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Subscribe to RSSThe first update of alcohol-linked cancer deaths in the U.S. in three decades shows that booze can be blamed for nearly 20,000 deaths a year -- and it’s not just the heavy drinkers.
Certainly those who downed three or more drinks a day accounted for most of the deaths from seven kinds of cancer, up to 60 percent, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
But consuming just 1.5 drinks a day -- or less -- was associated with up to 35 percent of those cancer deaths, suggesting that any alcohol use carries some risk.
“For non-drinkers, it’s another reason to feel happy they don’t drink,” said Dr. Timothy Naimi, the study’s director and an associate professor at the Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health. “For drinkers, it shows that when it comes to cancer, the less you drink, the better.”
The study, conducted in conjunction with researchers from the U.S., Canada and France, used recent data and studies on alcohol consumption and cancer mortality to provide a long-delayed update on alcohol-related cancer deaths in America.
The researchers determined that alcohol accounted for about 3.5 percent of the more than 577,000 cancer deaths in the U.S. each year, or about 19,500 cases. That's about what scientists thought it was, but no one had checked for 30 years.
Breast cancer accounted for most alcohol-related cancer deaths in women, about 15 percent of all breast cancer deaths, or some 6,000 cases a year, the study found. In men, cancers of the mouth and throat were the most common cause of alcohol-related cancer deaths, also with about 6,000 cases a year.
Despite the numbers, the link between alcohol and cancer death is not well-known or appreciated, the researchers say.
The total number of alcohol-related cancer deaths is more than the 15,500 deaths a year from ovarian cancer, or the 9,180 deaths from melanoma skin cancer, but it receives much less attention and advocacy than other risk factors, they say.
“I just don’t think there’s enough attention across the board, from physicians or public health,” said Dr. David Nelson, a study co-author and a director of cancer prevention at the National Cancer Institute. “It’s missing in plain sight.”
Part of that may be reluctance on all sides to address the health effects of alcohol use in a country where more than 65 percent of adults are either regular or occasional drinkers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s hard to talk about something that a lot of people are pretty familiar with,” Nelson said. “It can be uncomfortable.”
Indeed, the cancer findings are likely to be a buzzkill for people who thought they were off the hook for health risks from moderate drinking. Several studies have suggested that those who imbibe “moderately’’ -- up to one drink a day for women, up to two for men -- may boost their heart health, cut cholesterol, and avoid diabetes.
“We love hearing about studies that say that wine and chocolate and sex are good for us,” said Naimi. “And we’ve always been in search of snake oil.”
(In the U.S., a drink is generally regarded as one 12-ounce bottle of beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine or 1.5 ounces of liquor.)
The new study focuses solely on alcohol and cancer deaths and doesn’t venture into the long-simmering debate about the possible benefits of moderate drinking, added Naimi, who is an expert in the area.
“Anything that’s a leading cause of death is not a good preventive agent,” Naimi added.
But Eric Rimm, an associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health said while the new study provides a valuable update of alcohol's effect on cancer deaths, it doesn't change his mind about the positive effects of moderate drinking on heart disease.
"I think they've pooh-poohed the heart benefits, which is as strong as any evidence can be," Rimm said, noting that studies have shown that those who don't drink have a 50 percent higher risk of heart attack than those who do. "I don't think it can be pooh-poohed," he said.
Naimi countered that studies that show benefits from moderate alcohol use are potentially flawed because they compare non-drinkers and drinkers, who may be healthy -- or not -- for other reasons than alcohol use. Non-drinkers may abstain because of existing health problems, for instance, while moderate drinkers might have other factors, such as education, wealth and lifestyle choices that boost their health independent of alcohol. Besides, there’s never been a “gold standard” study that addresses the issue, Naimi said.
But other advocates of the health effects of moderate drinking acknowledge that when it comes to alcohol, less is better.
“When I talk about heart-healthy diets, my first words are not, ‘Have a glass of wine,’” said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of the women and heart disease program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.
She says she has been known to recommend having a glass of wine with dinner, but “we can certainly get the health benefits from other places and other foods.”
No one should start drinking because of any perceived health benefits of alcohol, and more people should be aware of the risks, including cancer, the experts agreed.
