The Non-Genetics of Cancer

A clarifying poll from a couple UK organizations I’ve never heard of - Cancerbackup and Genes Reunited - shows that the overwhelming preponderance of people (in the UK, at least) think that cancer is largely hereditiary/genetic. In fact, this story says, 90 percent of cancers are entirely random. The biggest risk factor for cancer is not family history, as 60 percent of those polled believe, but age.

Published by: tgoetz on August 3rd, 2007 | Filed under cancer, Genetics




2 Responses to “The Non-Genetics of Cancer”

  1. ramunas Says:
    August 5th, 2007 at 2:23 pm

    “All cancer is genetic, but some cancers are more genetic than others” as G. Orwell once aid…:)
    I would seriously doubt that family history couldn’t be important risk factor - here is an excerpt from cancer.gov:
    Although reproductive, demographic, and lifestyle factors affect risk of ovarian cancer, the single greatest ovarian cancer risk factor is a family history of the disease. A large meta-analysis of 15 published studies estimated an odds ratio (OR) of 3.1 for the risk of ovarian cancer associated with at least one first-degree relative with ovarian cancer.

  2. Hereditary Cancer Public Perception | Cancerbackup « www.cancer-genetics.com Says:
    August 13th, 2007 at 5:22 am

    […] genetic factors play an important role in causing cancer, therefore arrgueing that most cancer is non - genetic can be confusive both for public and other health care providers. “All cancer is genetic but […]

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