Thanks America: Cancer on the rise globally as developing nations eat American foods and use American products

Cancer rates are increasing worldwide but especially in economically developing countries, according to a report released by the American Cancer Society in honor of World Cancer Day and published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

According to the report, an estimated 12.6 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2008, and 7.6 million people died from cancer. The majority of those cases - 7.1 million and 4.8 million, respectively - occurred in economically developing countries. The spread of an "affluence" disease such as cancer to poorer countries can be attributed to the increasing adoption of unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, sedentism and poor diet.

The researchers noted that one-third of the cancer deaths in 2008 could have been prevented by simple measures such as people quitting smoking, drinking less, eating better, exercising more and reducing infection risk. That would have saved 7,300 lives per day.

In the developed world, only 10 percent of cancers are caused by infection, but 25 percent are caused by infection in the developing world. (read more)