“Everyone can start his personal battle against cancer today,” writes the Minister of health, Jens Spahn on Twitter and on counts four simple tips on cancer prevention. For some readers this sounds like: Who gets cancer, is to blame! The Tweet is negative, but has a true core.
Cancer is a very sensitive issue. The learned Minister of health, Jens Spahn, at the latest, this week. First he had applied to the experts, because he is the "Rhine Post" had declared that he found cancer in ten to 20 years for killable. Oncologists are criticized, that such a statement awaken false hopes.
Now angry Spahn with a Post on Twitter, in which he wrote: "Everyone can start his personal battle against cancer today. How? So: Not (or no longer) Smoking, more exercise, a healthy diet and the skin from UV-radiation (sun cream)!"
Almost 2000 people comment on the Tweet within the first 24 hours, many of the upset of a negative, mocking.
"Unfortunately, cancer in front of people that a healthy lifestyle makes, no Stopp", responding to a Twitter user. "All of the above is not wrong. But in the context of real-dämlich", another writes.
Of course, Not every cancer is self-inflicted. The claimed Jens Spahn never will. His words can, however, be interpreted in this direction. Everyone can fight lung cancer if he stops Smoking? In fact, approximately ten percent of lung cancer patients have never smoked actively.
Spahn rowing back a day later and sent " a second Post: ;I’m sorry if my Tweet was misleading. Nothing is more distant to me than to give the Patients complicity or to trivialize cancer. On the contrary, We should try to reduce due to more prevention, earlier, earlier detection, better therapies, a heavy burden of sorrow."
Why Spahn with his cancer-Tweet is right
A healthy lifestyle can prevent cancer in many cases. That is a fact. The degree to which the lifestyle affects the risk of cancer and the degree to which such genes play a role, science has not yet and also depends on the respective type of cancer. Nevertheless, studies come to the result: To have a certain degree we are our cancer risk also.
For example, a study from Boston to nearly 140,000 Americans. They showed that 40 to 70 percent of all cancer cases and about half of the deaths from cancer could be prevented if we adhere to four simple tips:
The study was published in the prestigious journal “Jama Oncology”. Three of the four tips are also found in Spahns Tweet.
What is Spahns tips?
Why Spahns Tweet faces fierce criticism
Nevertheless, the criticism of many, Twitter is entitled to users in a certain way. What is not addressed Spahns Post office, are forms of the many hereditary cancer. Such as colorectal cancer, breast or ovarian cancer can have their origin in a genetic mutation that allows tumors to arise.
For leukemia, some rare genetic changes can increase the risk of disease. For this purpose, a sarcastic Twitter User writes as an answer to Spahns first Post: "- I’ve still never smoked – at least every day. an hour, on a diet of well-balanced, and yet I’ve leukemia. Something I’m doing wrong."
In fact, Smoking and Obesity come up as causes of leukemia in question, but for sure a connection is not assigned yet. Experts suggest that there are at most leukemia patients have no clear cause. Presumably, many different factors must work together in order for the cancer.
So it is with most other types of cancer. Cancer is much too complex, than that he would be with only four tips preventable. Nevertheless, many people can reduce their risk of cancer is enormous, when you consider the Spahn mentioned tips.