Many people argue that we don't know what causes the Cancer<\/strong>. Actually, that statement is misleading.<\/p>\n If it's true that we don't yet fully understand\u00a0Come<\/em>\u00a0While cancer develops in its most profound details, it's just as true that we've long known numerous factors that can cause it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Already in 1761, the London physician Dr. John Hill<\/strong> (also a botanist and scientific author) described one of the earliest documented cases of cancer caused by an external agent. The culprit? The tobacco<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The tobacco<\/strong> had been introduced to Europe after the explorations of the New World, where it was already used by Native American populations. Within a few decades, its consumption spreads quickly<\/strong>: in 1614, it was estimated that around 7000 shops already existed in London selling it.<\/p>\n In the more \u201crefined\u201d classes, smoking was soon replaced by snuff<\/em><\/strong>, or snuff tobacco: a finely ground powder that was inhaled after being placed on the back of the hand, between the thumb and index finger: an area that, not coincidentally, is still called the \u201canatomical snuffbox\u201d today.<\/p>\n It was precisely by observing this practice that Dr. Hill<\/strong> Describe two cases of \u201cpolyps<\/strong>\u201dnasal, which he believed to be forms of cancer.<\/p>\n It was the first documented hypothesis of a chemical agent, in this case a snuff<\/strong>, as a possible cause of cancer. Although the link remains a subject of discussion today, the historical importance of this observation is indisputable. And perhaps it is no coincidence that this habit has disappeared along with other symbols of a bygone era.<\/p>\n But the clearest and most convincing proof of the existence of carcinogens<\/strong> arrived a few years later, thanks to the work of Sir Percivall Pott<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Pott, one of the greatest surgeons<\/strong> in his time, he was born in London in 1714. After initially pursuing a religious path, he changed direction and trained in surgery at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.<\/p>\n Throughout his career, he became known for numerous fundamental clinical observations, including the description of \u201cPott's fracture\u201d and the tubercular disease of the spine that still bears his name today, but the contribution that made him a key figure in the history of medicine was another.<\/p>\n In 1775, Pott described a type of tumor particularly common among London chimney sweeps: Scrotal cancer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n To understand this phenomenon, we need to take a step back. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, new building regulations were introduced that featured narrower and more winding chimneys to reduce the risk of fires. However, these new designs made mechanical cleaning extremely difficult. The chimneys accumulated more soot and creosote, becoming dirtier and more dangerous.<\/p>\n The \u201csolution\u201d? Send children to clean them.<\/strong><\/p>\n Very young children, sometimes as young as 3 or 4 years old, were made to climb inside narrow, hot chimneys filled with toxic residue. The conditions were brutal. Many died trapped, suffocated by soot, burned, or falling from great heights. And even for those who survived, their fate was no less cruel.<\/p>\n By the age of 8, some of these children were developing a Scrotal tumor<\/strong>. The disease began with a small lesion, called a \u201csoot wart,\u201d which could initially be removed with a blade. But if left untreated, the neoplasm progressively invaded the tissues: from the skin to the scrotum, the testicles, and finally the abdomen. It was a painful, devastating, and often fatal disease.<\/p>\n What struck Pott was the specificity of the phenomenon: this type of cancer was extremely rare outside this profession and almost nonexistent in other countries, where better protective clothing was used.<\/p>\n The conclusion was clear and revolutionary: <\/strong>it wasn't the trade itself, but the chronic exposure to soot that caused cancer.<\/p>\n The soot<\/strong> it settled in the folds of the skin and, over time, exerted a carcinogenic effect. When the use of children as chimney sweeps began to decline, this form of cancer also gradually disappeared.<\/p>\n Subsequently, scientists tried to understand which component of soot was responsible for this effect. The main suspect was the tar<\/strong>, which can constitute up to a third of soot. In 1915, Japanese researchers succeeded in inducing tumors by regularly applying coal tar to the skin of laboratory animals.<\/p>\n In the following years, several carcinogenic compounds present in soot were isolated, including benzopyrene<\/strong>, one of the most powerful.<\/p>\n Today we know that Carcinogens are neither rare nor few<\/strong>. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has analyzed over 1000 potentially carcinogenic agents. Among these, approximately 120\u2013130 are classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), while others fall into the categories of \u201cprobably\u201d (Group 2A) or \u201cpossibly\u201d carcinogenic (Group 2B).<\/p>\n However, it is essential to understand a often misunderstood point<\/strong>this classification does not measure\u00a0How much<\/em>\u00a0an agent is dangerous in absolute terms, but how solid is the scientific evidence of its carcinogenic effect. In other words, it places agents with very different impacts in real life on the same level, from the point of view of certainty. Concrete risk always depends on dose, duration of exposure, and individual biological context.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The mechanisms are different, but they tend to converge on some fundamental cellular biology processes:<\/p>\n In summary, The carcinogen does not \u201ccreate\u201d the tumor directly and immediately<\/strong>, but it increases the probability that a cell will lose its physiological balance, accumulating errors until it escapes normal control systems.<\/p>\n And this is where a crucial aspect comes into play: On the contrary, It is equipped with extraordinarily sophisticated defense systems<\/strong>, developed specifically to handle these types of threats:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The final outcome always depends on a dynamic balance between forces that generate damage and systems that prevent, repair, or eliminate it.<\/strong><\/p>\n And this balance is not fixed.<\/p>\n It largely depends on the state of the organism<\/strong>: This does not mean invulnerability, but<\/strong>greater biological resilience<\/strong>a lower probability of damage turning into illness, and if it does, a greater ability to contain and manage it.<\/p>\n In short, our body is a splendid machine programmed to help us, support us, and allow us to live our best lives, and it's up to us to maintain it and take the best possible care of it! I'm reading you in the comments.<\/p>\n Thank you always for your time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Oliver<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cancro: non \u00e8 un mistero, \u00e8 una questione di esposizione e difesa Molte persone sostengono che non sappiamo cosa causi il cancro. In realt\u00e0, questa affermazione \u00e8 fuorviante. Se \u00e8 vero che non comprendiamo ancora completamente\u00a0come\u00a0il cancro si sviluppi nei suoi dettagli pi\u00f9 profondi, \u00e8 altrettanto vero che conosciamo gi\u00e0 da tempo numerosi fattori in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[178,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-benessere","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How do these substances, in general, promote cancer development?<\/h3>\n
\n
\nOur body is not passive at all.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Two concrete examples help to better understand this dynamic balance between damage and defense:<\/h4>\n
\n
The bottom line is this:
\nExposure to a carcinogen does not automatically equate to developing cancer.<\/h4>\n
\nA metabolically efficient, well-nourished body with a functioning immune system and good hormonal regulation is able to activate and support these defense mechanisms more effectively.<\/p>\n
\nWhat do you think?<\/strong>?<\/p>\n