“Why can’t people enjoy their glass of wine without twisting it into a health panacea?” Naimi said.
Related stories:
- No fun! Non-alcoholic wine best for health benefits
- Moderate drinking linked to abnormal heart rhythm
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After reading so many cancer related articles over the years, I've determined that it's going to come after you and get you one way or another. It just seems like everything you do is causing you to have a greater risk of cancer. I decided to open a bottle of beer and see if I can drown the cancer causes and then pee them out.
I can see it coming down the road for New Yorkers. No more Big Gulp, Jack & Coke's in styrofoam cups.
With you pal! I myself will drink not one beer but many! If this wont cure you at least you won't care anymore!
I believe that is not Drinking, Smoking or Partying that is unhealthy, Life itself is, it will always kill you in the end!
I'm beginning to think that it's the laboratory mice that cause cancer
UGH. When will researchers figure it out:
correlation =/= causation!!!
Breast cancer is already a top 5 killer of women. I bet if they counted how many women died from heart disease, they would find that more women die from that than cancer within that same group!! It's statistics!! If women or men die from a disease, the leading cause will be heart disease no matter what study group it is!
Researchers are always so eager to publish crap that they don't even consider what they are doing and how flawed their designs are. Genetics determines everything.
how about instead of drinking one drink per day, that I drink 7 in one night per week?
So a glass of red wine a day is good for the heart, but poses a cancer risk.
Sounds like a draw to me... time to uncork another bottle.
Since the EU countries and the former Soviet Block countries consume 50% to double the rate of alcohol per capita as the US, what studies from the EU support this conclusion? Is the rate of cancer higher in Sweden, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy than in the United States? While I am sure the grant application required a proposal that suggested that the study would demonstrate the correlation, it does not mean that the good "Dr." had to fold. I agree that it is likely that a large percentage of people who consume alcohol get some cancer. However, getting cancer at the age of 65 or above does not count as a correlation between drinking and cancer. Rather, it is a correlation between age and cancer.
More junk science from MSNBC.com. Although the data continues to se-saw regrding the benefits vs. the risks of alcohol consumption, it is scientifically impossible to posit cause and effect without controlling for all variables. Only in a controlled experiment, with a randomized sample, can a researcher state that A is a direct result of B.
I enjoy a glass of wine or a bottle of beer two or three times a week. Since I don't have ovaries, and breast cancer is rare among men, I'll take my chances...
OMG ALCOHOL CAUSES MORE DEATHS THAN GUNS BAN IT!!!! Before they do I am going to crack open a 12 pk and blast off some rounds in random directions tho.
Last i heard, people who drank in moderation were healther!! What gives??
I will take my chances. Besides my wife is my drinkin buddy and I would hate to see her drink alone.
myname123
There are many studies that have been done that state that most are caused by chemicals used to grow and produce our food supply, but the FDA will not accept it because the chemical companies such as DOW and Monsanto are some of the largest lobbyists in the world. Cancer was not as prevalent when we ate natural foods.
There are also studies being done on what will lessen the chances, in fact drug companies are developing a supposed cure derived from mushrooms. The same place that statin(Lipitor) drugs were derived from. So I would say eat mushrooms, I do three times a week at least. I love mushrooms and I know it can't hurt.
Your question may have been rhetorical, but I thought I would share.
After years of exhaustive research I've come to the conclusion that being alive raises your cancer risk 100%.
I'm so tired of all of these epidemialogical and statistical studies about what's so bad for us or what's so good for us. Do some real research and demonstrate the biological mechanism that prove these claims. I can demonstrate statistically that alomost everything kills you. By the way, living will statisically kill you
Next week, MSNBC will come out with a "study" about how good two glasses of wine are for you! SO drink up!
Old Grandpappy lived to be 110 and drank alot especially in his younger years. He still drank moderately until the end--IT"S IN THE GENES FOLKS!
Living causes death.
