Why I talk about cancer conspiracy theories...

Jul 24, 2023

One of the most common questions new patients ask me is “How did this happen?” For some, their cancer was diagnosed by a screening test, and they wonder how in the world they could feel so normal and yet end up talking to me. For others, their symptoms came on so rapidly that it just doesn’t seem possible. I hate answering this question because it requires saying something that as a doctor I would rather not say: I don’t know. And when it comes to cancer, there is a lot I don’t know.

I don’t know why your grandmother smoked 2 packs of Misty’s a day and died at 97. (Good genes and a lot of luck probably.)

I really can’t explain why an 18-month-old gets a brain tumor. But I can tell you it wasn’t the glass of chardonnay that his mom drank before she knew she was pregnant.

I also know for sure is that cancer is not directly caused by:

hormones in food
microwaves
cell phones
sugar
deodorant
and many, many other things that scary social media posts suggest.

Thanks to government regulations, our food and other regulated products are actually the safest they have ever been. What I’m saying is that cancer is NOT YOUR FAULT.

man in white dress shirt wearing black framed eyeglasses — Photo: krakenimages on Unsplash

Cancer formation is the random collision of genetics, age, exposure, bad luck, and other factors we don’t even know. It’s when a normal cell starts behaving abnormally and no one tells it to stop. Even worse, in some cancers, a random mutation tells the bad cell NOT to stop and just keep growing and multiplying in its abnormal and dangerous way. All of this occurs under the radar of our body’s natural security team aka the immune system. In other words, the emergency brake is off; the accelerator is stuck and there’s no one at the wheel.

Cancer is also not just one thing. It’s a different disease in every person so it is almost impossible (at this moment) to predict who will get cancer and when it starts. Even in families with inherited genetic syndromes like BRCA2 that are associated with a very high likelihood of developing cancer, the risk of cancer is still not 100%. That is why it takes a complicated approach of prevention, early detection and treatment to address cancer in our large, diverse human population.

The summer after I graduated from high school, a boy I knew was tragically killed in a car accident. In rural Illinois, it was common for people unfamiliar with country roads to speed through isolated intersections and blow right past stop signs surrounded by thick rows of 8-feet-tall corn. As there were only 53 people in my high school class, it was surreal to all of us that Travis, the boisterous kid brother of a classmate, was gone.

When I think about why cancer happens to some people and not in others, I think about the Illinois State Police officers knocking on Travis’ parents’ door and them trying to wrap their head around the millions of decisions they made that might have kept him from being on the Cooksville-Ellsworth blacktop that hot July night.

I am not surprised when patients ask me about a conspiracy theory. Something as big as cancer should have a definite cause, and reasoning from first principles is a natural place to start. No one likes to feel like they don’t know what’s going on. Especially when it comes to their health. With a primal desire to make sense of this new, unwanted reality, I get it. My shoulder shrug of an answer to why this terrible thing is happening to them doesn’t cut it.

I welcome this conversation because I know if they haven’t thought about it, someone will eventually suggest one as the reason for their illness, and I want them to be prepared. I won’t list all the conspiracy theories here. You know what I’m talking about. Conspiracy theories provide comfortable explanations that fill in the terrifying gaps that someone can do everything right and bad things still happen. It’s heartbreaking every time I watch a patient and caregiver work through this unsatisfactory truth - we don’t know why this happened to you. Scientists are working on it; we know more than we once did, but this is where you are.

Once we work through their thoughts and feelings about the conspiracy theory, I tell them this: You are not alone. We are a team now. And you can trust me to help you navigate this strange new world. (Likewise, I will trust you to help me when I come to you for your expertise. We don’t all have to know everything.) We’ve got this. Together.

So as the media and your friends on Facebook freak out (again) about a link between Diet Coke (or wine or chocolate or fast food) and cancer, please know that there isn’t a direct line between anything we eat and developing cancer. Can we reduce our risks? Sure. Is it healthy to drink 10 cans of Diet Coke a day anyway? Probably not. Is organic food a magic shield that will protect you from all bad things? Sadly, no.

Pioneering cancer surgeon Dr. Susan Love who literally wrote the book about breast cancer said after her own diagnosis, “Whether it’s changing the world or having a good time, we should do what we want to do. I drink the expensive wine now." Perfect cancer prevention is unattainable so don’t beat yourself up about it.

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