Australia has highest cancer rate per capita

Discussion in 'Health Care' started by jmblt2000, Dec 21, 2018.

  1. jmblt2000

    jmblt2000 Well-Known Member

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    You know I get tired of countries like Australia banging on us in the US for gun violence. So I've been watching shows from the UK and Australia and noticed they sure do smoke a lot. So I looked up cancer rates around the world. Australia is #1 with 468 per 100000, the US is fifth with 352 per 100000. So if you plan on visiting Australia, remember to bring your gas mask.
     
  2. ThirdTerm

    ThirdTerm Well-Known Member

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    It's mostly skin cancer. Aussies are strongly warned to avoid sun exposure during the summer season with these TV ads. I stayed in a rural community in Australia and developed melanoma-type spots on my neck within a few months just like the guy in the video. Just imagine how it's like to live there all your life.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2018
  3. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    No - what you need is sun screen because guess who ended being most vulnerable to the reduction of the ozone layer over the South Pole? And guess how and who was mostly responsible for said hole??

    http://www.climateandhealthalliance.org/resources/impacts/skin-cancer-in-australia

    Add to that that we have very good levels of detection (i.e. National bowel cancer test kits - over 50 and you are mailed a test kit to do at home)

    On top of that we live longer so...........

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2018
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  4. Caligula

    Caligula Well-Known Member

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    The OP has never heard of the unusual high skin cancer risk down under and that cancer in Australia means predominantly skin cancer?
    Regarding the smoking: I don't think that watching shows is a good indicator, one could have looked up some data on the net (instead of 'I saw people smoking on tv').
    UK. 15,8% of all adults (in 2016)
    https://www.google.com/search?clien.......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i13i30._MXaqcPCfr4
    Australia: 12,8% of all adults (in 2016)
    https://www.google.com/search?clien...wiz.......0i71j0i13i10i30j0i13i30.5zXvi_84HTc
    USA: 15,1% of all adults (in 2015)
    https://www.google.com/search?q=smoker+rate+usa&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

    Gas mask? Yeah, right.
     
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  5. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    If you are seeing Australian shows with people smoking they must be sodding old. We banned smoking on TV years ago
     
  6. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    I doubt if it is even that high for smoking. There are so many places here where you cannot smoke
     
  7. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    OP

    I think that alcohol is as carcinogenic as nicotine. Moreso in fact, although I don't have any evidence for that belief. Another belief I have is that skin cancer is brought about by sunburn; in other words over-exposure too soon for the skin to slowly adapt to a healthy sun tan. But then - everything in moderation, as is the wise aphorism? Works for me??
     
  8. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    True skin cancer is associated with sunburn and lots of Aussie kids are made super slippery when at the beach but you cannot prevent sunburn every single time

    Not unusual to get the tops of your feet burnt after just a few minutes. Boats are bad due to reflection and as for snorkelling......

    Never
    Never
    Never
    Get the back of your knees sunburnt

    Almost as bad as Tits
     
  9. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I mean the initial prolonged exposure - you know, when you get home from the beach, stand in front of a mirror to see how you've done, and see you're looking like a boiled lobster? :eekeyes: :mrgreen:
     
  10. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    Any burn can trigger it but you risk goes up the more UV exposure you have
     
  11. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I've been lucky then 'cos I've been an inveterate sun worshipper since I was knee-high a a grasshopper; but I've always got into it v-e-r-y slowly. But once into it, I'm out there from sun-up to sun-down.
     
  12. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    You are lucky - Bottom line - our average risk went up with the hole in the Ozone layer - Thank God for the Montreal protocol - not closing the hole yet but at least it is not getting bigger
     
  13. jmblt2000

    jmblt2000 Well-Known Member

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    The hole in the ozone just doesn't wash...Chile and Argentina are closer to the South Pole and yet neither is in the top 50. S Africa is also pretty close and yet still not in the top 50.

    No, there is something in the culture, that consistently has Australia #1 and New Zealand #2. When I was in both countries, 1989, I saw kids as young as 12, on street corners smoking. And cigarette machines were in almost every office building at that time.
     
  14. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    1989!!!!!
    Today you will not see anyone even on the street smoking. You will be fined if you smoke inside a building, within distance of schools and kindergartens etc etc etc

    The hole in the Ozone affected Aus and NZ more than South America

    http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/ozone/ozone-science/antarctic-ozone-hole
     
  15. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I suspect you're riding an anti-smoking hobby-horse here, because smoking doesn't cause skin cancer?
     
  16. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

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    Something is going to take you out somewhere. I wasn't born in the outback but I wouldn't mind dying in the outback. Same with the Badlands. A beautiful place to see is a beautiful place to die -- if they don't cut heads off there.
     
  17. jmblt2000

    jmblt2000 Well-Known Member

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    No, what I am saying is that the hole in the ozone may be a contributing factor but it is not the main reason...if it was, then Chile, Argentina,and S Africa would have higher rates.

    And I could care less if someone smokes or not, their body, their choice. Next they'll be saying it is the Great Barrier Reef that causes it. And the study covers all forms of cancer, not just skin cancer.
     
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  18. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    Skin cancer rates ARE rising in Chile
    https://www.researchgate.net/public...fect_of_Ageing_Temporal_Analysis_1990_to_2005

    But there are a lot of other factors impact that from genetics to outdoor life style to longevity to an increased surveillance
     
  19. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    Skin cancer rates ARE rising in Chile
    https://www.researchgate.net/public...fect_of_Ageing_Temporal_Analysis_1990_to_2005

    But there are a lot of other factors impact that from genetics to outdoor life style to longevity to an increased surveillance
     
  20. bigfella

    bigfella Well-Known Member

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    The biggest reason for high cancer rates in Australia & NZ is skin cancer. The reason for the skin cancer isn't so much the ozone hole, but the fact that we are overwhelmingly northern Europeans in a part of the world that gets more UV in summer than the northern hemisphere does in its summer.
     
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