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Cancer: The Costs, Causes, And Cures
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| Term Paper Title | Cancer: The Costs, Causes, And Cures |
| # of Words | 2636 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 10.54 |
Cancer: The Costs, Causes, and Cures
Cancer: The Costs, Causes, and Cures
Cancer is a major killer of people all around the globe. We do not have a
definite cure, but the amount of research done on this one disease costs on the
average of $1.2 billion dollars annually, and $20 billion annually in care of
cancer patients.
What is Cancer?
Cancer is a broad ranging term that is used by many people, including medical
professionals such as doctors. Cancer, in its most fatal and aggressive form, is
of a larger class of diseases known as neoplasms. There are two forms of a
neoplasm: benign or malignant. A benign neoplasm is encapsulated, or surrounded,
so that it's growth is restricted, whereas a malignant neoplasm is not closed in.
Malignant tumors grow much more quickly than benign forms and spread into the
surrounding normal tissue, and virtually destroy it, (Grolier Electronic
Encyclopedia, Cancer).
The question is, what exactly is cancer? Cancer, is the break down and mutation
of the cells of the body, when the DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) sequences in
those molecules are disrupted and errors form in the structures, (Grolier,
Genetic Code). This mutation spreads through surrounding tissue until it
disrupts major systems in the body (such as respiratory, digestive and waste
management) cause that system to fail.
What causes Cancer to become active?
Since it is believed that almost all people have some type of cancer in their
body, (although benign), any person that comes in contact with a carcinogen,
(any cancer-causing agent), will cause these benign cells to become malignant.
It is when the cells become malignant, that cancer actually occurs. Cancer, in
this context, can be caused by many different agents; chemical, biological or
physical.
Chemical Agents
Chemicals that can cause a benign cell to become active include things such as
complex hydrocarbons, aromatic amines, certain metals, drugs, hormones, and
naturally occurring chemicals in plants and molds. Hydrocarbons and nitrosamines
can be found in cigarette smoke and may contribute to the condition called "lung
cancer". Other chemicals that seem to cause incidents of "bladder cancer", such
as 2-naphthylamine, were used in the dye industry for dyeing cloth, but when a
number of cases of cancer turned up, its use was discontinued. Vinyl Chloride, a
chemical gas, has also appeared, seeming to cause "liver cancer" ,(Grolier,
Cancer)
Drugs, such as some cancer-treating alkylating agents, are also
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