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Why do people make stuff up?
Jan. 9th, 2012 10:20 amI'm reading the comments to an article on how natural diets may help ADHD (well, duh) and got to read an angry little screed on how the US has the highest cancer rates in the world and this is ALL the fault of the evil corporations who value profit over human lives and the sell-outs in the government who, unlike their counterparts in Europe, don't care enough to ban dangerous chemicals. "Do you think this is a coincidence???"
Actually, the nation in the world with the highest cancer rates is Denmark, followed by Ireland. The US is number 7 on the list... but that's not very surprising, as wealthier nations tend to have higher cancer rates.
The WHO attributes this in part to better medical care in richer countries. If more people are able to get to the doctor and be diagnosed with cancer, the rates will increase.
Also, although the WHO does not say this, it seems obvious to me that if you live in a country where you're likely to die in childhood from diarrhea, or in your teens from AIDS, or in your early adulthood from war, you're not going to live long enough to die of cancer!
In the US we're very lucky in that we mostly do not die of easily preventable diseases like measles or polio, we have ready access to clean water, and war is unlikely to touch us in our own streets. But that means that we have more time to die of rarer diseases like cancer.
And it's not that I don't think that the eeeeeevil corporations put money over human lives at least some of the time (but not all of the time, after all, they need paying customers!) or that the government isn't in business's pocket. I just don't like people making shit up when it's just as easy to google it and find out the truth.
Actually, the nation in the world with the highest cancer rates is Denmark, followed by Ireland. The US is number 7 on the list... but that's not very surprising, as wealthier nations tend to have higher cancer rates.
The WHO attributes this in part to better medical care in richer countries. If more people are able to get to the doctor and be diagnosed with cancer, the rates will increase.
Also, although the WHO does not say this, it seems obvious to me that if you live in a country where you're likely to die in childhood from diarrhea, or in your teens from AIDS, or in your early adulthood from war, you're not going to live long enough to die of cancer!
In the US we're very lucky in that we mostly do not die of easily preventable diseases like measles or polio, we have ready access to clean water, and war is unlikely to touch us in our own streets. But that means that we have more time to die of rarer diseases like cancer.
And it's not that I don't think that the eeeeeevil corporations put money over human lives at least some of the time (but not all of the time, after all, they need paying customers!) or that the government isn't in business's pocket. I just don't like people making shit up when it's just as easy to google it and find out the truth.
