• Question: if you found out that something you loved doing was a cause of cancer, would you be willing to give it up?

    Asked by timonandpumba to Gioia, Iain, Jo, Leo, Mariam on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Leo Garcia

      Leo Garcia answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      If people who cared for me wanted me to stop doing whatever it was, then yes – as I would not like to do anything to upset them.

    • Photo: Joanna Watson

      Joanna Watson answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      I think it would depend on how much I loved doing the thing and also how likely it would be to give me cancer.

      For example, drinking alcohol can increase your risk of cancer, but I haven’t given that up completely because the risks are quite small and I like to have an occasional drink. The risks are higher if you drink a lot though, so I don’t do that.

    • Photo: Mariam Orme

      Mariam Orme answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      That’s not an easy question to answer. It would all depend on the risks involved. If something was certain to give me cancer, then I would definitely be willing to give it up. But if something increased my risk of getting cancer by a teeny weeny amount, then I probably wouldn’t.

    • Photo: Iain Moal

      Iain Moal answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Short answer: yes.
      Slightly longer answer: It would depend on how likely it was to cause cancer, and how much I loved it. For example, there is some evidence that partial starvation can reduce the risk of cancer. However, it could also cause other illnesses, as well as make me grumpy all the time. I’m not going to stop eating anytime soon.

    • Photo: Gioia Cherubini

      Gioia Cherubini answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and I’m not overweight, but my main vice is sweet things and especially chocolate. I would find really hard to give up these things, so there would have to be lots of evidences that they are cancerogenic! Most likely, I would start reducing the frequence with which I ate them.

Comments