Media reports may paint overly optimistic view of cancer

Media reports may paint overly optimistic view of cancer.

Unfortunately, as this article points out, most aggressive cancer treatments do not extend life and more than half of the patients diagnosed with cancer will die from it. This article raises the question of whether or not the media should tell the whole picture when it comes to cancer, rather than reporting mostly the successes or new treatments.

This is a tough call. On one hand, I think it is imperative that people realize that cancer is truly the biggest killer disease, so that they would maybe work a little harder to try to prevent it. Although we can’t prevent all cancer, we do know certain lifestyle choices definitely contribute to the risk, like smoking, drinking too much alcohol, being exposed to high levels of toxins and obesity (to an extent).

I also think if we let people know the truth about how unsuccessful most cancer treatments are (and in fact in many cases unnecessary), it would maybe prompt the cancer industry (drug companies, cancer equipment, doctors) to look harder at different approaches, possibly even at “alternative” therapies.

The war on cancer has been abysmal, to say the least. We really need some innovative thinking, and fast.

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