High Cancer Rate in Phuket?

[petedk]

I have just spent the weekend with a group of friends and one of them is married to a Thai lady who works in real estate on Phuket.

She was saying that two members of her family have been diagnosed with colon cancer and that there are no previous cases of cancer in their family. She went on to say that she knows four or five foreigners who have colon cancer and has have heard of several others.

I was thinking of buying a condo and retiring in Phuket but if there is some kind of toxin that causes cancer there I will be having second thoughts.

Has anyone else heard anything about this or is it just her misconception?

Edited October 23, 2013 by petedk

[Guest]

Phuket is old tin mining center and there might be increased amount of heavy metals on the ground water and ponds.
We also have a lot of sunshine and people like to go to the beach, which increases the likelihood of skin cancers.
There are plenty of elderly expats, who are more prone to cancers. After all, cancer accounts more than 10% of deaths worldwide.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 7.6 million deaths (around 13% of all deaths) in 2008

Without any medical information, my assumption is following:
Now when she has two family members suffering from cancer, she is more likely to notice all the news and talks about cancer to gain more information (*). She is talking about the cancer in her family and more people open to talk about their cancers to her. Therefore it feels that there is increased cancer rate locally here in Phuket.

(*) Same thing what happened with for example tsunami. Before the local tsunami here, nobody were noticing various news from Japan etc of their tsunamis. After the event, all the underwater earthquakes led to think 'will there be an tsunami?'.

[NamKangMan]

For the foreigners, it could be the change of diet, from western food to Thai food, but I don't think there is a colon cancer cluster on Phuket.

[hansgruber]

Palm oil is in everything. Beware.

[Shurup]

I'd think the colon cancer is due to the quality of food and water consumed. I don't know if Phuket is any exception from the rest of Thailand, but the literal sh!t food they sell on the streets isn't going to make anyone feel pretty, deep fried everything in the oil that hasn't been changed for years, it seems.

[grumpyoldman]

When my Dad got colorectal cancer, I can remember talking to his surgeon who said he could tell that my Dad loved to barbecue.

Why? Because there was cancer causing charcoal remains lining his colon. Doc said that when grease from meat hits the fire, oftentimes blowback from the coals ends up on the meat. When you see these barbecue carts, notice how close the meat is to the coals.

[Blindside]

Without any medical information, my assumption is following:

Now when she has two family members suffering from cancer, she is more likely to notice all the news and talks about cancer to gain more information (*). She is talking about the cancer in her family and more people open to talk about their cancers to her. Therefore it feels that there is increased cancer rate locally here in Phuket.

Absolutely, its called "confirmation bias".

[Felt 35]

Cancer, diesel fumes comes to mind, food with oil similar to diesel, excessive use of alcohol and people generally have a habit of spending free time with inactivity.

[KarenBravo]

Two people does not a cancer "cluster" make.

It is statistically irrelevant.

[chiang mai]

But if it did and if there were, my first choice for a culprit would be the water supply, especially that trucked in brown gloop that masquerades as water.

[Old Croc]

But if it did and if there were, my first choice for a culprit would be the water supply, especially that trucked in brown gloop that masquerades as water.

I don't know why anyone would drink water that isn't pure and filtered and in sealed bottles, anywhere.

edit: Obviously excluding the local populous.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Old Croc

[Old Croc]

I know of at least 3 expats here who have suffered strokes recently. Seems to be a lot more common to me than cancer.

[chiang mai]

But if it did and if there were, my first choice for a culprit would be the water supply, especially that trucked in brown gloop that masquerades as water.

I don't know why anyone would drink water that isn't pure and filtered and in sealed bottles, anywhere.

edit: Obviously excluding the local populous.

Unfortunately many chemicals are tricky creatures, they can be absorbed through the skin and don't require to be injested.

[hansgruber]

In jest ed?

Surely you jest. Ingested.

[chiang mai]

In jest ed?

Surely you jest. Ingested.

No, I was joking!

[andreandre]

Palm oil is in everything. Beware.

It is in near everything now ,for sure, but beware of what?

[IrishIvan]

Passive smoking

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[NamKangMan]

Palm oil is in everything. Beware.

It is in near everything now ,for sure, but beware of what?

Surely, it can't be in my beer?

[Shurup]

Palm oil is in everything. Beware.

It is in near everything now ,for sure, but beware of what?

Surely, it can't be in my beer?

Surely it can be in a locally made beer. With the money grabbing - pocket stuffing being the #1 national sport, there surely are quality concerns.

Don't know about you but I always get a bad case of headache from drinking Singha Beer. Googling "Singha Beer Headache" brings up some scary stuff. Don't know how much of that is true but I don't drink it due to headaches.

[hansgruber]

 

 

Palm oil is in everything. Beware.

 

It is in near everything now ,for sure, but beware of what?

 

 

Surely, it can't be in my beer? 

 

Surely it can be in a locally made beer. With the money grabbing - pocket stuffing being the #1 national sport, there surely are quality concerns.

 

Don't know about you but I always get a bad case of headache from drinking Singha Beer. Googling "Singha Beer Headache" brings up some scary stuff. Don't know how much of that is true but I don't drink it due to headaches.

formaldehyde is one I've heard but I don't think they would be that reckless with peoples health.

I do know its got tons of preservatives so it doesn't spoil in the heat after bottling and that's the hangover/headache culprit.

[Shurup]

It just might be the preservatives, but really who knows, I only know I can drink a lot more Leo or Chang or imported beer and have no headaches.

[chiang mai]

An alternate answer is that drinking alcohol causes a person to dehydrate and that in turn causes headaches.

[Shurup]

CM, that doesn't explain why with all conditions equal, I don't get any headaches from drinking other brands.

[Shurup]

An interesting topic came up from googling:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/525793-beer-headache-poll/

Seems like the Chang is the worst offender and Singha is a close second. Honestly I haven't drunk Chang in large quantities and very often just because I don't like the test. Still Singha is the worst for me.

[andreandre]

Palm oil is in everything. Beware.

It is in near everything now ,for sure, but beware of what?

Maybe you meant "be aware" huh?

Maybe then your post has some merit, because to say beware of near everything simply because it contains palm oil is just an over the top unneccessarily alarmist statement.

[chiang mai]

CM, that doesn't explain why with all conditions equal, I don't get any headaches from drinking other brands.

The culprit might be Tyramine or Congeners, more prevelant in some drinks than others:

http://headaches.about.com/od/headaches101/a/Understanding-Alcohol-Induced-Headaches.htm

[hansgruber]

 

Palm oil is in everything. Beware.

 

It is in near everything now ,for sure, but beware of what?

 

 

 

Maybe you meant "be aware" huh?

 

Maybe then your post has some merit, because to say beware of near everything simply because it contains palm oil is just an over the top unneccessarily alarmist statement.

Sorry. Maybe my English needs more work. It isn't my 2nd or even 3rd language.

[LivinginKata]

Posts removed - stop the bickering.

[falkan]

don't go to the beach, stay white!

[IrishIvan]

I think if you looked at the aging male farang population in Phuket colon cancer would be more prevalent. This is just simple statistics. Cancer is more of an old mans disease

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app