Either this is another useless study for which our taxpayer dollars paid, or it is more inferior reporting by NBCNews.com. Probably a mixture of both. The point about which I am complaining is that there is no mention of how the "researchers" determined how many deaths for each kind of cancer studied were alcohol-related. In other words, how did they determine that the total number of alcohol-related cancer deaths is more than the 15,500 deaths a year from ovarian cancer, or that 9,180 deaths from melanoma skin cancer were alcohol-related? Since the causes of most cancers are not specifically known, did the researchers merely tally the number of women with ovarian cancer who had ever tasted alcohol and then classify those deaths as alcohol-related? How do they know that alcohol has anything to do with acquiring cancer? Couldn't they just as easily have tallied the number of women who had visited Yellowstone National Park and then claim that those deaths were related to visiting Yellowstone?
Just one drink makes me feel crappy... so I don't get why so many people love it so much ;)
With all the cancer causing chemicals and substances our government permits put into our foods, drinks, even the cans and containers they are contained in, not to mention the receipts we get when we purchase it all and the upholstery in our cars we use to drive it all home in - you may as well enjoy a few drinks to relax from the stress of thinking of it all.
What a bunch of @!$%# if I ever read some. Wow, who is behind this nonsense? If any of it would be true, there would not be any people left on this planet but the idiots who write this @!$%#.
Another "researcher" who starts with an agenda, and makes their data fit it. It's the Fox News of research.
"“Anything that’s a leading cause of death is not a good preventive agent,” Could you possibly me less objective?
Fox news research? It's msnbc more likely. Who wants to tax soda and fast food? Who wants to ban smokes? It ain't the conservatives that want to run you life. #1.26 your post places the blame in the wrong place.
I hope you all drink as much as you want. I'm sure it isn't really bad for you, 65% of Americans can't be wrong, even when you take a glass of alcohol and touch a lighted match to it, it burns, same as gasoline. No problem, they say it will kill you, they just don't say when!!
Genetics help determine the baseline risk, and there are factors that can enhance it. But this study (likely imperfect at establishing pure causation) clearly isn't saying most people who drink are going to die of a related cancer. Overall, it's 3.5% of cancer deaths, 30% of which are moderate drinkers. So for most people, nothing to get crazy about. If you have other risk factors, particularly for the cancers highlighted in this and other research, maybe think twice.
I'LL DRINK TO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!
LB, way back in high school, one of my science teachers said that when you do research, you have to come up with a hypothesis. Then you have to set about proving it. My teacher then said something to the effect that sometimes you look so hard to find that your hypothesis is correct, that you overlook everything else that may affect your results.
One time when I asked my doctor why the bad cholesterol levels for someone with diabetes was 10 points lower than for someone without it, I was told it was the new norm. I then said that I had heard that if the cholesterol levels are below a certain amount, you were more likely to develop some kinds of cancer. I was told that the lower numbers were still considered better. While I try to watch what I eat, I feel that at the present time, medical science can "cure" heart disease better than cancer.
Health studies that make people worry about their lifestyles cause stress. Stress is unhealthy. Avoid health studies.
Some people are so close to having cancer anything could cause it. Others could smoke, drink, and bath in PCB's and live to be 95.
What ever you do, you're going to die. Do whatever you enjoy as long as you can.
dan42, that was about the most sensible comment I can think of for this article. Let's just enjoy ourselves as long as we're not out of control or hurting someone else. If you enjoy a drink or two, then do that, if you like a cigar or other smoking product, do it and enjoy it. Tell others to mind their own ____ing business.
More BS studies.......Yes if you look hard enough you will find something common among all people who die. Many have smoked many drink. ALL have eaten so maybe food is the problem. One thing is for sure NONE of us will escape this life without death. Doesn't really matter how or why really.
Remember, if you didn't eat or drink anything that somebody, someplace, somewhere said was bad for you, you would die of thirst and hunger.
Looks like the Republicans have a problem with this report, this party calls moonshine Kool-Aid and that's on this list. Lets have a drink to that, maybe they will go back to work now - sober !!!
Uh-oh, you have a cancer and you also drank some wine.
Well there ya go.
Stupid !!
.
WARNING: Breathing may be hazardous to your health !
