Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Sense, but no cents

Scientific studies have apparently shown that birth control pills are perfectly safe. Now there is a push toward making their use more widespread by making them available over-the-counter to teenagers. Notably, birth control pills contain artificial hormones that prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation.  Worse, for the pills to be effective, they have to be taken every day. Common sense tells me that the pills are too invasive and just can’t be good for the taker in the long term.
 
Along those lines, all living beings and cells possess the instinct to survive, which is the basis of evolution in the long term. Cancer occurs when that instinct to survive at the cellular level goes haywire after the body is subjected to cancer causing factors. The tainted survival instinct in the affected (i.e., cancerous) cells makes them spread into surrounding tissues, to the detriment of the rest of the body. While it may seem like the cancer industry is running for the cure, it may actually be running away from the cause. That’s because there is money to be made and careers to be sustained in the perpetual pursuit of finding the cure.
  
What’s prudent is a shift from “finding the cure for cancer” to “preventing cancer”, most of which can be accomplished simply by focusing on lifestyle changes like exercising and eating sensibly. For the sake of curtailing cancer, shift in focus from “cure” to “prevention” makes sense and should be pursued, even though it may not make cents for the multi-billion dollar cancer industry.