Black cancer matters

March 18, 2018 2:07 PM

Five-year relative survival is lower for blacks than whites for most cancers at each stage of diagnosis. A 2017 documentary looks at cancer rates in a Georgia Pacific (Koch Brothers) company town, and posits that the economic consequences of racial discrimination increase cancer risk.

More on disparities in cancer outcomes in the US, increasing breast cancer rates among African-American women, colorectal cancer outcomes in blacks and whites, a more aggressive type of endometrial cancer in black women, and cervical cancer.

posted by stillmoving (3 comments total)

In addition, he cites the insight of his friend Dr. Samuel Broder, a former director of the National Cancer Institute: “Poverty is a carcinogen.”

Racism, also, it seems. There are a lot of problems in this world that should be approached via public health, but we send police.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:24 PM on March 18, 2018 [5 favorites]

Oh, also, Capitalism is also part of the problem. Surprise!
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:12 PM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

DAMN but it makes me mad that the course of your life -- work, education, even how the doctor treats you -- is decided by circumstances set at your birth.

Skin color, town where you live, parents' education -- none of these are things that a young adult can change, much less a newborn, and they dictate so much of your future, because in America who you actually are iside is outweighed by the perception of What You Are to some select few people & powers.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:46 AM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]