Here are 25 Facts About Cancer.
1-5 Facts About Cancer
1. 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center released a dust cloud of toxic asbestos fibers across Manhattan. An estimated 410,000 people have been exposed to it. It is believed that lung cancer and mesothelioma cases in the city will reach a peak in the year 2041. – Source
2. Men are 35% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than a woman is to be diagnosed with breast cancer. – Source
3. Breast cancer receives the most funding per new case, $2,596, while prostate cancer, the most common cancer, receives the least funding per new case at just $1,318 – Source
4. To treat bladder cancer, doctors inject cow tuberculosis bacteria up your urethra. The subsequent immune reaction destroys cancer cells, and the treatment has been shown to be more effective than chemotherapy. – Source
5. There has been a reported case of human-to-human cancer transmission, where a surgeon cut his hand while resecting a tumor and seeded the patient’s cancer cells on his hand. – Source
6-10 Facts About Cancer
6. The number of skin cancer cases due to tanning is higher than the number of lung cancer cases due to smoking. – Source
7. When you get a sunburn, it’s not your skin cells being damaged by the sun and dying, it’s your skin cells’ DNA being damaged by the sun and them killing themselves so that they don’t turn into cancer. – Source
8. There are “cancer villages” in China, where residents are hundreds of times more susceptible to cancer due to pollution. – Source
9. The Type A/B Personality Theory was actually invented by the cigarette industry in the 1950’s to prove coronary heart disease and cancer were risks related to high-stress personality types instead of tobacco use. – Source
10. After an 11 year study, cell phones were shown not to increase chances of getting cancer. – Source
11-15 Facts About Cancer
11. Stroke Belt is a name given to a region in the southeastern United States that has been recognized by public health authorities for having an unusually high incidence of stroke, diabetes and lung cancer than the rest of the country. – Source
12. According to a study by Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women Hospital, men who ejaculated more than 21 times a month were at a 22% lower risk of developing prostate cancer. – Source
13. Scientists have never found a single incident of cancer in naked mole rats, which live upwards of 30 years, making them an important model for finding ways to fight the disease. – Source
14. If a child only displays redeye in one eye when photographed with a flash, he/she should be checked for retinolastoma, a cancer of the retina. – Source
15. There’s a genetic disease called Laron Syndrome that results in short stature, longer life expectancy, and near immunity to cancer and diabetes, amongst other things. – Source
16-20 Facts About Cancer
16. If a man tests positive for urine pregnancy test, it may indicate testicular cancer. – Source
17. If you live long enough, you will eventually develop cancer. – Source
18. Using a basic food-reward system, normal household dogs have been trained to detect both lung and breast cancer with 90-100% success rate when checked by biopsy-confirmation, only by smelling patient’s breath after just a few weeks of training. – Source
19. African Americans are more likely than any other racial group to develop and die from cancer. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have the lowest overall cancer rates. – Source
20. The first documented cases of cancer were found on papyrus manuscripts in Egypt dating back to 3000 BC. In these manuscripts, 8 cases of breast tumors are mentioned that were removed by cauterization with a tool called the fire drill. The writing mentions that the disease, “has no treatment.”
21-25 Facts About Cancer
21. Three Marlboro Men died of lung cancer earning Marlboro Red cigarettes the nickname “Cowboy killers.” – Source
22. The “immortal” cancer cells of a woman named, Henrietta Lacks, have been multiplying since her death in 1951 and have been used globally to research cancer, AIDS, the vaccine for polio, effects of radiation, gene mapping, and many other pursuits. – Source
23. In the 50’s and 60’s Chester M. Southam injected hundreds of innocent women and prisoners at Ohio State Penitentiary with live cancer cells “knowing at the time it might very well cause cancer.” He went onto be the VP of the American Cancer Society. – Source
24. Chemotherapy drugs to fight cancer were discovered in WW1 where the effects of mustard gas on survivors reduced the amount of rapidly dividing cells like white blood cells. First drug developed based on this research was called Mustine. – Source
25. During the Three Mile Island incident, the government considered sending in terminally ill cancer patients to release a manual valve in the reactor. – Source
You “got to know” — seriously?
Well the red-eye and pregnancy test ones I would consider to be valuable information you should know, but I agree the rest is more along the lines of interesting/cool to know.