Cancer

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Cancer

Cancer is a disease in which cells grow out of control and invade,

erode, and destroy normal tissue. Damaged genes cause this development

of cancer. These damaged genes are often a factor caused by such

things such as the environment, and can be influenced by inherited

factors. As the very early damaged cells divide they can evolve into a

malignant cell population, and lose the control mechanism that govern

normal cell division. These malignant cells can then go on to form

solid tumours that start to destroy normal tissue. These can then

spread to other parts of the body by releasing these tumour cells.

Once these cancer cells spread, they grow in other parts of the body

and then form new cancers. If this cancer spreads to take over a part

of the body that performs an essential function, this can kill you.

One in three people will be diagnosed with cancer during their

lifetime. However most cancers mainly affect older people. Therefore

as the average life expectancy in the United Kingdom has almost

doubled, the risk of cancer has grown. It is estimated that a third of

all cancers are caused by smoking and another third is caused by the

diet people choose. These are over two hundred different types of

cancer, and all have different causes, different symptoms and require

different types of treatment. Some types of cancer are very common,

such as breast, lung, bowel, and prostate cancer, whereas some types

of blood cancers are very rare.

There are many causes of cancer. However, usually there is more than

one cause, which will cause cancer. This is known as being

multi-factorial.

Carcinogens are one major cause know...

... middle of paper ...

...This is because as time changes, new

information's found out to show that some parts of a diet can be

classed as a carcinogen. An example of this is some years ago

saccharin claimed to be a carcinogen, but now is said not to be as

dangerous as we expected. Lastly our views on sun exposure are a known

cause for non- melanoma and melanoma skin cancer. Melanomas one of the

most deadly skin cancers, and are located in the upper part of the

skin. These start commonly to form a mole, which then turn to become

cancerous. These types of skin cancers are associated with ultraviolet

waves caused by sunlight. This is most common in people who are

predisposed to sunburn rather than tan. However, even though this

predisposition to ultraviolet rays has been known to cause skin

cancer, people still do not take notice of this warning.

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