The Increase of the cancer rate in our country and other industrial countries.

For my topic, I decided to research the increase of the cancer rate in our country and other industrial countries. My concern for this is personal because I lost my mother to cancer when I was ten years old.

My mother was a healthy woman who was active and physically fit. She did not smoke, and she had no family history of cancer. Yet when she was 36 she had emergency surgery for abdominal pain, and advanced colon cancer was discovered.

        My mother's cancer had metastasized, meaning it had already spread to other parts of her body. Doctor's told her that there was no cure, but that chemotherapy might slow the progress of her disease. Knowing that the chemotherapy would make her sick, and would not cure her, my mother chose not to treat her disease.

        Over the next year I watched as my mother was slowly stolen away from me. On June 11th 1996, she passed away. The cause of her cancer was unknown. This was a personal tragedy, but since then studies have shown that cancer rates are increasing throughout the world, especially in industrialized countries. While undoubtedly some of this can be traced to poor eating habits and smoking, there is also evidence that rates among people like my mother who have no risk factors also are increasing. Although we are not sure as to why this is occurring, we do know that there are many possible causes.

Although my mother was a very healthy woman, she grew up in an environment where she was exposed to hazardous chemicals on a daily basses. Much of the farm land that my mother lived on was treated with pesticides, and because of this she came into contact with these chemicals quiet often. I believe that my mothers' death might...