# we need a cure or something for cancer **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 2, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589 "2012-02-02T22:22:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![razzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@razzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/razzle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/1 "2012-02-02T22:22:06Z")
This has been going on to long … lets take a vaccine like we did for POLIO adn small pox … ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/2 "2012-02-02T22:29:33Z")
[Immunology basics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunology) ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/3 "2012-02-02T23:16:27Z")
Is this supposed to be open for debate or something? ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/4 "2012-02-02T23:20:17Z")
[We can](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardasil) in some cases. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/5 "2012-02-03T00:26:50Z")
I can’t imagine why no one has thought of this before! It’s so simple! While they are at it do you think they can cure AIDS too? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/6 "2012-02-03T00:27:54Z")
> [@nikonikosuru](#): > > Is this supposed to be open for debate or something? I’m waiting to see who’ll take up the pro-cancer position. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/7 "2012-02-03T00:29:53Z")
Salutations razzle, I have developed a cure, friend. Unfortunately it is tied up in my Nigerian safety deposit box. To withdraw it and send it to the US for production I need $1000 (ONE THOUSAND US DOLLARS). You will be able to take all credit for the discovery, as well as gaining any patent rights. Please contact me with your mailing address and bank account information shortly so we can save the world. - Jragon ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/8 "2012-02-03T00:46:04Z")
> [@razzle](#): > > This has been going on to long … lets take a vaccine like we did for POLIO adn small pox … Polio and smallpox are both viral diseases. An foreign pathogen makes its way into the body and attacks it. Their cures came from vaccines which introduced bits of deactivated viral matter into the body so that it could learn how to fight off the virus without risking actual infection. Cancer is not a viral disease; it is a cellular problem. Cells undergo division rapidly and without their usual care. There is no foreign matter to introduce as a vaccination. AIDS is a slightly different case. Developing a vaccine for it has run into a couple of stumbling blocks which were not present for polio or smallpox. Dead HIV viruses don’t retain the properties that allow an immune system to create the appropriate antibodies and using live viruses is dangerous. You may inoculate a person or you may simply infect them with HIV. We’d rather not do the virus’ job for it. Also, most vaccines are patterned after the immunity of viral survivors. There are too few, almost no, survivors of AIDS to make this work. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/9 "2012-02-03T00:57:03Z")
I think we do have something. Or, at least don’t have nothing. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/10 "2012-02-03T01:23:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m waiting to see who’ll take up the pro-cancer position. Religious people take up the pro-cancer position on the issue of HPV. Sex should definitely have consequences like cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/11 "2012-02-03T01:27:01Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Religious people take up the pro-cancer position on the issue of HPV. Sex should definitely have consequences like cancer. That’s right, or everyone will be doing it. Oh, wait… ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/12 "2012-02-03T01:53:53Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m waiting to see who’ll take up the pro-cancer position. I will. Not that I love cancer, mind you. However, we need to keep our population in check. Too many things that killed people in the past are not killing people today. There are too many people on the planet as it is, and my patience for standing in lines is wearing pretty thin. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/13 "2012-02-03T01:54:49Z")
Having people die at random and at older ages is a pretty poor way of keeping the population in check. You should want more innovative things like making babies fight to the death in a lava pit. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/14 "2012-02-03T02:05:45Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Having people die at random and at older ages is a pretty poor way of keeping the population in check. You should want more innovative things like making babies fight to the death in a lava pit. Yep. One of my favourite patients died a fortnight ago. She was three-and-a-half. Cancer sucks. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/15 "2012-02-03T02:27:35Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Having people die at random and at older ages is a pretty poor way of keeping the population in check. You should want more innovative things like making babies fight to the death in a lava pit. Having people die at random is the current situation. That’s not pro cancer, that’s cancer neutral. Cancer can be a perfectly effective method of population control. We could have benzene water balloon fights and formaldehyde fog machines. Our kids aren’t smoking young enough! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Room](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_room/32/5069_2.png) [@Little\_Room](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Room)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/16 "2012-02-03T04:31:33Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Religious people take up the pro-cancer position on the issue of HPV. Sex should definitely have consequences like cancer. What is this about? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/17 "2012-02-03T04:35:46Z")
We had a vaccine for cancer, but some doctor said it was causing autism, so people stop using it. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/18 "2012-02-03T04:38:45Z")
> [@adeste fideles](#): > > What is this about? Commentary on the conservative christian response to Gardasil. Apparently the only thing keeping good christian girls from having sex is the worry that they may contract HPV and godfearing americans are afraid that if those liberal scientists get their way and inoculate all the girls, we’ll be a nation of trampy hos. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/19 "2012-02-03T05:29:08Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Commentary on the conservative christian response to Gardasil. Apparently the only thing keeping good christian girls from having sex is the worry that they may contract HPV and godfearing americans are afraid that if those liberal scientists get their way and inoculate all the girls, we’ll be a nation of trampy hos. What I’m seeing more than that is the idea that the vaccine is unnecessary, since properly brought up kids will not engage in such dangerous activities. Therefore the slight risk from the vaccine (with those toxic ingredients, you know) is greater than the nonexistent risk of them catching HPV. I know it comes out about the same in the long run - kids don’t get vaccinated - but it is a different mindset. Not that either of them is a good way to look at it. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589/20 "2012-02-03T06:28:40Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > What I’m seeing more than that is the idea that the vaccine is unnecessary, since properly brought up kids will not engage in such dangerous activities. Therefore the slight risk from the vaccine (with those toxic ingredients, you know) is greater than the nonexistent risk of them catching HPV. > I know it comes out about the same in the long run - kids don’t get vaccinated - but it is a different mindset. > Not that either of them is a good way to look at it. I’ve always wondered if the “My girls don’t need the vaccine because they would never do something as naughty as having SEX!” parents want grandchildren someday. And if they do, if they then also trust that any man their daughter marries has never done anything as naughty as having SEX! before marriage. Transmission rates being what they are, having both participants in a marriage start off as virgins and then continuing to be monogamous is about the only way to guarantee avoiding HPV. We won’t even discuss rape, because that NEVER happens to good girls. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-cure-or-something-for-cancer/611589.md?page=2)