5 ms·

I really wish people would stop saying “F cancer” As a society, we have the option of greatly reducing cancer deaths whenever we so choose. Let’s do that rathe

I really wish people would stop saying “F cancer” As a society, we have the option of greatly reducing cancer deaths whenever we so choose. Let’s do that rather than raging against something that feels nothing. It has been over 15 years since the Last Lecture and we still have done little for pancreatic cancer, for example. https://youtu.be/ji5_MqicxSo https://youtu.be/ji5_MqicxSo According to Craig Venter, early detection is what we need to eliminate cancer: https://youtu.be/iUqgTYbkHP8?t=15m37s https://youtu.be/iUqgTYbkHP8?t=15m37s No one is saying it’s going to be easy but we’re going to make a lot of progress over the next 25 years. Let’s decide to do more sooner.

bulbosaur123 4y ago
Referring to early screening, this seems like the right way to go: https://grail.com/ https://grail.com/
- jghn 4y ago
  Sort of. The issue with current early detection methods is that they tend to cause more harm than good at population scale. Between getting dosed with radiation in the process, false positives causing at best psychological trauma if not unnecessary treatment, and it's hard to tell if you just detected a cancer you'll die with instead of dying of - and thus another form of unnecessary treatment. The blood tests remove some, but not all of that. Yes, for any arbitrary person it might be lifesaving, just like current methods. But at population scale it's not a panacea.
pifm_guy 4y ago
We also have a lot of data on ways to reduce cancer before it happens. Reduce obesity. Reduce pollution. Etc. Yet we really aren't doing an awful lot about those things. Imagine for example if we had an obesity tax - everyone obese must pay 30% of their earnings into a Medicare fund. Sure it would be unpopular, but obesity would very quickly be solved, and cancer rates would plummet.
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  That will probably do nothing for obesity rates except fleece obese people. I’d be more interested in seeing appetite drugs like semaglutide become cheap and easy to get, something that helps instead of buying into punitive measures for absolutely everything.
  - fuzzfactor 4y ago
    Exactly. There needs to be a reward system for healthy initiatives, not a punitive approach for unsuccessful accomplishments.
  - copperx 4y ago
    It's ironic that you mention semaglutide, because it causes cancer.
- DoreenMichele 4y ago
  Those approaches -- reducing pollution, etc -- aren't popular in part because humans are terrible about not knowing how to count the deaths that didn't happen.
- jodrellblank 4y ago
  > "Imagine for example if we had an obesity tax - everyone obese must pay 30% of their earnings into a Medicare fund." Imagine for example if we taxed the shareholders of CocaCola instead, they're the ones who got wealthy from obesity. And before you say "it was the consumer's choice", what was CocaCola's $4b/year advertising spend for, then?
  - pifm_guy 4y ago
    I'd totally be up for fining companies retrospectively for harming people's health even before the harm was well understood. That gives the companies an incentive to do the research ahead of time to minimize damages.
    - 4y ago
Waterluvian 4y ago
"Fuck cancer" is more than a scause for a cause. It translates to, "you are not alone." Certainly, I agree that we can be doing more.
- justin_oaks 4y ago
  As someone who lost a sibling to cancer, thanks for the translation. I wish people would use "You are not alone" or "We also have suffered due to cancer. It is awful. You have our empathy and we offer our condolences." or something else instead of the shorthand "Fuck cancer". But I'll accept "Fuck cancer" too.
  - Waterluvian 4y ago
    I generally agree. I used to be so angry when someone said it. Fuck cancer? Fuck you. What do you know about how I’m feeling? I learned two things over the years : 1. everyone “knows something” about cancer. 2. I can’t control culture and language. To be honest though, many years later… I still haven’t found a single phrase anyone can say that doesn’t make me think, “I wish we could just not be having this conversation.” I remind myself that there are no words but people are still trying.
DubiousPusher 4y ago
https://allpoetry.com/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night https://allpoetry.com/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night
tomrod 4y ago
"Fuck Cancer" is what I feel and what I will share. When we cure cancer, I'll back down. Until then, in memory of the folks I have lost and with empathy to those experiencing it or watching loved ones experience it, fuck cancer.
adamredwoods 4y ago
Hopefully TCR therapy will move us forward against these types of cancer: https://www.statnews.com/2022/06/01/novel-genetic-experiment-shrinks-pancreatic-cancer https://www.statnews.com/2022/06/01/novel-genetic-experiment...

