The title of this little sideline is borrowed from Dr Ben Goldacre, writer of the Guardian’s ‘Bad Science’ column (his blog is here), who has observed that the Daily Mail
“is engaged in a philosophical project of mythic proportions: for many years now it has diligently been sifting through all the inanimate objects in the world, soberly dividing them into the ones which either cause – or cure – cancer.”
Which is a bold endeavour, and one that we can only observe with awe. To that end, please find below the stories concerning cancer published in the Mail last week (well, the ones concerning the ontology of cancer, I wasn’t too sure I would have anything interesting to say about ‘My Orangutans Sensed I’d had Cancer‘, it being the sort of story where the headline does all the work for you).
7th October 2008
Red wine could lower men’s lung cancer risk
A report on: Alcoholic Beverage Intake and Risk of Lung Cancer: The California Men’s Health Study, Chun Chao, Jeff M. Slezak, Bette J. Caan and Virginia P. Quinn, Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 17, 2692-2699, October 1, 2008. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-08-0410
8th October 2008
Daily dose of aspirin ‘may lower risk of breast cancer’
A report on: Takkouche B, Regueira-Méndez C, Etminan M. Breast cancer and use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: a meta-analysis. J Natl Cancer Inst (2008) 100(20). 1439-1447. [No abstract yet available, but here's what the editorial from the issue it appears in says.]
8th October 2008
Cats and dogs cut their owners’ cancer risk by a third, researchers say
A report on: Domestic and Farm-Animal Exposures and Risk of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in a Population-Based Study in the San Francisco Bay Area, Gregory J. Tranah, Paige M. Bracci and Elizabeth A. Holly, Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 17, 2382-2387, September 1, 2008. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-08-0373
11th October 2008
Red wine ‘reduces lung cancer risk in smokers’, study finds
See story on 7th.
14 October, 2008 at 10:56 am
Strange ontology; stranger oncology. Got to have a system! Ahem.
You can make custom Google RSS feeds like this, if it is of any help: http://news.google.co.uk/news?q=source:daily_mail+cancer&scoring=n&output=atom
Tomato ketchup cures cancer! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1077373/Ignore-killjoys-Tomato-ketchup-good-children.html
“It is rich in lycopene, the powerful, cancer-fighting antioxidant that gives tomatoes and other fruit and vegetables their bright colour.”
The sun causes cancer! NO! Cures cancer! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1077367/Rain-makes-fat-cloudy-skies-set-scars-tingling-The-surprising-ways-climate-affect-health-.html
“CANCER: We all know sunny weather causes skin cancer, but it could also help protect against other cancers. ”
Sex causes cancer! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1077378/I-gave-sex-years-ago–best-thing-I-did.html
“Some, like chlamydia, are undetectable and can remain in the body, wreaking havoc and causing infertility. I have also significantly reduced my odds of contracting cervical cancer. “
14 October, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Curses. My cunning scheme had been to stick ‘cancer’ into the Mail’s own search engine and pluck any story which had a specific ’causes cancer’ reference in the title, ignoring all those fun ‘Don’t give in to council-Nazis: Bathe your kids in Heinz’s finest’ stories, because that’s quicker and saves me having to plough through upwards of 25 stories a week. Your way is more intellectually honest though. I will try harder next week…