When folks here at ACSH hear the term cancer phobia, we instinctively assume it means the pervasive fear that exposure to certain chemicals or environmental factors will undoubtedly increase one s risk of cancer. Yet in a recent op-ed for The New York Times, science journalist David Ropeik uses the label in quite a different way: He describes the sense of doom that many patients experience upon receiving a cancer diagnosis, or simply when they hear the word cancer.
As Ropeik observes, too often emotions override medical facts, thus making it difficult for many cancer patients to make rational treatment decisions. The perception of risk is so often based more on emotion than just the facts, he writes, and the roots of the fear of cancer are so broad and deep, that understanding these anxieties might not help much. And because cancer is so often associated with a great deal of pain and suffering, the very idea of it invokes that much more fear. In fact, according to a recent Harris Poll, cancer remains the most feared disease in the U.S., with 41 percent of respondents putting it at the top of their list.
ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom can understand such sentiments. He observes that, despite substantial progress against a few cancers and a much better understanding of the disease on a molecular level, I think the revolution of modern therapies is overstated. In fact, many regimens use chemotherapy drugs that are 50 years old. There is still plenty of progress to be made against cancer.
And indeed, cancer phobia is more than just an individual experience. Such fear has had an effect on public policy as well: Large medical agencies such as the National Institutes of Health spend more than twice the amount on cancer research than on heart disease, even though the latter claims more lives annually. Furthermore, upon even the slightest prospect of a cancer diagnosis, it s typical for a person to undergo a litany of unnecessary tests and treatments in order to achieve peace of mind. But are such extremes well-founded?
Ropeik considers this complex question as he watches his own friend, who was recently diagnosed with a slow-growing form of prostate cancer, grapple with cancer phobia. Read the entire story here.
