Interesting and Frigthening Facts on Cancer

33% of people will get Cancer. 25% of those will die from it.

Cancer is almost surpassing Heart Disease as the number one killer.

Over 1 million people are diagnosed with Cancer every year(In the USA)

An estimated 80 million people have health insurance insufficient to cover the costs of a catastrophic illness such as cancer.

Since 1949, the overall cancer incidence has increased by 44 percent; the incidence of breast cancer and male colon cancer by about 60 percent; testis, prostate and kidney by 100 percent; and other cancers, such as malignant melanoma, multiple myeloma and some lymphomas, by over 100 percent.

The estimated annual cost of cancer to the United States, excluding incalculable psychosocial costs, is $110 billion, approximately two percent of the GNP.

Annual production rates for synthetic, carcinogenic and other industrial chemicals exploded from 1 billion pounds in 1940 to more than 500 billion pounds annually during the 1980s.

Recent National Cancer Institute studies have linked: non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and exposure to solvents, oils, and greases; elevated risks for multiple myelorna among men and women employed in the textile and plastic industries; lymphoma among laboratory workers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and lung cancer among workers who developed silicosis.

The rates of certain types of cancer among some industrial workers are up to 10 times higher than in the general population. Children of workers handling chemical carcinogens have sharply increase cancer rates. For example, the risks of childhood leukemia are increased two-to-five-fold if, during their mother's pregnancies, their fathers worked with spray paints, dyes or pigments.

Some 75 percent of all cancers develop in those over 55, but notable exceptions include childhood leukemia, testicular and brain cancers - which mainly strike young people and have been increasing at an alarming rate, particularly among peak age groups For example, there has been an approximate 300 percent increase in testicular cancer among those aged 25-34 since the 1950s.

During the 1990s, nearly 2 million women will have been diagnosed with breast cancer and 460,000 will have died. Between 1950 and 1989, the incidence of breast cancer increased by 53 percent.

There has been an approximate doubling in. lung cancer rates in recent decades among non- smokers. A wide range of occupational exposures and urban air pollution have been shown to cause lung cancer.