1 McLean Sarah McLean English 111 Heather Pristash October 2006 Cancer Publicity Cancer: in medicine, common term for neoplasms, or tumors, that are malignant. -American Heritage College Dictionary Most everyone knows October is breast cancer awareness month. However, many people aren't aware of any other forms of cancer, such as lung cancer, nor any information about them. For example, lung cancer claims four times as many lives a breast cancer. ("Cancer Facts and Figures" 4) There is also comparatively little funding for lung cancer compared to more publicized cancers such as breast cancer. The Department of Defense funds research for breast cancer, but not for lung cancer (Lack of Funding). Breast cancer also receives over one and a half times more funding than lung cancer (Lack of Funding). Why is it that there is so much publicity and awareness about breast cancer and not nearly as much about the leading killer, lung cancer? Perhaps it is the stigma attached to lung cancer, or the obviousness of breast cancer compared to lung cancer; however, the lack of funding and resources plays a huge role in the public's navet. There are many misconceptions about lung and breast cancer, these cause people to make assumptions that are not always correct. For example, a large majority of the public believes lung cancer is only caused by smoking and because of this there has been a negative stigma associated with the disease. At the 10th World Congress on Lung
McLean 2 Cancer the Global Lung Cancer Coalition (GLCC) conducted a survey in which they asked lung cancer professionals their opinions on such topics as treatment and diagnosis of lung cancer patients. An overwhelming 78% of the doctors surveyed said they believed society's perception of lung cancer being self-inflicted creates a stigma and that removing this stigma would encourage people to seek medical attention. Contrary to popular belief, more then 50% of patients diagnosed with lung cancer are non-smokers, or they have not smoked in over ten years. Although smoking does cause lung cancer, it is not necessarily the patient's fault. Over 20% of cases of lung cancer in patients under eighteen were caused by second hand smoke from a parent or other family member. (Yaman 1) This stands to reason that a comparable percentage of lung cancer patients over the age of eighteen are also victims of second hand smoke. Another misconception is that breast cancer is the leading cancer in women; however, lung cancer kills 72,000 U.S. women annually -- more than breast, ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer combined. ("Cancer Facts and Figures") There have been studies done linking lung cancer to estrogen. That is, the most common form of lung tumor, adenocarcinomas, which is found predominately in nonsmoking females, is said to feed off of estrogen, making women twelve times more likely to develop lung cancer with no history of smoking. (Yaman 1) There has also been research done to prove that lack of exercise and improper nutrition are a large contributor to breast cancer (Yaman 1). If this is so, breast cancer could also be considered the patients "fault." The truth is that no disease, including cancer, is anyone's fault. There are certain risk factors, and things which can be done to attempt to prevent any disease, but ultimately nothing can definitely, without a doubt stop someone from possibly developing cancer.
McLean 3 Breast cancer is also much more obvious than other forms of cancer. For example, if a woman has lung cancer and must get a portion of her lung removed, there would be no way for someone to notice. However, if a woman with breast cancer has a mastectomy; it would be quite obvious until she was able to have reconstructive surgery. Mastectomies are considered very psychological. Breasts are associated with fertility, sex and motherhood; removing them is often considered removing a women's womanhood. Although psychological effects are important, and should not be dealt with lightly, the fact of the matter is women can live without a breast. They have many connotations associated with them, but they are not essential to survival. Having a lung or potion a of lung removed it causes a major change in your everyday life. At the age of 23, my mother, a non-smoker her entire life, was diagnosed with lung cancer. After six years of treatment, which included chemotherapy and the removal of a third of her right lung she was considered in remission. In order to keep what remained of her lungs in good working order as well as to lose weight she gained during her illness, she began running marathons. All seemed well until she began having horrible asthma attacks; it turned out stitches in her lungs had accumulated scar tissue which was making breathing difficult. This may seem easily fixable, but if they were to remove the scar tissue, more would accumulate in its place. Since then working out has been virtually impossible, resulting in weight gain as well as poor body image. Studies done to assess problems associated with breast reconstruction found the largest issue to be pain, which went away with prescribed pain killers, and in rare instances infection of the incision area.
McLean 4 More important than anything else, however, is the enormous disparity in funding. Breast cancer research receives $22,436,000 per year in funding, while lung cancer receives $15,182,000. This breaks down to approximately $1,723 per lung cancer death and $13,953 per breast cancer death. (Extramural and Intramural Funding) Due to the amount of money breast cancer research receives, it is possible to advertise. This has resulted in more fundraising being done to help fund breast cancer research, which in turn creates more advertisements and awareness, which starts the process all over again. This is leading to the misconception that there are more cases of breast cancer than of lung cancer, which is an obvious myth. So far in 2006 there have been 162,460 deaths attributed to lung cancer and 41,430 caused by breast cancer. (Cancer Facts and Figures 4) These numbers show that lung cancer is just as prevalent, if not more so than breast cancer. The truth is that more cases of breast cancer are diagnosed than lung cancer. The cause of this is simply that breast cancer is easier to detect then lung cancer. In recent years a new technique has been developed to detect lung cancer earlier; however there simply is not enough money going toward lung cancer research to fund the testing of this. This would be done by use of a machine, much like an MRI or CT Scan, however it would only take images of material the density of tumors. (Yaman 1)From the same study by the GLCC, 70% of lung cancer professionals feel that the government allocates more funding to less serious diseases. (Lack of Funding) All in all, the lack of funding and public awareness about not only lung cancer, but the many other forms of cancer that claim so many lives each year is appalling. Breast cancer patients do deserve a cure, that is undeniable. However the other hundreds
McLean 5 of thousands of people suffering from the plethora of other cancers are just as deserving. More effort should be made to keep the playing field level, to fund each disease equally. Next time you see a commercial on TV or a booth outside promoting the fight against breast cancer think about how many people are affected each year by other forms of cancer.
McLean 6 "Cancer" Def.1 American Heritage College Dictionary .4th Ed. 2004 "Cancer Facts and Figures." American Cancer Society. 2006. October 2006. <http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/CAFF2006PWSecured.pdf> "Extramural and Intramural Funding in Selected Priority Areas." American Cancer Society. 2005. October 2006. <http://www.cancer.org/docroot/RES/content/RES_7_3_ Funding_By_Research_Area.asp> "Risk Factors" LungCancer.org. 2005. October 2006. <http://www.lungcancer.org/index.htm> "Lack of Funding" LungCancer.org. 2005. October 2006. <http://www.lungcancer.org/index.htm> Yaman, Waddah. "Lung cancer cases increasing among non-smoking females." What is the Word. 9 Mar. 2006. October 2006. <http://www.whatistheword.com/story/USWorld_726.html> McLean, Constance. E-mail Interview. 26 October 2006. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2002. October 2006.
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