Sooo...according to Doctor Naimi, epidemiological and observational studies that show over and over again that drinkers have less heart disease and live longer should be totally ignored because they cannot control for every possible confounding factor. Yet when the *same types* of studies report that alcohol raises the risk of some cancer by smaller absolute and relative percentages (ergo, a weaker effect, more prone to confounders), we are supposed to believe it as the gospel truth, and run around clucking in fear and smashing our Pouilly-Fuisse stash. Sure, Doc, I'll get right on that. The truth is that very substantial work has been done to link alcohol consumption to lower risk of heart attacks, perhaps especially for people of certain genotypes. I do believe that animal studies, which are highly controlled, have also supported that hypothesis. To sneer that people who take that body of published research seriously are "in search of snake oil" is scientism, not science, and it more than hints at a desire to pressure everyone in the country to adopt his own preferred lifestyle. Think I'm gonna go home and pour a nice glass of bourbon and raise a toast to Dr. Naimi.
Dr. Naimi must be a big bore!
The only way to conduct a proper study will be on clones or identical twins. Otherwise, genetics will just go and muck everything up.
.
So how many people die each year? According to the article, less than 1% have an alcohol related cancer, while 65% drink. Complete rubbish to claim any correlation. If you want people to believe you, try telling the truth.
It's all BS. In a month or so there will be another study that says having a drink a day extends your life. Education is wasted on the wrong people.
I saw the words alcohol related, but I did not see the phrase alcohol CAUSED deaths. What she's selling is snake oil, and she knows it, so she's covering up with bravado.
Just like all the other stupid studies, they will reverse their statement in a few years and say that the opposite is true. Let's get a jump on them!! Start chugging now!!
Maybe a drink a day is helping people live longer to actually develop a cancer instead of dying earlier from some other cause. Maybe we need a study on that but then again I'm sick of these faux studies. All these studies do is cause people to get hypertension from worrying about these studies.
jane,
Don't take this the wrong way, but I think I love you ;). Thanks for the dose of reason.
Aw, shucks. :)
I been drinking Jack Daniels for over 55 years, I look and feel about 40 and never had a health problem !!!
I think I will have one now, who's buying ???
Yeah, my Dad was a heavy drinker all his life since working in the coal mines of PA. He died at 87 after fracturing his neck.
If you take the percentages of all the things they say increase your risk for cancer, from red meat to alcohol, we should all be dead.
Meanwhile, my mother has had two bouts with breast cancer and is an avowed non drinker. There are exceptions to every rule, it seems.
Your story is proof positive that what this study says is NOT accurate. I think Lewis Black is right - all our healths are different from each other. What will kill one person, won't kill another. This trying to blame it all on something outside us is the real insanity. I think most of our illness are mentally caused. What we think manifests itself in our body. Self-hatred, and hatred of other people has to go somewhere and I don't think it all happens through semi-automatic guns and bullets. I think you can kill yourself from the inside out by poisonous thinking. Nobody has done a study on that though. But then I could be wrong. What is that other thing I have heard Lewis Black say? The good die young but A__h_les live forever? Maybe there is nothing we can do - just deal with it.
Truth is there are no rules, thus no exceptions.
It all depends on too many factors, isolating them will always prove/disprove whatever you want. I know 90 yo smokers that are perfectly healthy while 15 yo nonsmokers die of lung cancer... same with drinkers.
Best thing to do, stop worrying and enjoy life! (stress is another cause of cancer)
Lewis Black on research medicine. That would be a hoot. He's got a tad bit of rage in him...what's he going to die of?
Someone needs to filter out all of the cancer causing pollutants in the air, water, and food also. Then let us have another study and we will find we are all dying from manmade radioactive fallout and have been for many years.
TruthLover, I am not a scientist, but I do have my own beliefs. I believe that some people are more prone to be negatively affected by alcohol, while others will not. Some people will be more affected by their genetic makeup while others will be more affected by environmental stimuli. The last thing I believe is that we can first make ourselves sick trying to follow everything that these research scientists tell us is the "gospel truth". We will all die sometime, most by either heart disease or cancer, while others by some other means.
Well, it's not true that you cannot get out of this world alive because we have people in space right at this moment but it is true that someday you will die. It's how long you live and the quality of your life that counts. So let's have a drink and forget that Dr. Naimi even exist.
Something including old age is bound to kill me sooner or later. I try to practice moderation in all things. I wonder if drinkers like to eat greasy fast foods more than those that don't drink. Anyways national prohibition did not work out so well the first time. There is probably a "scientific" study somewhere that "proves" the world is flat provided it is run enough times and the results cherry picked for the correct answer.
