In a new report published by the American Cancer Society, the group officially admits that many of the most commonly used forms of cancer treatment actually increase the likelihood that a patient will develop a “second cancer.”

A second cancer occurs after a person has already had cancer and then they develop an entirely new type of cancer. When the original cancer returns, it’s called a “recurrence.”

According to the report, both radiation therapy and chemotherapy actively contribute to the development of second cancers.

“Most kinds of leukemia, including acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) can be caused by past radiation exposure,” the report said.

“Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a bone marrow cancer that can turn into acute leukemia, has also been linked to past radiation exposure.”

As far as chemotherapy goes, the report says that the same pattern holds true: “Some types of chemotherapy (chemo) drugs have been linked with different kinds of cancer.”

“The cancers most often linked to chemo are myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) has also been linked to chemo.”

Of particular concern is the report’s conclusion that “chemo is known to be a greater risk factor than radiation therapy in causing leukemia.”

In some cases, the second cancers developed as a result of receiving chemotherapy can be especially difficult to treat.

“Unfortunately, MDS and leukemia that develop after treatment with alkylating agents tend to be hard to treat and have a poor outcome,” the report explained.

Reading this document can certainly be a chilling experience, especially when, as Natural News reminds us, you take into consideration the fact that the cancer industry is now one of the most profitable in the world. Just last year alone, it generated $100 billion, the news source says.

Expensive cancer treatments that generate huge profits and that also create future patients/customers may sound more than a little suspect to many people.

In particular, many have compared the widespread acceptance of radiation therapy and chemotherapy—both of which we now know actually create cancers—to the ongoing distrust of medicinal cannabis, which researchers have found to be an effective way to treat several types of cancers and that also has minimal negative side effects.

Just last month, researchers for the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that “recent animal studies have shown that marijuana can kill certain cancer cells and reduce the size of others.”

“Evidence from one animal study suggests that extracts from whole-plant marijuana can shrink one of the most serious types of brain tumors. Research in mice showed that these extracts, when used with radiation, increased the cancer-killing effects of the radiation.”