CANCER ARTICLE — “A Pleomorphic Theory of Cancer” by Kevin Eakins

To be fair cancer is not the only disease that has emerged to prominence in these modern times. Heart disease, Diabetes, the auto-immune diseases, and Alzheimers are all far more prevalent than 150 years ago. However there is something special about cancer. It is the one we fear the most. The reason for this is ignorance. We do not properly understand what cancer is. Therefore we fear it all the more. We do not understand what causes cancer and so at the back of our minds there is always the fear: will it strike me? Am I at risk?

What follows is a personal view. It’s also one that in its totality (as far as I am aware) you will not read elsewhere. I make no apologies for this. I have been reflecting on this disease for a long time and what follows is the distillation of various previous incarnations of my own understanding.

Let’s start with a few statements that broadly define the nature of my theory

• Cancer is an organism separate from human tissue; it should be regarded and studied as a separate species.
• The process of dysplasia or cancer-like changes in the cellular function of human tissue is a natural process. It occurs all the time and probably did so since mammalian life began.
• Mitochondria have been considered as simply the furnace or fuel cell within the human cell but I believe that their role is much more than that and the vulnerability of mitochondria is a key factor in cancer cell formation.
• The governance of normal cellular function is not the exclusive domain of the nuclear DNA. This responsibility is shared between the DNA, the mitochondria, and the effect of incoming signals and matter/energy inputs delivered by the rest of the body.
• In between two environmental extremes: the first that of healthy aerobic respiration and secondly that of anoxia (or complete suffocation) lies a third state. The former extreme state is characterised by healthy cell function; the latter means death. In between life and death is a third state: that of slow starvation. It is in this state that cancer is formed. Cancer cells are characterised by a dependence on anaerobic respiration based mostly on the use of sugar as a fuel rather than oxygen. The reason for this is that the changes that occur prior to the emergence result in the loss of mitochondrial function either through damage to its DNA (eg: due to radiation), damage to its structure or ability to function (eg: due to toxicity), or simple functional atrophy (due to insufficient oxygen supply).
• Carcinogenesis requires at least two major steps before a fully formed tumour is created: the first is the formation of pre-cancerous cells, the second is the formation of a cooperative, self-sustaining unit of tissue alien to the human body which is a separate organism.
• Having identified the primary causative process in cancer cell formation, it should be possible to predict lifestyle changes that are necessary to reduce or minimize the probability of its development.
• From the broader perspective of nature, it could be argued that the role of cancer is to recycle bodies whose physiology can no longer support the complex demands of human life.

Allow me to expand on these points………..