Free the grape, you Southern Bapt**t States. I drink to the end of the county option system of dry counties that exist in Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, etc.
This just in from the American Journal of Public Health, breathing can cause cancer and is a result of many deaths every year, especially when you stop breathing. Amazing that this can be published and yet there is no mention of what the GMO's in our food that the Government and Monsato will not allow to be labeled, effect our health. More useless information from the American Journal of Public Health in stating the obvious as in most of their finding and posts. I wonder how much monies they get for such studies?
In the words of Willie Nelson, there are more old drunks than there are old doctors.
What a load of crap.
i`ll drink to that !!
Hey Willie*****, I second that !!!
Of all the people in my parents age group, that I have known of.. Nearly every one that drank regularly, got cancer and died in their 50's or 60's. In fact I cant think of one that didn't. Mostly brain cancers or liver cancers.
I connected drinking to Cancer long ago.
My wifes dad died of brain cancer in his 50's and did not drink! Odd!
Of course, other reports say that a drink a day doesn't hurt you, helps relieve stress, helps your brain unwind after a hard day, red wine helps your heart and digestion, and beer can help you gain weight. Nothing is going to keep cancer from getting you if it wants, so enjoy life while you're here, because only people who have all the money will live forever. At least that's what every Baptist preacher I know says. And where you find four Baptists, you'll find a fifth.
I mean really - don't live, you might die someday. Wait - You WILL die someday no matter WHAT of some THING! For God's sake, don't these doctors and scientists have anything better to do than this? I mean - we have an overpopulation problem (as in humans - there are too many of us (and people talk about population control for other species - I am sure some cartoonist has taken a poke at that irony)). And doctor's are worried about what we might die from? There is always a new study coming saying this was good for you in this case but in this case. Well DUH! Anything taken in extremes is bad and guess what you will die anyway. I have also read articles that one glass of wine with a meal helps with meat digestion and even might help stave off alzheimer's and other memory and heart problems. But I guess it might cause cancer. Well you have to die of some thing some day. But let's not solve world hunger or war just yet. :) This world looks more and more insane to me by the day when these kind of studies come out. And the annoying thing? This guy probably makes more than me and makes less sense! I will go home and get my glass of wine with my meal and say what the french say when they toast "pour votre sante."
GET OVER IT! Accept that you will die someday and there is NOTHING you can do to prevent it. So what are you really afraid of?
I'LL DRINK TO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One lesson from all the medical studies over the decades is that everything causes cancer eventually. Have a stiff one or two and forget it.
Listen, TruthLover101 hit the nail on the head. Yea, 7,000,000,000 people and counting, Decimating the Enviornment And God's Innocent Children AKA The Animals who have Been Planet Earth's CareTakers for Over 400,000,000 years and doing a great job of it. Face It We HAVE Ticked Off MomNature and you don't mess with Her. She is gonna step in SOON and level the playing field and Human Numbers. Don't Worry About It, light Up a Smoke and Have A Drink.
Here is yet another reason to avoid drinking alcohol completely.
And if you believe that, I have a planet I can sell you!
Hey Kevin. While you drink you kool aid, I'll open another beer.
Cancer is just one problem that alcohol can cause. Let's not forget the DWI accidents that kill thousands of people each year, people committing crime when they are drunk or just plain doing stupid things when they are drunk. I know/know of people who have done jail time for stupid things they did while they were drunk. DWI was just one of them. I also knew someone who went to jail for punching a cop while he was drunk and then drank himself to death a few months after he got out of jail. Alcohol can also make life unbearable for families of alcoholics. I know this from my mother who lived with an alcoholic father. Thankfully, my parents made sure I knew how bad alcohol can be from the time I was a child. When I was old enough to drink alcohol, I just didn't want to. I still don't want to. It's just not worth the risk.
And I know people who have become morbidly obese and sickly from candy addiction or died of heart attacks after ridiculous overconsumption of factory meat. That doesn't mean that one bite of red meat or piece of candy will have negative effects, much less make you like them. Some people really don't seem to be capable of moderation where certain substances are concerned, and certainly they should abstain from whatever it is they can't or won't use responsibly.
