There are cases of some families, several members of which have suffered from cancer. In the laboratory, scientists have been able to propagate some strains or breed of mice in which a large number of the males developed lung cancer and over 90 per cent of the females breast cancer. A careful analysis of data shows that certain types of cancer arc hereditary and there is a likelihood of cancer of a particular tissue or organ developing in the descendants of persons who have suffered from cancer.
Is Cancer Contagious or Infectious? There is so far no evidence to suggest that any kind of cancer in human beings is contagious or infectious. Experiments conducted in this regard by taking cancerous tissues and injecting or implanting them on human volunteers once 01 twice or many times, over a period of many weeks and months, has not produced cancer in them. This shows that normal people have some defence mechanism in their bodies which does not allow the cancerous tissue to take root.
Is Cancer Curable?
Cancer is curable, provided it is detected and removed before it has penetrated into other adjoining tissues or has spread through metastasis to other organs of the body.
Remarkable progress has also been made during the past two decades in the treatment of cancer by the use of surgery and radiation therapy. The discovery of a variety of anticancer drugs have, to a large extent, revolutionised the treatment of cancer during the past few years.