Media Hysterics About Supposed Cancer Link Nothing New
It must have been a slow news day. According to Google News, more than 750 media outlets — that’s 7-5-0, folks — have now weighed in on this week’s pot scare story du jour: “Smoking marijuana causes testicular cancer.” So is there any truth behind the provocative headline? Some, but hardly enough to justify the media’s feeding frenzy.
Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research in Seattle matched 369 men with of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) with 979 healthy controls. Here’s what they found.
Men who self-reported having “ever used” marijuana had no statistically significant risk of testicular cancer compared to healthy controls who never used pot.
Men who reported currently using marijuana at least once per week, and who had started smoking pot prior to age 18, had an elevated risk compared to controls of contracting a type of testicular cancer known as nonseminoma.
Sounds scary, huh? Well here’s the catch.
According to the federal government, millions of people smoke marijuana regularly. By contrast, diagnoses of nonseminoma, which typically affects males between the ages of 15 and 34, are extremely rare.
How rare?
Nonseminomas account for fewer than one half of one percent of all cancers among American men.
Further undermining the study’s hypothesis is this: Since the 1970s, the percentage of American males smoking pot has climbed dramatically. By contrast, incidences of nonseminoma have risen only nominally during this same time period.
Of course, this is hardly the first time the mainstream media has jumped ugly on cannabis. Around this same time last year, news outlets from Reuters to Fox News declared that marijuana posed a greater cancer risk than cigarettes. Only problem was that the study they were reporting on actually demonstrated the opposite.
So why does the mainstream media continue to get the story wrong when it comes to pot? Good question. You can read my abbreviated answer here. And while you’re on NORML’s site, get the skinny on what the scientific literature really has to say about any potential links between marijuana and cancer here, here, and here.
- Article from NORML on February 10th, 2009.
Yeahhhh
Nothin new teela
Total BS
Hey,
You know it's crap the way ever single bullshit story there is about cannabis spreads like fire through the media. If there had been a news report on cannabis doing something good medically (which it really fucking does!) not a fraction of those sites would have picked it up.
It makes me angry
Warlock
Rosen proposes that
Rosen proposes that ultimately the passionate will be most involved and by having online doctorate degree an open system with widely available tools, users will police it. I think CBS Eyemobile and Apple offer examples of how the users are policing content.
master degree online | bachelor degree online
Waste of time
Welcome to the,"Reefer Madness '09" campaign,gives 'em testicular cancer huh???F*ck this i'm not even gonna waste my time comenting on this sh!t!!!!
Like I have said at
Like I have said at http://www.stash.norml.org it is a bunch of reefer madness.
The media has nothing better to do but whip up hysteria because marijuana is
about to get legalized and this was an attempt to try and stop the movement.
Just a bunch of reefer madness and no solid science to back it up.
Just A Bunch Of Reefer Madness
Like I have said at http://www.stash.norml.org it is a bunch of reefer madness.
The media has nothing better to do but whip up hysteria because marijuana is
about to get legalized and this was an attempt to try and stop the movement.
Just a bunch of reefer madness and no solid science to back it up.
Media
The media latches on to these stories because they are news, not because of any agenda. if all of a sudden there was a story glorifying pot ,m then the media would report that as well.As well, any story about drugs (good or bad) sells!
peace.
Media
The media latches on to these stories because they are news, not because of any agenda. if all of a sudden there was a story glorifying pot ,m then the media would report that as well.As well, any story about drugs (good or bad) sells!
peace.
Fucktards
"Hi my name is Ima Douche. I am a wanna-be-scientist that makes up unfounded theories then states them as facts. My job is to keep real medicine off the market so I can make a truck load of money at the cost of other peoples lives!I am a greedy bitch who loves to be sodomized by my long time fuck buddies Chimperor Bush and Dick the Homophobe. My hobbies include having unprotected sex with rich old white men, worshipping satan, kicking puppies, shaking babies, and shoving old ladies into the street. Please join me at our next brainwashing ceremony."
Media Sodomy Anyone?
The media feels inclined to undermining marijuana because of its strong influence by the government. If the media told everyone to start smoking pot media coverage on government events and funding from advertisers and other sources (secret?)would drop dramatically. Remember media, as well as everything else in the United States, is all about the money. I bet all the old farts who still believe whatever the media tells them to believe would suffer massive strokes if marijuana was reported truthfully anyways. Look at the bright side, at least the topic of the marijuana controversy is getting any air time on nationwide news stations with all the coruption in washington. All the people need to do now is get the bias government brainwashers to shut up and start telling it like it is.
What would Jesus do?
What would Jesus do?
smoke a bowl
smoke a bowl
Smoking marijuana causes testicular cancer
Maybe I need glasses. I don't see anything in this article that states: “Smoking marijuana causes testicular cancer.” It just states that a study of a small group of users have a higher "risk factor". How did that get twisted around to read that it "causes" testicular cancer? A "risk factor" and "cause" are two separate issues. Now that we have narrowed that down, let's look at "risk factors". What a wide spectrum of opinions we could make of that. Maybe the user control group are all right-handed. That could make a "risk factor" for those people. What if the control group are all living in the same geographical area? That could be seen as a risk factor. The article in question should not be interpreted with the word "causes" when it does not say that anywhere. The other term used was "higher elevated risk". That is no different than saying, if you ride in a car, you have a higher elevated risk of being involved in a motor vehicle accident compared to those who stayed home and had a hoot. Therefore; staying home to smoke pot means you are less likely to be in a vehicle accident. I could make thousands of comparisons like this; however, I think the point has been made. Living is the world today is all a risk factor for everyone and for everything. Marijuana has not been identified as a "cause" to anything except a good time.