Capitalism is Carcinogenic

We have the ability to prevent thousands of cancers every year. It's not all biological. It's something we can change. We have been inundated with media reports telling us about the things that could cause cancer, what is bad for us and perhaps not so good for us. The fact is that if we did what we already know, at least 37% of cancer deaths in people between the ages of 27 and 64 could be avoided right now.

A report released Friday by the American Cancer Society echoes a 1989 statement by Dr. Samuel A. Broder, then director of the National Cancer Institute, who said that poverty is a carcinogen. The lower a person's socioeconomic status, the greater the risk of cancer. That's especially true for lung cancer. The report said that people who are lower on the economic ladder are more likely to engage in risky behavior —- partly because marketing for products such as tobacco is aimed specifically at them, and partly because of barriers —- societal and otherwise —- to opportunities for exercise and healthy food. And then impoverished people don't tend to engage in preventive medical care, which they can't afford, so that by the time they seek treatment, it's too often too late.

ACS has predicted that in 2011 around 1.6 million people will be newly diagnosed with cancers and around 572,000 people (more than 1,500 daily) will die from cancer.

The study looked at what would have happened in 2007 among adults ages 25 to 64 in the absence of socioeconomic and/or racial disparities. "If everyone in the United States experienced the same overall cancer death rates as the most educated non-Hispanic whites, 37 percent (60,370 of 164,190) of the premature cancer deaths could potentially have been avoided," the study stated. "This analysis suggests that eliminating socioeconomic disparities in African Americans could potentially avert twice as many premature cancer deaths as eliminating racial disparities, underscoring the dominant role of poverty in cancer disparities." If you are a poor African American and don't have an education, you are more likely not to be financially successful - and you have a much higher chance of dying from cancer than your ethnic counterpart who is better educated. Class trumps ethnicity.

Nearly two-thirds of deaths in the world are caused by noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart and lung disease. 36 million people died from noncommunicable diseases in 2008, representing 63 percent of the 57 million global deaths that year. Nearly 80 percent of deaths from these diseases were in the developing world, and 9 million deaths were of men and women under the age of 60, it said. In 2030, the report said, these diseases are projected to claim the lives of 52 million people. rheumatic heart disease, one of the most preventable of all heart diseases claims 200,000 lives annually in Africa alone.

John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society, said that by 2030 noncommunicable diseases are expected to cause five times as many deaths as communicable diseases worldwide. "it is the poorest people that suffer the most" because they can't afford early detection and quality care and must deal with overburdened and poorly equipped health care systems. 80 percent of noncommunicable diseases occur in low and middle-income countries. “Noncommunicable diseases perpetuate the poverty cycle"

“The main asset the poor possess is their labor, and that is the most threatened by the noncommunicable diseases,” David E. Bloom, professor of economics and demography at Harvard’s School of Public Health said.
The negative impact of urbanisation, and the globalisation of trade and marketing are some of the driving forces behind the spread of the unhealthy habits. For example, the vast displacement of indigenous and farming populations to the world’s mega-cities, who most often settle in slums, contributes to the degradation of a healthy, active lifestyle with minimally processed food. The displaced villagers often end up squatting in cramped quarters, in stark poverty but with all the trappings of Western “comforts” such as a television set, snack foods and the ubiquitous sugary sodas. People living in poverty do not know that they are part of a poverty culture. Poverty victims have no idea that they live in a culture that is different from the mainstream society, no more than a fish knows it lives in water, until it has been taken out of the water.

Meanwhile in Scotland government plans for welfare reform will plunge cancer patients into poverty simply "because they have not recovered quickly enough". Under the plans, many cancer patients will only receive Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) for one year, worth £94 a week. Its loss will leave patients without financial support at a time when they are not well enough to go back to work or face barriers to employment, according to Macmillan Cancer