Discuss social, ethical and biological issues associated with cancer Cancer is
one of the most complex and devastating diseases that claim the life of many
humans. Today there are one in three people worldwide who are affected by
cancer, and almost 60% of these people will almost certainly die. 7000 New
Zealanders die every year from this disease. It is the second largest killer
next to heart disease. Cancer does not just affect certain groups of people, it
can affect anybody and it is not just one disease, it refers to more than a
hundred diseases. Cancer is caused by carcinogens. At present, hundreds of
chemicals are known to induce cancer. Normally, the body’s cells divide in an
orderly way, allowing the body to grow and to heal after injury. Damage or
mutations that occur to the proto-oncogenes (POG) and tumour suppresser Genes (TSG)
in the genetic material (DNA and RNA) by these carcinogens bring about Cancer,
which causes cells to have less control of cell division and differentiation.
POGs lead to changed cells or transformed cells and cause excessive cell
division. Further mutations cause the cells to become immortal. These cells
continue to divide and form a ball of cells. These cells require a lot of energy
and fluids flowing to maintain the high rate of the cell division. When these
balls become too large for fluids to flow through, the middle of the ball dies.
TSG’s act as anti-proto-oncogenes, they regulate the rate of cell division.
POG’s and TSG’s constantly compete to overpower each other. These TSG’s
can be mutated and this brings about a change in the control mechanism of cell
division. Cells are stimulated to divide through a growth factor. Growth factor
molecules bind to cell membranes of cells and send a chemical message to a
receptor in the cell membrane. The receptor sends a message through the
cytoplasm to the nucleus to stimulate cell division. Sometimes when these growth
factors are absent the receptor in the cell membrane is mutated to send out the
message to the nucleus. Cells are also stimulated to divide through the two
proteins, cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases. When these two join together,
this stimulates cell division. These proteins act on the growth inhibitor
proteins P53 and PRP, which are growth inhibitor proteins. Tumours may be
malignant, spreading or benign, non-spreading. Malignant tumours are aggressive,
invasive, and mobile. They invade healthy tissue and continue to divide. The
original cancer is called the primary tumour. If the tumour is malignant, the
disease may develop in other parts of the body where secondary tumours may form.
This is known as metastasis. Cancer causes illness through local growth, spread
to distant organs, and overall effects of the disease on the individual.
Treatments of cancer vary. Tumours may be surgically removed if they have not
metastasised. Other methods are usually used if the tumour has metastasised. For
chemotherapy drugs are used to kill cancerous cells as they divide. Radiotherapy
is another standard way of treating cancer, ionising radiation aimed at the
tumour will prevent the cells from dividing further. So what makes cancer more
special than other diseases? The answer is that there is no cure and scientists
are not optimistic of finding one in the near future. Today people are far more
knowledgeable about cancer and how it may be avoided than 10 years ago. It has
now been found that as many as 80% of all cancers may be avoidable. The most
common types of cancer in New Zealand are female breast (14%), male prostate
(14%), trachea, bronchus, and lung (12%) and colon (11%) Given that such a large
proportion of cancers may be avoidable, why isn’t there a reduction in cancer
incidence? This may be because our educational programs are not appropriate and
perhaps even due to people’s ignorance. Female breast cancer and male prostate
cancer can almost always be cured if detected and treated in time. For the early
detection of female breast cancer appropriate programs such as monthly mammogram
and breast self-tests have been introduced. But I believe that male prostate
cancer has not been addressed enough (more?). 80% of lung cancers have been
found to be caused by smoking. If smoking is such a huge cause of lung cancer
that kills almost 150 New Zealanders every year, why can’t it be banned? This
is because large multimillion-dollar tobacco companies such as Wills and Benson
and Hedges have very successful advertising campaigns mainly sponsoring sports
teams. Even though it seems like tobacco advertising has decreased, it was only
last year when Benson and Hedges sponsored the triangular cricket series in
Australia. With such a lot of income coming into the tobacco industry they
cannot be taken on by small individual and private research organisations. It is
also the ignorant buyer’s fault for purchasing tobacco even though it has been
proven to be addictive and cancer causing. More than any other ethnic group in
New Zealand, Maori girls have been found to smoke the most. This could be
because they do not receive adequate support from home and family or maybe
because most have a high rate of poverty since they are a minority. In New
Zealand where certain cancers are at the highest incidence in the world, the
government spends over 110 million dollars each year on treating patients with
smoking related diseases including lung cancer. If more money went into
preventing out young and Maori teenagers picking up the smoking habit, the cost
might be reduced and lives saved. Today billions of dollars are spent throughout
the world on cancer especially in developed countries of the western world where
a lot of money is freely available. Most of this research is carried out by
private organisations and therefore ethnic minorities appeal to be included in
their research. Dietary factors underlie as many as 35% of all cancers. Of this
35%, almost 80% of the patients are colon cancer patients. The government has
taken on a major preventative scheme, introducing the 5+a day dietary standards
to improve the intake of more fruits and vegetables into people’s daily diets.
This aims at reducing bowel cancer in New Zealand, which will no doubt save
lives. For these reasons, cancer is a contemporary issue. Biological, ethical
and social issues surround it. It also seems that a lot has been done to prevent
it but there is so much further to go, and this would ultimately reduce the
number of lives that the cancer claims.