Is cancer caused by fungus?

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http://www.cancerisafungus.com/

I heard this guy interviewed on Coast to Coast last night. There seems to be much interest in the subject. What's your take?

NO one really knows what causes cancer. The cancer cells themselves are seemingly everyday body cells that just suddenly get instructions to multiply. What I learned from biotech is this: When a body's cells duplicate, they're put through the immune system to make sure they aren't that different from the rest in your body, and weed out the ones that may do something detrimental. Cancer cells, however, activate some time after this process takes place, so they are your cells, but something activated them. Personally, I'm inclined to believe that it's caused by a hormonal trigger, given that any number of situations can induce a hormonal response, and these cells just happen to be sensitive, or even "allergic", to them. Frankly, i wish someone would test this theory on human cancer cells (since cancer cells can be "bred in captivity" as it were) and test what hormones keep their duplication up, and perhaps which ones tell them to "stop."

i don't know much about oncology but current research would suggest that it can have many causes. as far as i know it is through accumulation of risk factors that your cells become cancerous. I know there is a fungus that grows on peanuts that produces a carcinogen but it is not the fungus that causes it directly. I doubt the guys claims are true but who knows


http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/08/a_fungus_among_us_in_oncology.php

i can't find any peer reviewed publications by this guy so he seems to be a scam artist or hugely deluded. i'm willing to accept there is a possibility he is right though.

this is a common problem. People who claim to be experts get airtime or exposure via journalism and people eat it up because few people are scientifically literate enough understand. (not a critisism) I feel that journalists should not report on science unless they themselves understand the topic somewhat or can vouch for the interviewee's credentials.