The anxiety and psychosis universally generated since March 2020 due to Covid, now tapering, diverted everyone from tackling the diseases that continue to take far more lives than the cursed Covid. All other diseases were blacked out or camouflaged. Compared to seven lakh annual deaths due to cancer, coronavirus killed hardly half that figure, mortality being just 1%. Also mind, around 1.53 lakh suicides occur in India every year. Road fatalities are a little less at 1.35 lakh yearly; stroke and heart attack kill 30 lakh yearly. These were all eclipsed with the entire focus on Covid. Much of non-Covid incidences, to some extent cancer too, are significantly preventable by adopting nature’s ways.
Unlike normal cells, exponentially growing cancer cells influence the surrounding normal cells and feed the tumour. Some cancer cells not only ‘hide’ from the immune system that is powerful enough to neutralise damaged or abnormal cells from the body but disable the immune system from killing cancer cells.
We live in an environment imbued with carcinogens. The air we breathe is carcinogenic, so is the food we eat and the devices we use. The staple stuff of our foods like wheat and barley are widely sprayed with glyphosate to speed up drying in the fields before harvesting.
The IARC, the cancer research affiliate of WHO says that glyphosate is an animal carcinogen and a probable human carcinogen. An Indian NGO recently revealed that about 77% of the farmers in the country use glyphosate as weedicide in crops, though it is banned. Studies have established exposure to herbicides and insecticides as a predisposing factor to cancers. Popular brands of toothpaste, cosmetics and soaps contain a germicidal ingredient, triclosan as reported by Newsweek. Despite FDA notification that soaps containing antibacterials like triclosan are not "effective at preventing illness than washing with plain soap and water," companies allure consumers with lies about triclosan to have their way.
Long-term cancer-causing facts are hidden and half-truths are presented about the role of mercury in vaccines, fluoride in toothpaste and potable water systems, food preservatives, colourants and talcum powder. Many studies have attributed osteosarcoma (bone cancer) among youngsters to fluoride in tap water consumption. Due to its heat-resistant, electrically non-conductive and versatile characteristics, Bakelite has infiltrated our households, offices and industries. It is made up of asbestos, phenol, formaldehyde and other highly toxic chemicals. With a regular touch of handles of all descriptions, car interiors, auto parts, children’s toys, handsets, electrical insulation products etc. traces of cancer-causing particles get ingested in our body.
Excessive exposure to radiation is carcinogenic. Findings of a large longitudinal study under ‘Report of Partial Findings from the National Toxicology Program Carcinogenesis Studies of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Radiation’ earlier concluded that cell phone radiation causes brain cancer. A laptop on one’s lap is another reason behind growing cases of cancers. Though there are no conclusive studies on declining sperm count among males, working with laptop on one’s lap may be a contributory factor as it raises the temperature of the scrotum beyond 35 degrees, which adversely interferes with sperm production and fertility, as studies at the State University of New York showed.
A laptop on the lap also raises the level of electromagnetic fields to unsafe levels. Based on evaluating the impact of some common brands of laptops, a study published in the Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health stated that radiation values were alarmingly high when the laptop was held close to the body which can trigger the growth of tumours.
Treatment methods like surgery, chemotherapy and radiation sideline the root causes of cancer. Poor diet alone is known to cause up to a third of all cancers. Tobacco use, stress, physical inactivity need to be prioritised in cancer prevention. Proper diet enhances immunity, stimulates healthy cell growth and maintains hormonal balance. Organic foods can target cancer by triggering apoptosis (programmed cancer cell death). Authors of a study at Drexel University, Philadelphia in 52 trials on 3,731 participants with cancer concluded that music interventions helped decrease "recovery time and duration of hospitalisation". Lifestyle modification, along with doing away with sedentary habits and espousing a high-fibre plant-based diet rich in antioxidants can help in averting cancers.
(Harish Barthwal writes on health and social issues)