Saturday, March 8, 2008

246. CANCER NATION

From the Archives (September 2006) I figured out today that 18 people in my family or immediate circle of friends or work peers have been diagnosed with cancer in the last 8 years.

Can somebody tell me what in the hell is going on?

I mean, I appreciate the medical research that (sometimes) gets my loved ones to the other side of chemo and all the medical breakthroughs and all that, but what is going on? Is our environment poisoning us because we’ve filled it so full of chemicals? Are the hormones they've put in our food to blame? Or what?

And what’s the connection with obesity (if there is one), because I’m sorry, but I don’t buy the argument that larger portions at restaurants explains these statistics adequately.

Then there are those studies no one talks about that say that most people who are fat do not actually overeat and that some people who are fat are far healthier than thin people.

So what’s really making us grow?

And speaking of size, sales of wasteful SUVs are down 45 percent and sales of small cars are up 70 percent, thanks to the increasing gas prices.

Meanwhile, today’s Yahoo! headline is “GDP growth increases slightly in spring.”

I read that line and immediately thought about these 18 people who have been diagnosed with cancer.

Does anyone else consider it troubling that every time a person is diagnosed with cancer our GDP goes up?

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