Till effective remedy for cancer is available, there is no alternative but to focus on preventive issues, choosing a lifestyle in keeping with Nature’s order.
Much ado over Corona: The anxiety and psychosis universally generated since March 2020 due to Covid, now tapering, diverted one and all from tackling the abiding 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 together with its novel variants delta and omicron killed hardly half that figure, mortality being just one per cent. Also mind, around 1.53 lakh suicides occur in India every year. Road fatalities are a little less at 1.35 lakh yearly. Atop is the mortality due to stroke and heart attack at 30 lakh yearly. These were all eclipsed with entire focus on elusive Covid with its nature, genesis and proliferation still unclear. Much of non-Covid incidences, to some extent cancer too, are significantly preventable adopting Nature’s ways.
Bizarre nature of cancer cells: Unlike normal cells, exponentially growing cancer cells influence the surrounding normal cells and feed the tumour. They also weaken the ability of our system to fight cancer. 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. Further, once a cancer patient is cured, the chances of recurrence are not ruled out.
Carcinogenic ambience
We live in an environment imbued with carcinogens. The air we breathe is carcinogenic, so is the food we eat and 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 glyphosate is an animal carcinogen and a probable human carcinogen. Few months ago an Indian NGO recently revealed that about 77% of the farmers in the country use glyphosate as weedicide in crops though not in permitted list. Studies have established exposure to herbicides & insecticides as a predisposing factor to cancers. Popular brands of toothpastes, cosmetics and soaps contain a germicidal ingredient, triclosan as reported by Newsweek. Despite FDA notification that soaps containing antibacterials like triclosan “are not more effective at preventing illness than washing with plain soap and water”, companies, adept in reading people’s mind, allure the consumers with lies about triclosan to have their way.
Plastics, Bakelite predispose to cancer: Long-term cancer causing facts are hidden and half truths presented about role of mercury in vaccines, fluoride in toothpaste or potable water systems, food preservatives, colourants, fragrances, mosquito repellants and talcum powder. Many studies have attributed osteosarcoma (bone cancer) among youngsters to fluoride in tap water intake. Due to its heat-resistant, electrical 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 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. 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 worldwide, working at laptop on one’ lap may be a contributory factor as it raises the temperature of scrotum beyond 35 degree above the normal body temperature, which adversely interferes with sperm production and fertility, as studies at the State University of New York showed. 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 that can trigger growth of tumours.
Dirty politics of modern medicine
Initially, benefic effects of ginger, garlic, turmeric and lemon, all part & parcel of traditional Indian food were scorned at and discarded as nonsensical. However, when lab studies found value in each of these, especially in fighting cancer, these were conceded to have ‘some benefits’ and finally when modern medicine was well convinced after lab testings, the western players went on endeavouring to have patent rights on these. Certain vegetables have assured effect in curing cancer. The Rajiv Dixit, one time associate of Baba Ramdev and thorough in Indian therapeutics, often said that Nature has gifted us all plants and herbs in our vicinity to get rid of all the maladies we may be subjected to. Indeed there is no alternative to going the Nature’s way to stay fit and healthy. To defeat cancer, of prime importance is the shift in lifestyle, doing away with sedentary habits and espousing a high-fibre plant-based diet rich in ginger, garlic, turmeric and lemon.
Ongoing treatment methods i.e. surgery, chemotherapy and radiation hardly work because they 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 immune function, stimulates healthy cell growth and maintains hormonal balance. Organic foods can target cancer by triggering apoptosis (programmed cancer cell death. Favourable results of music on overall well-being of cancer patients have also been documented. Authors of a study at Drexel University, Philadelphia in 52 trials on 3,731 participants with cancer concluded that music interventions also helped decrease “recovery time and duration of hospitalisation”.
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Slightly reduced version of this article was published in Deccan Herald with the heading, ‘To beat cancer, do what nature asks’. Link of newspaper’s online edition: https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/opinion/panorama/to-beat-cancer-do-what-nature-asks-1077848.html
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Nice article to serve as a wake up call. Prevention is always better than cure.