Kevin -
Hydrogen hydroxide causes thousands of deaths every year on its own, is a major component of every kind of cancer, has been ingested heavily by every serial killer and rapist in history, and there is a 100% fatality rate of people who consume it at levels that dwarf alcohol. From your first ingestion, you're addicted to hydrogen hydroxide - For. Life.
Bizzer-
Seriously?
Jane-
Of course alcohol is not the only thing in the world that can kill, but alcohol is something we can avoid. It makes people act stupid and make stupid decisions. I still remember being told how to make sure I don't become to intoxicated to drive. It seemed so complicated, I just thought why bother. It's better not to drink the stuff in the first place.
If one's choices are to go out and drink until one is acting stupid, then return home by motor vehicle, or else to teetotal, the latter is obviously the superior choice. For most people, though, these are not the only choices. If you treat them as a false binary, what role does that assign to the people who tell you that they are able to enjoy alcohol in moderation and have never driven drunk?
My grandma drank one or two 8 oz glass of wine on Sunday, and the same on very special occasions, so she did not drink every day, and she did not drink to excess when she did drink. She lived to be 98 years old. :)
A good substitute for those who can not drink for health or recovery purposes can take a supplement made of grape seed and/or grape skin extract and get a lot of the same benefit as a glass of wine.
Bizzer--Hydrogen hydroxide LOL! And without it WE ALL DIE!!!
We need licensing for those that want to consume this dangerous substance.
The denial in drinkers is absolutely amazing. Keep on drinking we need the taxes you pay.
klondiko, denial of what?
Please tell me something that is good for you to do, that no one has died doing.
Actually, oxygen is one of the more destructive substances (and volatile) in the world in case you didn't know that (based on your one sentence I don't think you do). MORE volatile then even ALCOHOL! You can see that on a truck that carries it because of the symbols on the outside of the containers and the truck itself. You don't see those kind of symbols on a Coors truck do you? In archaeology, it is one of the things you dread when dig stuff up. Oxygen breaks things down faster than almost anything. So don't breathe! With every breath you take you are closer to your death. I find the denial of the living people like you of things like this absolutely amazing for my part.
Who are you talking to ???
I hope not me, as I 've worked with more LOX, Oxygen, Acetylene and Argon cylinders than I count.
"I find the denial of the living people like you of things like this absolutely amazing for my part."
WTF does that sentence mean?
Moose,
If you look on the side of any oxygen tank, there is a flammable symbol on it (in case you never noticed) and any truck who transports them has similar types of danger symbols on them. My father was on oxygen before he died and you do have to be careful with oxygen (which is why they tell those who have to be on it not to have anything lit near it like a candle or a cigarette for example).
And if i have to explain my last sentence to you well I can't help you. The fact that you say you have handled this stuff and don't understand that it has problems seems suspect to me (your statements I mean). I do archaeology and I can tell you that most archaeologists understand that oxygen breaks things down. Underwater archaeology particularly worries about bringing stuff to the surface because of oxygen - stuff just falls apart due to contact with it when it has been so deep below the surface. Oxygen is a decomposer. It's destructive, it breaks things down - as is MOST things we come in contact with in life. Living is dying in a way. The second you hit 20 or thereabouts, from what my cognitive psychology professor said, your brain is dying (cell by lowly cell). It is all downhill from there. We could get REALLY metaphysical and philosophical about this and go over analogies that they mystics go over in relation to living and dying but the sounds of your complaint about my last sentence leads me to think you would never get it.
The whole point is why worry about this kind of thing. Dying is inevitable in the nature of time and space. This doctor who came up with this study obviously needs to come to terms with that and people who worry about drinking and their health need to worry more about polluted water, genetically engineered food, meat with antibiotics in it etc. rather than a good old fashioned martini.
What happened to the information that proved one to two glasses of wine per day was good for your health ?
I would rather smoke pot and be able to stand up and think and talk and even drive thats right I drive stoned and I drive better than most of you.
well ain't you special....
