Dr. Ian Lewis as he delivered his lecture recently.
Ninety-five per cent of cancers are due to genetic mutations influenced by external factors and as a result, persons should have yearly check-ups for certain cancers, even though these cancers may not run in their family.
This comment was made by Dr. Ian Lewis as he delivered an address at the Cancer Support Services Lecture series at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre last week. He revealed that 95 per cent of cancers are environmentally driven and revealed that things such as tobacco, alcohol, red meats, obesity and radiation were external factors that could ultimately lead to damaged genes, which means only five per cent of cancers are truly inherited through family genes.
“So the lady coming to me and saying, ‘Doc, I’m surprised I have breast cancer because it doesn’t run in the family,’ fits exactly into this. Examples of genes that run through family lines would be breast, ovarian and colon cancers,” he said.
Because of this, Lewis noted that it was important for persons to have yearly check-ups, even though a particular cancer may not run through their “family’s gene pool”.
Lewis went on to reveal that all cancers had a genetic basis and noted that there was a difference between hereditary basis and genetic basis. He explained that hereditary cancers suggested cancers that will traverse generations because of specific genes, but a genetic basis suggests that it could be inter-generational or intra-generational, which means that the mechanism is related to the centre of the cell.
He noted that research revealed that there would be 30 per cent less cancer deaths in the world if people did not flood their lungs with nicotine and smoke. He also noted that obesity was a factor that caused 14 to 20 per cent of cancer deaths in America. Additionally, 18 per cent of all cancers were infectious, which means they were caused by radiation, which is all around us.
“So overall, the best way to tie this all together in terms of the influence that determine cancer causation is to say that cancer is a complex interplay of bad genes, bad habits and the environment, and some people would put bad luck in there as well. So check-ups are important,” he said.