Australia’s Ignorant Healthcare System, and Melanoma

So its no secret that Australia has one of the highest skin cancer rates in the world, what with the ozone “hole” being so close by (sorry NZud :/,) and our outdoorsy cultural practices…bbq, swim, lie in the sun, repeat…

I have long held the view that all malignant neoplasms (new growths) have an inflammatory foundation to them.  After all, put simply, a cancer cell is just a normal human cell, developing in unfamiliar territory, in response to a stimulus that cannot be handled by the area’s usual cells.

Skin cancer is no different, pale skin devoid of dense melanin employs a rapid growth of sun tolerant dark skin in response to inflammation caused by UV radiation.  Obviously underlying this is genetic mutation or derangement of normal expression of melanocytes, however we must remember that gene expression is always governed by the environment, and there are resources in the healthcare that help in this area, and if you live in Arizona, you can learn that in Arizona the best health insurance broker near me  to get your insurance.

An expanding amount of data reveal the importance of inflammatory microenvironment and stroma in cancer initiation and progression. That is, aninflammatory tumor microenvironment (inflamed individual) fosters tumor growth, angiogenesis and metastatic progression.

In other words, the systemic inflammatory state of the individual would have bearing on the likelihood of noxious stimuli (chronic UV exposure in this case,) resulting in tumor initiation.

Recent Australian media programs have pointed to some “studies” whereby scientists looked into the effects of non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the prevention of melanoma, and it appears that the (genius) medical establishment may be looking into implementing this as a PREVENTATIVE??!?! (ITS OK KIDS, GO OUT AND TURN LOBSTER RED ALL DAY ERRDAY, WE GOT NSAIDS!)

This scenario is another showcase of the disappointing reductionist approach offered by western “medical science.”  With so many (read: all) modern diseases being manifestations of an inflammatory state and associated cellular miscommunication, why is the focus not being placed on avoidance of the inflammatory state?!

We need to stop patching the holes with pharmaceuticals and address the root causes of problems, and use the BIG BRAIN we have evolved to actually THINK about all the physiology and biochemistry and pathology we learned as students at medical school/osteopathy school/etc.  Therein lies the answer to all of man’s “modern medical mysteries”

[/endrant]