Anne Richards' Death ...
Misreporting in the Media

On August 13, 2006, Former Texas Govenor Anne M. Richards died from the effects of Esophageal Cancer.

One of the unfortunate side effects of the Ms. Richards' death has been the misreporting by national TV news about EC.

It isn't what they have said which is wrong, but the fact that they did not report enough.

They reported the following facts:

1. Anne Richards had a form of cancer high in the esophagus.
2. This form of cancer is correlated with both heavy drinking and smoking.
3. Anne Richards was an admitted alcoholic and a very heavy smoker.
4. Cancer of the esophagus is on the rise.

All of these facts are true but what they left out means that there is a complete distortion of the true situation with EC.

We all know that EC has two major forms—adenocarcinoma and squamous cell. Ann Richards' had squamous cell. While it is true that squamous cell is associated with heavy drinking and smoking, there is very little if any association of adenocarcinoma with either drinking or smoking.

EC as a whole is definitely on the rise but the form that is growing rapidly is adenocarcinoma not squamous cell. Also, even though there is a correlation of smoking and drinking with squamous cell cancer, many cases of squamous cell cancer occur in people who neither smoke nor drink heavily.

The implications one would draw from the reporting is that EC is on the rise due to smoking and drinking where in fact this is not the case. Many of us are nonsmokers. Many of us are either moderate drinkers or abstainers.

I hope that if any of us gets the chance to comment on this with people who ask us about Anne Richards that we can indicate the situation is much more complex than the media has portrayed.

— Les Coleman