2. What Causes It

• What causes cancer?
  Though it is very difficult to pinpoint any definite cause, certain substances, known as carcinogens, can definitely increase your chances of getting cancer. For instance, people who smoke or chew tobacco are more prone to mouth, throat and lung cancer.  Contrary to popular opinion, beedi smoking is twice as dangerous as cigarettes. Amongst other known causes are asbestos, arsenic, pitch, tar, ultra-violet rays. Continued irritation of tissues can lead to cancer.
   

• Is cancer caused by a germ?
  There is no scientific evidence that cancer is caused by a germ.
   

• Does cancer come from a single bruise?
  A type of bone cancer may rarely result from a single severe injury. A single injury to soft tissue, such as the breast, will not give rise to cancer.
   

• What is the relation of food to cancer?
  In certain individuals, Vitamin B deficiency may result in changes in certain tissues, particularly of the mouth and lips, which may ultimately become cancerous. In general, however, so far as is known, no food or combination of foods has any influence on the cause or cure of cancer· but heavily fried food or abandoned red meat is today suspect. Green vegetables, cabbage may help in preventing certain cancers.
   

• Will irregularity in eating cause cancer of the stomach?
  There is no scientific evidence that it will, since cancer of the stomach may occur in people who eat most regularly.
   

• Does eating hot food cause cancer?
  There is little evidence that the temperature of food is an important factor in the development of cancer.
   

• Does the use of alcohol bear any relation to cancer of the stomach?
  Not so far as is known. Alcohol may have an unfavorable effect on stomach tissues, but no more so than other substances taken along with food or drink.
   

• Is cancer hereditary?
  There are probably inherited tendencies that may lead to cancers of different types. The presence of cancer in one or both parents should be a cause for greater alertness in looking for and recognizing suspicious symptoms in the individual. Cancer however is not inherited except for one type of eye cancer known as Retinoblastoma.
   

• Can cancer be transmitted by kissing or casual contact between persons or between persons and animals?
  No. There is no record of cancer having been transmitted by kissing or by any contact, accidental or otherwise, between individuals or between persons and animals (such as pets).
   

• Do corns become cancerous?
  Cancer may occur in any tissue of the body, but a corn could not as a rule develop into cancer.
   

•  Do freckles turn into cancer?
  Simple freckles do not. However, flat moles containing pigment of a bluish-black colour and looking like dark freckles, may become cancerous and should be checked periodically.
   

• Do piles turn into cancer?
  No. Piles or hemorrhoids are merely enlarged veins in the rectal wall. Cancer is occasionally found in the tissue above the hemorrhoids, so "bleeding piles" should be examined carefully to determine whether cancer is also present. Rectal bleeding can occur due to cancer.
   

• Can one's mental condition influence the course of cancer?
  Not so far as is known. Cancer is a disease of body cells. One's mental condition has no effect on the course of the disease since this malignant change is apparently due to physical rather than mental processes.
   

• Does radiation cause cancer?
  Indiscriminate use of X-rays frequently may increase your chances of getting cancer.