Climate change and chemotherapy

Today is Blog Action Day, an annual event held every October 15th that aims to unite the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the goal of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance.

This year the topic is Climate Change and you may wonder why I am participating.

I'm coming to this debate from a place of enlightened self interest. I am a cancer survivor. I had 12 rounds of chemotherapy with drugs that included Adriamycin, Cytoxan, Taxol and Taxotere. I don't know if there was one drug that was more effective than another or if I owe one particular compound my life. But I do know that if there had not been a Pacific Yew Tree than Taxol would not have been an option, because it would not exist.

Taxol is used to treat lung, ovarian, breast, head and neck cancer as well as Kaposi's sarcoma and is derived from the bark of the Pacific Yew Tree

Taxotere is derived from the European yew tree and is used in breast, non small cell lung and ovarian cancer treatment.

The Madagascar periwinkle is the source of at least four drugs; Vincristine used for treatment of non Hodgkin's, Hodgkin's lymphoma, nephroblastoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Vinblastine treatsHodgkin's lymphoma, testicular cancer, head and neck cancer, breast cancer, and non small lung cancer. Vinorelbine is used to treat non small cell lung cancer and breast cancer and Vindesine which is used for patients with leukemia, melanoma, breast cancer, lung cancer and lymphoma.

Podophyllotoxin is a compound derived from the American Mayapple that is used to produce two drugs, etoposide for Ewing's sarcoma, glioblastoma, non lymphocytic leukemia, lung cancer, testicular cancer and lymphoma and teniposide for patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia.

Research continues to find possible treatments in plants and fungii, tick spit and snake venom. We don't know where the cure may be found but it seems very shortsighted to not try to preserve all of our possibilities.

So if you thought you didn't really need to worry about climate change think again. Your life may depend on it.