Srinagar, July 30 -- For years I read and saw every day in the media, on TV and newspapers that the number of cancer cases in Kashmir were constantly going up day by day. I had a longing to know and explore about it in the last year of my Masters when I had my research topic dedicated to the investigation of the cancer incidents in Kashmir and it has been quite alarming to find the number of cancer cases and examine them. A single visible aberration, the 'Kangri burn cancer', was the only medical mystery of the Kashmir Valley for more than a hundred years: a lethal skin cancer resulting from the traditional use of charcoal fire pots under pheran. Today, however, a much more subtle, multi-layered oncological crisis is threatening the Himal...