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 A new report on US cancer rates received extensive coverage in print and online, as well as on two nightly national news broadcasts, where it was featured on many stations for more than five minutes.

Many of the reports, and the experts quoted therein, expressed a cautious optimism about the continued decline in cancer death rates.

However, many sources point to the increase in cancers linked to human papillomavirus (HPV), leading them to focus on the low uptake of the HPV vaccine, while ignoring the real root of our still-rising cancer incidence rates, namely diet, exercise, and weight control.

Cancer Rates Inching Down, According to New Report

According to the featured report, which was compiled by the American Cancer Society and other government and cancer advocacy groups, progress has been made in the “war on cancer.” One of the reasons for the overall decline of cancer deaths was thought to be due to decreases in smoking among Americans.

However, it’s worth noting that these declining mortality rates are not due to decreases in incidence. More people are getting cancer, but they’re staying alive longer. And as Brenda Edwards, study author and senior adviser at the NCI told Bloomberg:

 

“These trends show we haven’t eliminated cancer, but we have managed to be able to diagnose it and treat it.”

And therein lies the rub. Diagnosis and treatment are the money makers in this industry. Actual prevention is not. So when it comes to prevention, conventional medicine has stuck its head in the sand, and if you want to avoid being a statistic, good advice is virtually impossible to find in the average doctor’s office.

One of the most outrageous examples is that, women are increasingly being advised to remove their breasts to preempt breast cancer if they have a family history of it. This is beyond barbaric and irrational once you understand how epigenetics, and the influence that nutrition alone can have on genetic expression.

Overall, cancer deaths began dropping in the 1990’s, with death rates declining by 1.8 percent for men and 1.4 percent for women between the years 2000-2009, according to the featured report. Children’s death rates from cancer are also declining at a pace of 1.8 percent per year, although incidence is still rising by about 0.5 percent annually. Besides successful anti-smoking campaigns, the decline was found to be primarily related to reductions in deaths related to leading cancer types, such as:

      -Lung cancer
      -Breast cancer
      -Prostate cancer, and
      -Colorectal cancer

Other cancers are also still on the rise though, including liver and pancreatic cancer, melanoma (among men), and HPV-related cancers. As reported by the Washington Times:

 
“Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.”