Catching Cancer
Monday November 23, 2009 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC News Network
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Catching Cancer
Watch the full program online.
Note: this film is only available for 15 days after last broadcast.
43:28 min 
Can you catch cancer? Sixteen women in one workplace in Australia have all been diagnosed with breast cancer. Most are young, none have a family history of the disease and all the usual suspects - radiation, pollution, and chemical contaminations - have been investigated. Is it a co-incidence? Or could a virus be the hidden trigger? Catching Cancer investigates the latest research on the role of viruses and bacteria in certain cancers.
Professor Ian Frazer In the last five years, two Nobel Prize-winning discoveries have proven the link. We now know that Helicobacter pylorus is the starting point for stomach cancer and that human papilloma viruses trigger cervical cancer. In the United States and Canada scientists are investigating a virus that triggers breast cancer in mice. In the United Kingdom childhood leukemia is under investigation and infection is the prime suspect.
Catching Cancer combines intimate personal stories and intriguing science, interviews with world experts, Nobel Laureates and virus hunters on the front line. If viruses and bacteria are the triggers for cancer, modern science may be able to develop the tools to protect us.
A December Films Production, in association with Pemberton Films. Executive Producers: Tony Wright and Sonya Pemberton.