Benjamin Carey,
If indeed you are serious about driving while stoned, I have a long story I will try and make short. Next week on February 23rd it will be a year since my 20 year old daughter was hit by a young man driving a Ford 150 pick up truck. She was only walking down the sidewalk to go to a college basketball game on her campus. She was thrown 8 feet in the air, landed on her head and a suffered Traumatic Brain Injury and could have died. However she spent the following 7 weeks of her life in a rehab facility for TBI and spinal cord injury patients. Her speech and memory were affected for quite some time even after that. She is doing okay now. The young man who was driving was stoned. He also felt he could drive better than most of us. Apparently he couldn't. I will let you know that his life has changed forever along with my daughter's. We forgave this young man for the terrible decision he made that night, but you can never go back and change what has happened. I hope and pray you may be able to use our story as way to change your perspective on driving while under the influence of any thing that alters your ability. Get stoned if you want to. (Heck I even think the government should keep there hands off the right to sell the stuff-in fact, tax it!) But please, if you do, stay home and don't potentially hurt someone else. It does alter your abilities and your state of mind. It wouldn't be so controversial if it didn't.
@BC That is your opinion, but I doubt others sharing the road with you would agree.
Benjamin, either earlier this week, or sometime near the end of last week, there was a study published that said that marijuana use increases your chances of stroke. I heard this on the tv news.
It was actually a pretty weak study.
the number one cause of death is birth, no one gets out alive
Drink a couple glasses of red wine or 2 Cokes per day. Which is worse? My bet is on the soda.
I am SO with you on that!
There are often conflicting reports with regards to alcohol effects on health.
and the lab rat that gave that tip off would be more likely to die being prey to another animal than by cancer if he wasnt confined to eating the same food and drinking the same substances over and over in his dark little cage. Cellular towers , microwave ovens, radio waves,, drought ,, cancer and pig farms.. its all conected, you increase your chances evertime you send a text message, and increase the risk for everyone around you. ;)
The next study we are going to hear about is that sex causes cancer or being married raises your chances of getting cancer. I'll totally believe being married raises your chances of getting cancer! Who wants to deal with all that nagging?!?!?! ;-)
Every day you're alive, you're increasing your cancer risk.
Every day you're alive is another day of cellular division and an increased chance of transcription errors at the genetic level resulting in mutations and your cells not getting the proper self-destruct command. Which leads to out-of-control cell growth.
Quick, we must address this terrible and preventable cancer risk. We must fill our pockets w/ rocks and head for the ocean! :D :D
Findings change so much people stop paying attention. Good for you/Bad for you/Maybe/No/Yes/No...
I'm happy to read this story. The general belief in our country (and most others) that drinking alcohol is normal and not drinking is weird (unless you're a recovering alcoholic) needs to change. It's absurd to believe consuming a toxin that damages the transmission of nerve impulses in the brain and nervous system is a good or normal thing. I can't tell you how many times people say to me, "Well, you just don't like to have fun" when I tell them I don't drink, but they seem surprised when I point out that needing to drink to have fun is a problem (seems like they never thought about that -- drinking and fun is so closely connected in their minds, they think they need to drink to be sociable/have fun/party, but really they don't).
First, not all people drink to "have fun." Not all people drink to get drunk or even a buzz. Wine and beer go with certain meals and add to the flavor of the food. Taken in small quantities over a long period of time it isn't a problem. Just because you don't drink does not make you weird and just because the other people drink doesn't make them wrong. For many centuries, alcohol was the standard drink because straight water was generally not safe to drink. Thank your lucky stars in you live in a century and a country where you can get that and not have to drink. I think you need an adjustment in your perception and also maybe who your friends are (from the sound of your story).
I despise people who run other people down for not drinking alcohol, but it sounds like you might be inclined to run down those who do. If your friends are drunks, get new friends. If they're moderate drinkers, lighten up; nobody wants to hear your opinions on the alleged toxicity of every mouthful they consume in your company.
You know what else causes cancer? Life! I propose that we all blow our heads off right now just to be SURE we never get cancer.
According to various lists of Alcohol consumption, the United States is either ranked between 55 and 65 among countries of the world in per capita alcohol consumption. Virtually every EU country consumes far more alcohol per capita. Are the people of the EU cancer ridden? I have very serious doubts about the veracity of this alleged study. My father and mother-in-law died of cancer at 63 and neither were alcohol consumers.