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by forgetfulusr 2344 days ago
Is cancer infectious? How is this anywhere near anti-vaxxers? Don't vaccines mainly exist to treat for something dangerous to the whole herd? Only some small part of the herd even gets cancer.. how is this not discrediting vaccines by even just comparing the two?
2 comments
sodosopa 2344 days ago
They’re rooted in a compound fear and ignorance of modern medicine.
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forgetfulusr 2344 days ago
That they are but one is nowhere near as dangerous to the herd as the other. I don't see a need to lump these camps together.
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falcolas 2343 days ago
The infectious ignorance can kill those who get treatable cancer. Watching someone die from cancer hurts those around them, leaving scars.

It’s not that different.

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forgetfulusr 2343 days ago
One is to prevent the whole herd from being infected(eradicated possibly), the other is a sick member to choose their way to treat themselves. Grievance is a part of life, it is sad to see members go, but I can't compare between that and the herd disappearing completely(no one left to grief).

EDIT: also I can't help but feel that this claim puts Chemotherapy on the same level of effectiveness as Vaccines. I think all options should be exhausted before we start claiming chemo to be as miraculous as vaccines are.

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WBrentWilliams 2343 days ago
An alternate take is that, from a certain point of view:

1: Cancer and heart disease are the leading causes of death in Rich Countries, specifically the US [1]

2: Your chances of dying from either cancer or heart disease, given no other incidents claim your life first, asymptotically arrive at 100% [2]

So, yes, cancer is not infectious, but our bodies are prone to two classes of diseases (neither cancer nor heart disease are actually a single disease, but more correctly disease families) that have environmental and hereditary causes. Our tools for treating both are crude, but getting more and more effective year-over-year.

By advocating against the state-of-our-current-art in treating either disease (informed criticism is fine, and in fact, encouraged), the end result is that many people suffer and die when they could merely suffer, then live years of their lives before succumbing to a relapse or other causes of death. Perhaps the headline is hyperbole, but the argument is analogous: By advocating against chemotherapy and replacing it solely with a hard-to-follow diet and exercise regimen, the cull of older people dying from treatable disease can look something like the cull of younger people dying from preventable disease due to advocating against vaccination against infectious diseases.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4800750/ [2] https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2016/16_0211.htm

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