Being alive causes cancer. This is why we haven't cured it...

Being alive causes cancer. This is why we haven't cured it yet:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=10761

"On another note though a friend of mines father got told 28 years ago that he had a very agressive form of cancer & was given less than a year to live. The family at the time went to an alternative therapist & where convinced to move onto a strictly vegan diet to the restore the health i'm not exactl sure of the particulars but his father is still kicking along to this day despite the verdict handed down by Dr's 28 years ago."

A touching story and a great result for everyone involved, but it's important to remember that anecdotal stories like these should not be perceived as evidence that switching to a vegan diet is an effective treatment for curing cancer.

There are multiple reasons why the above events might have transpired - the cancer might have been misdiagnosed, or the cancer might have gone in to remission without treatment. It can and does happen. Often times "alternative therapies" are utilised in conjunction with normal cancer therapies and given credit for positive results.

"My friends father had cancer 28 years ago and went to an alternative therapist but died seven months later."

Here's an example of something you typically *won't* find someone posting in a casual forum or offering up in conversation - even though it happens all too often. But on those occasions when somebody does seek alternative medicine and their cancer does go in to remission - people will spread positive anecdotes - even 28 years later - and they shape our opinions about alternative medicine in a positive, yet wholly undeserved light.

Only through the rigors of experimentation and evidence can we have any understanding of whether a treatment is effective or not. All of the medical and technological breakthroughs that have improved our lives over the last hundred years and more have been thanks to experimentation and evidence.

To trust our health to purveyors of untested and unregulated treatments is, quite literally, a return to the dark ages in terms of our healthcare methodology

I highly suggest this short film to anyone interested in this topic:

http://herebedragonsmovie.com/

It explains this issue far more eloquently and in much more detail than I can.

Disclaimer: I am not at all involved in the health care industry, this is merely a personal interest of mine.