is a genetic illness, and the genome (the genetic material of an
individual) is transmitted among members of the same family; so, when an individual had or has
a case of cancer in his family, the probability for him to get cancer increases.

Afetse4
In addition, the division rate of stem cells is another intrinsic factor that is responsible for
cancer. According to a research done by two researchers at John Hopkins University, there is a
strong correlation between the frequency of stem cells division and the risk of getting cancer.
The more stem cells divide, and the more the risk of getting cancer increases. Why? Every time
cells divide, there is a synthesis of millions of nucleotides, and most of the time, a replication
error happens. If genes responsible for repairing the change are not operational, a mutation will
occur. As long as, a change in cells does not involve a rapid growth of cells, it will not cause
cancer. However, stem cells are cells associated with growth and tissues repair. So, a mutation
during a division of stem cells will more likely cause an abnormal proliferation of cells. In this
way, the more stem cells divide, the more the probability of having a mutation increases, and the
higher the chances of getting a cancer. Also, the two scientists state that approximately sixtyseven percent of all cancers are due to the division rate of stem cells. Because people do not have
any control on intrinsic factors, cancer can be considered as a matter of bad luck.
Knowing the causes of cancer and how they are responsible for the disease, now, how to
prevent cancer? Can cancer be prevented?
Our lifestyle plays a major role in the prevention of cancer. By removing some habits
from our way of life, and by adding other habits, cancer can be prevented. First of all, we have to
avoid exposures to radiations. In fact, the protection against sun radiations and X-rays is a step
toward cancer prevention. Secondly, not smoking(tobacco) and not consuming alcohol are habits
that we must promote, not only to prevent cancer, but also to avoid some cardiovascular diseases
(cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease, and so on.). By saying, not consuming alcohol,
I do not mean to never drink alcohol or to stop drinking alcohol, but to consume alcohol
moderately and if possible, rarely.

Afetse5
In addition, a regular physical activity and a healthy and balanced diet are habits that we
must adopt in order to prevent cancer. We have to consume fewer foods coming from fast food
restaurants. In point of fact, fast-foods contain a lot of fat which is not good for our bodies
metabolism. Also, fast-foods do not constitute a balanced and healthy diet at all. A balanced and
a healthy diet has to include cereals, fruits, and vegetables. According to Preetha Anand, Diet,
obesity, and metabolic syndrome are very much linked to various cancers and may account for as
much as 3035% of cancer deaths, indicating that a reasonably good fraction of cancer deaths
can be prevented by modifying the diet. Extensive research has revealed that a diet consisting of
fruits, vegetables, spices, and grains has the potential to prevent cancer. Besides the prevention
of cancer, a regular physical activity is beneficial to humans organism in many other various
ways such as the prevention of obesity, the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, optimization of
the organisms metabolism, et cetera. In the words of Aaron Carroll, physician and writer for the
New York Times, a regular physical activity is defined as 150 minutes a week of moderateintensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity. In this way, it is an achievable
objective.
Is modifying our lifestyle sufficient to prevent cancer? Can cancer really be prevented
just by having a good and balanced diet, or by avoiding tobacco, so on and so forth? In point of
fact, our habits, and environmental pollutants are not the only causes of cancer. According to
most scientists, they are the major causes (90 %), but even if they represent only 10%, genetic
inherited defects are still causes of cancer. Genetic inherited defects cannot be avoided; they can
be described as due to misfortune. If an individual has a case of cancer in his family, he has to
consult with a doctor in order to check if he possesses or does not possess the defective genes. If
the individual has the defective genes which are responsible for cancer, he has to follow the

Afetse6
prevention guidelines such as, avoid tobacco, consume alcohol moderately, etc. Nevertheless,
following the prevention strategies is just a way to reduce the risk of getting cancer. What will
happen next, is a matter of luck.
Furthermore, cancer is also caused by stem cells division rate. This risk factor is
responsible for about 67% of all cancers (Tomasetti and Vogelstein). It is an intrinsic factor. To
put it in another way, it is a risk factor on which people do not have any control. Tomasetti and
Vogelstein showed that some types of cancer can be prevented by changing our way of life while
other types of cancer are completely dependent on luck. They also argued that it is absurd to
think that cancer will never happen if people follow the prevention strategies (Flam). The study
of Tomasetti and Vogelstein is consistent. However, the research was focused on tissues that lead
to a cancer more frequently. In this way, I suppose that these tissues are also responsible for the
most common types of cancer. Since some of the most frequent types of cancer (lung cancer,
liver cancer, etc.) can be avoided by following the prevention strategies, hence, a prevention of
cancer is possible.
In the scheme of things, to my mind, cancer can be prevented. However, I did not deny
the role of luck in the prevention of cancer. Following the prevention strategies has a substantial
impact in reducing the risk of getting cancer, but there is an infinitesimal possibility to still have
cancer. Indeed, eighty-two percent of lung cancer cases in women and seventy-eight percent of
lung cancer cases in men could have been prevented through changes in lifestyle (Carroll). In
this way, eighteen percent of women and twenty-two percent of men who got lung cancer could
not prevent it.

Afetse7

Works cited
Anand, Preetha, et al. Cancer is a Preventable Disease that Requires Major Lifestyle Changes.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library
of Medicine. 2008 July 15. Web. 19 November 2016.
Cancer. who.int. WHO 2016, February 2015. Web. 19 November 2016.
Carroll Aaron E. Helpless to Prevent Cancer? Actually, Quite a Bit Is in Your Control.
nytimes.com. 2016 The New York Times Company, July 5,2016. Web. 19 November
2016.
Flam Faye. Scientists Stand By Claim That 'Bad Luck' Causes Most Cancer. forbes.com. 2016
Forbes Media LLC. 05 February 2015. Web. 12 October 2016.
Israel Brett. How Many Cancers Are Caused by the Environment? scientificamerican.com.
2016 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, A DIVISION OF NATURE AMERICA, INC. May 21,
2010. Web. 19 November 2016.
Learn about cancer. cancer.org. 2016 American Cancer Society, Inc. 11 March 2016. Web. 19
November 2016.
Tomasetti, and Bert Vogelstein. Variation in cancer risk among tissues can be explained by the
number of stem cell divisions. Science .02 January 2015. science.scienemag.org. Web.
12 October 2016.