bulbosaur123 4y ago

Referring to early screening, this seems like the right way to go: https://grail.com/ https://grail.com/

jghn 4y ago
Sort of. The issue with current early detection methods is that they tend to cause more harm than good at population scale. Between getting dosed with radiation in the process, false positives causing at best psychological trauma if not unnecessary treatment, and it's hard to tell if you just detected a cancer you'll die with instead of dying of - and thus another form of unnecessary treatment. The blood tests remove some, but not all of that. Yes, for any arbitrary person it might be lifesaving, just like current methods. But at population scale it's not a panacea.

pifm_guy 4y ago

We also have a lot of data on ways to reduce cancer before it happens. Reduce obesity. Reduce pollution. Etc. Yet we really aren't doing an awful lot about those things. Imagine for example if we had an obesity tax - everyone obese must pay 30% of their earnings into a Medicare fund. Sure it would be unpopular, but obesity would very quickly be solved, and cancer rates would plummet.

hombre_fatal 4y ago
That will probably do nothing for obesity rates except fleece obese people. I’d be more interested in seeing appetite drugs like semaglutide become cheap and easy to get, something that helps instead of buying into punitive measures for absolutely everything.
- fuzzfactor 4y ago
  Exactly. There needs to be a reward system for healthy initiatives, not a punitive approach for unsuccessful accomplishments.
- copperx 4y ago
  It's ironic that you mention semaglutide, because it causes cancer.
DoreenMichele 4y ago
Those approaches -- reducing pollution, etc -- aren't popular in part because humans are terrible about not knowing how to count the deaths that didn't happen.
jodrellblank 4y ago
> "Imagine for example if we had an obesity tax - everyone obese must pay 30% of their earnings into a Medicare fund." Imagine for example if we taxed the shareholders of CocaCola instead, they're the ones who got wealthy from obesity. And before you say "it was the consumer's choice", what was CocaCola's $4b/year advertising spend for, then?
- pifm_guy 4y ago
  I'd totally be up for fining companies retrospectively for harming people's health even before the harm was well understood. That gives the companies an incentive to do the research ahead of time to minimize damages.
  - 4y ago

Waterluvian 4y ago

"Fuck cancer" is more than a scause for a cause. It translates to, "you are not alone." Certainly, I agree that we can be doing more.

justin_oaks 4y ago
As someone who lost a sibling to cancer, thanks for the translation. I wish people would use "You are not alone" or "We also have suffered due to cancer. It is awful. You have our empathy and we offer our condolences." or something else instead of the shorthand "Fuck cancer". But I'll accept "Fuck cancer" too.
- Waterluvian 4y ago
  I generally agree. I used to be so angry when someone said it. Fuck cancer? Fuck you. What do you know about how I’m feeling? I learned two things over the years : 1. everyone “knows something” about cancer. 2. I can’t control culture and language. To be honest though, many years later… I still haven’t found a single phrase anyone can say that doesn’t make me think, “I wish we could just not be having this conversation.” I remind myself that there are no words but people are still trying.

DubiousPusher 4y ago

https://allpoetry.com/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night https://allpoetry.com/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night

tomrod 4y ago

"Fuck Cancer" is what I feel and what I will share. When we cure cancer, I'll back down. Until then, in memory of the folks I have lost and with empathy to those experiencing it or watching loved ones experience it, fuck cancer.

adamredwoods 4y ago

Hopefully TCR therapy will move us forward against these types of cancer: https://www.statnews.com/2022/06/01/novel-genetic-experiment-shrinks-pancreatic-cancer https://www.statnews.com/2022/06/01/novel-genetic-experiment...