The Irksome Myths of Cancer

摘要

Each disease seems to have its own non-biological baggage, itsspecial taboos, its fantasies, it degrees of social acceptance, itsmyths of origin, its apocryphal tales of inheritance.Cancer, however, is no quirky myth. Sometime duringtheir lifetimes, about one American in five will be afflicted withsystemic cancer. It is conservatively estimated that 460,000Americans die annually of the disease.Cancer generally arrives unannounced, entering our bodywithout first knocking. Often, a routine laboratory or X-rayprocedure proclaims the sobering presence of an uninvitedintruder called cancer. And the news changes us, sometimesirreversibly so.