# people and cancer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2000, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-and-cancer/22834 "2000-06-19T07:15:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hannibal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f08c70/32.png) [@Hannibal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hannibal)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-and-cancer/22834/1 "2000-06-19T07:15:13Z")
If you eat a person that has cancer will you get cancer too? This has bugged me for awhile now and I’ve asked my friends, teachers, and fellow church members but no one seems to be able to come up with a deffinate answer, or facts to back up their answer. I’d greatly appreciate figuring this out so I can get it off my mind. ---
**Author:** ![billehunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@billehunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billehunt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-and-cancer/22834/2 "2000-06-19T07:44:06Z")
If you eat someone who asks silly questions, will you ask silly questions as well? (Not that I’m suggesting anyone should eat you, **Hannibal**.) ---
**Author:** ![labdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@labdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labdude)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-and-cancer/22834/3 "2000-06-19T07:59:58Z")
no ---
**Author:** ![Hannibal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f08c70/32.png) [@Hannibal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hannibal)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-and-cancer/22834/4 "2000-06-19T08:03:21Z")
no as in y? no becuase its just no, or do u have any reasoning behind it? ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-and-cancer/22834/5 "2000-06-19T13:56:07Z")
Probably not. [ol] [li]Their flesh would probably be dead on the cellular level by the time you’d eat it[/li][li]The proteins of their flesh will be completely broken down by your digestive system[/li][li]If by chance their live cancer cells got into your system, they’d be attacked as foreign[/li][/ol] The problem for those with cancer is that their immune system recognizes the cancer cells as being made from their body. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-and-cancer/22834/6 "2000-06-19T16:41:48Z")
The answer is: it all depends. You definitely would not have to worry about the cancerous cells that you ate forming a tumor in you. Even if you ate cancerous tissue fresh and raw, the cells would by killed in your stomach and intestine and any unlikely survivors would be taken care of by your immune system. However, cancers can be caused by certain viruses and you can get a virus by eating virus-unfected tissue so it is at least conceivable that you could get a cancer by eating a person with cancer. Cancer-causing viruses that could conceivably be transmitted this way include hepatitis B and human papillomavirus.