Predisposing factors causes cancer

   Heredity, environment, and life style all play important roles, either singly or in combination, in the development of cancer. Many experts believe that as many as 90 percent of human cancers result from exposure to carcinogens that could be avoided.

   Heredity.  There appears to be a strong hereditary tendency for the development of certain types of cancer. A woman whose female relatives have had breast cancer carries a three to five-times greater risk of developing breast cancer than does the woman without such a family history. Again, two individuals may smoke the same number of cigarettes a day and inhale just as deeply, yet twenty years later one will develop a lung cancer and the other continue in apparently perfect health. Heredity may be one reason for this. However, the conclusion that heredity caused the difference must be tempered by the fact that other important lifestyle difference must be tempered by the fact that other important lifestyle differences between the two individuals may have caused one to contract cancer and the other to remain free, even though their smoking habits were identical.

   Environment.  It is now recognized that modern man's environment is filled with opportunities for coming in contact with agents that, over the long-term, can initiate a malignant growth. We can mention several.