There are certain risk factors for pancreatic cancer.  These are:

  • Age-most people diagnosed are over 60 years of age,
  • Smokers-are 2 to 3 times more likely to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer than non-smokers,
  • Gender-men are 30% more likely to get this,
  • Race-African American men are more susceptible to this disease than Asians, Hispanics, and Whites,
  • Diabetes-Some people with diabetes are affected with pancreatic cancer, and the development of diabetes can be a precursor to the development of pancreatic cancer,
  • Diet-a diet high in meats (especially processed red meats) and fats appears to increase the risk of developing the disease,
  • Weight-overweight people are at higher risk to develop pancreatic cancer,
  • Chronic pancreatitis-history of chronic pancreatitis appears to elevate the risk of contracting the disease,
  • Exposure to industrial chemicals-specifically certain pesticides and petroleum products.

The curious thing about these risk factors is that most people that contract pancreatic cancer do not have these risk factors, and many people that are diagnosed with it do not get cancer!  That makes one wonder how much value these risk factors really have.  If the majority of people that are diagnosed with the disease don’t have the risk factors, there has to be another cause, or there are other unknown risk factors at play.

Some experts suspect that chemicals in the environment are to blame.  It appears that the massive proliferation of man-made synthetic chemicals that have been released into the environment may be carcinogenic.  Even though some of these chemicals have been tested, combinations of these chemicals are most likely never going to be tested because they are just too numerous.  There is probably a synergistic effect between these chemicals.  This means that a group of chemicals, individually, may not be very carcinogenic.  But when they are in the presence of other chemicals, together they may interact in a certain way that makes them many times more carcinogenic.

It has been reported that over 400 million metric tons of hazardous wastes are emitted into the environment annually worldwide, and that approximately 250 million metric tons are produced by the United States.  This is a lot of toxic chemicals that end up being distributed throughout the biosphere and the food chain.  This amount of synthetic chemicals that people are being exposed to has to be having an effect, and it is doubtful that this effect is beneficial.  Big corporations that produce these chemicals have a vested interest in continuing their profitable endeavors, which includes the production of these chemicals. Just because the effects of these chemicals are not known doesn’t mean that they are innocuous.