Cancer Rates of Oranjemunders!

[Alfred Boehme]

Perhaps

[Michael Alexander]

Very old topic, but I was just thinking of the four people I know that are resident in Omund and are all battling cancer...... still think we have a high incident rate....

[Simon Mason]

Hi everybody. Slightly of the topic but just wanted to say that having just read all of your comments, thoughts and beliefs. What a wonderfull bunch of people OMs are.
Can you imagine having a topic like this discussed ANYWHERE ELSE in the world without their being arguments, fighting and people trying to force their beliefs on other people. Goes to show that there is indeed something "A BIT SPECIAL" about Oranjemund people. Young and old.
Sorry slightly of topic but as Mike says.    Just my 2 cents worth.

[Bob Molloy]

I knew the radiologist, Sean O'Connor, who ran the security X-ray system back in the Fifties and Sixties. He told me that  in the late Fifties head office in Johannesburg had commissioned a report on cancer rates in Oranjemund. The results were disturbing enough for the X-ray process to be radically altered. In addition to reducing the X-ray intensity, those passing through had to strip to shirt and pants, no shoes, socks, watches, jewelry etc, women to a dress and underwear only. Everything else had be loaded in baskets for separate scanning (much as is done today at airports). Private rooms in which to undress and dress again were available on either side of the X-ray examining room.This was more a short corridor rather than a room of which one wall was a floor to ceiling blank screen. You were required to stand still facing the screen as closely as possible with arms outstretched.
On the opposite side the machine raised and lowered its scanning arm while the radiologist looked at the image on a separate screen. Nothing could be seen by the person undergoing X-ray as the examining screem against which he or she stood was opaque. During operation the machine made a loud buzzing sound. Diamonds, whether on or concealed in the body, showed up as distinctive dark spots. Exposure time about five seconds.
Sean told me that only he knew when the machine X-ray beam was switched on. He also knew who was being X-rayed at the time and also that person's exposure record i.e. number of times he or she had passed through in the previous three months. Particular persons were also "profiled", that is rated as high risk. Ex-pats were regarded as low risk while South Africans and particularly Namaqualanders were rated much higher. 
Acting on that information he would either X-ray or not as the case required, but still operate the machine so that the buzzing sound was heard, giving the person on the other side the belief that the X-ray was in action.
In this way he cut the amount of X-ray exposure to less than a tenth of the previous levels that most people had undergone.  In terms of security the process was so effective that in all the years I spent in Omund I heard of only one attempt at smuggling past the X=ray system (in a thermos flask). It was of course detected and the person arrested.   
As for the cancer rates: I personally knew at least eight persons, two of them children, who died of cancer while in Oranjemund. That was in a population of about a thousand persons over 14 years. My wife also died of cancer some years after we left Oranjemund. Having said that, I have no idea how this contrasted with rates of cancer elsewhere at the time.

[toonfandangl]

Cancer known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a broad group of various diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the body through the lymphatic system or bloodstream. Not all tumors are cancerous. Benign tumors do not grow uncontrollably, do not invade neighboring tissues, and do not spread throughout the body. There are over 200 different known cancers that afflict humans.

Determining what causes cancer is complex. Many things are known to increase the risk of cancer, including tobacco use, certain infections, radiation, lack of physical activity, obesity, and environmental pollutants.[ These can directly damage genes or combine with existing genetic faults within cells to cause the disease.[ Approximately five to ten percent of cancers are entirely hereditary.

Cancer can be detected in a number of ways, including the presence of certain signs and symptoms, screening tests, or medical imaging. Once a possible cancer is detected it is diagnosed by microscopic examination of a tissue sample. Cancer is usually treated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. The chances of surviving the disease vary greatly by the type and location of the cancer and the extent of disease at the start of treatment. While cancer can affect people of all ages, and a few types of cancer are more common in children, the risk of developing cancer generally increases with age. In 2007, cancer caused about 13% of all human deaths worldwide (7.9 million). Rates are rising as more people live to an old age and as mass lifestyle changes occur in the developing world. On November the 12th 2009 I held my brothers head, his family and his twin were all there around him as he past away he was diagnosed with bladder cancer at the age of 50.  I do believe we all have it in our genes fair skinned people are at a high risk if detected early they can be treated quite effectively.
•people with freckles

•those with fair skin tones

•those who burn easily

•people with light colored eyes, like green and blue eyes

•people with naturally red or blond hair

•people who spend a lot of time outdoors

•people who have a family history of skin cancer or melanoma


There is a lot of research into these cancers and if you ask anyone they will usually say they know of some member of the family or friends that have the disease in 2008 there were 12.7 million cases reported and it's calculated that by 2030 there will be an estimated 21 million, that is around the population of Australia the amount of money invested into finding a cure is in the billions of dollars

                                     

[Michael Alexander]

I always believe in most cases it's genetics at play here.... I know a few heavy smokers in their 70's that are puffing away as merry as can be.... then there are those that don't even hit 50; makes no sense....

[Michael Alexander]

Heard of a 5th person over the weekend..... so 5 oranjemunders currently battling.....

[henniek]

As a radiation worker , I requested my radiation record. All I got from CDM was a record of exposure in the course of service ,  Exposure doses due to X Rays by security was refused .

[Eugene Barnes]

Hennie, They are not allowed destroy those records, as I was involved in running those records for years. Those records are in the argive.

[Michael Alexander]

Got to thinking about this topic again, seeing as there are still folk running around with Cancer, what about the high incidence rate in residents of Oranjemund that never worked on the mine side and thus were never xrayed?

If I am not mistake, the incident of cancer cases is also quite high up around the Swakop area, could there be a link, perhaps something in the sands of the desert?

just a thought!

[Mike Stenson (RIP)]

What makes you think the cancer rates are higher here.

[Mike Thurtell]

Interesting comment by Bob Molloy about categories of people being targeted for X-ray screening. As a student in the late 70's/early80's I worked at Uubvley magazine during holidays. I was screened far more often than regular employees, which was noticed by many colleagues, because I either missed the bus (town side of security) or the bus waited for me. This despite my arrival at Security being at the same time as my boss (Appies) and colleagues, because we all travelled in the same van.

My parents expressed concern at the frequency of X-raying, and in response CDM flatly denied targeting anyone and insisted that people chosen for X-ray was on a completely random basis.

The high post retirement mortality level of CDM artisans and others working outside of town is and was a disgrace.