A rise in people getting cancer in our world???

Question

do you know someone with cancer i do like my nan my ex and his father..has anyone noticed how alot more pplr getting it these days do you think it cauld hav something to do with the feed we eat now days what do you think?

Answer 1

100 years ago the average survival of people was about 46 years.  Most cancers occur in people over the age of 50 or 60.  People died of infections quite commonly 100 years ago.  In fact, the number one cause of death in 1907 America was Tuberculosis which rarely causes death since antibiotics have become available.

Most families have someone who has been diagnosed with a malignant disease - one of the many types of cancer.  Though we all know someone who has had a cancer at a younger age, the vast majority are older people.  Cancer is part of the aging process.  Everyone dies from something eventually.  As other causes of death are reduced, we will see more and more people developing cancers.

In underdeveloped countries where life expectancy is still low, cancer is much less of a problem.  I hope you see the problem.  If we die young from infections or other causes, cancers are not so prevalent.  As we live longer, cancers become more and more likely.

There are more chemicals in our diet and environment these days.  We smoke many more cigarettes than we did 100 years ago.  But a major factor is that we live longer and that allows chemical carcinogens time to cause the cell damage that leads to cancers.

Answer 2

Reasons:

1. People are living longer.

2. Diagnostic tests are detecting cancer in earlier stages, and being reported more often.

3. Some can be related to environmental contamination, unhealthy habits, and diet, but more research needs to be done to prove the link.

Answer 3

A lot of people suspect that there is a correlation between all of the pollutants in the air and water and the rise in cancer across the world. Although I am sure that no good will come of pollution I do not know if this is the cause of these cancers. The actual "rise" in cancer is most likely due to better reporting of the disease.

Answer 4

Just the opposite. Cancer is an ancient disease. Years ago people died from cancer because there was no treatment . . it was silent and swift . .no survivors. But today because of treatment there are people living longer with cancer or who are in remission from cancer. What you are witnessing is not more cancer, but more survivors. It has nothing to do with what you eat . . as stated cancer is an ancient disease, that has been around far longer than any junk food now available . . you can find cancer in the fossilized remains of ancient humans.  No one knows with any certainty what 'causes' the over 200 types of cancer.

Answer 5

There are a number of reasons why cancer APPEARS to be more common these days.

The first, ironically, is better general health care; in the west at least, more people are living well into old age than ever before. Most cancers are associated with ageing, so - more old people = more cases of cancer.

With modern diagnostic techniques and screening., cancers that would not have been spotted in the past are now found through routine screening.

And with improved cancer treatments, more people with cancer survive for longer or are even cured, so there are more people around to tell the tale.

And of course we hear more about cancer these days in the media. When we didn't have TV, or the internet cancer didn't get as much coverage as it does now. And people are more open about cancer, more willing to talk about it. When my dad got cancer in the 1950s, his mother was really embarrassed because she associated cancer with dirt - I bet she didn't mention it to anybody she knew, as someone in her position would these days. In those days, and far more recently - many people mouthed the word cancer rather than say it out loud. Now people discuss it openly - so it appears it's more common.

But to take breast cancer as an example: breast cancer rates have not changed significantly in the last 20 years, and there are fewer deaths from it.. But many, many people think rates have increased dramatically.

Cancer isn't new, it's as old as humankind and probably older, and predates the foods you may be thinking are to blame.. The origin of the word cancer is credited to the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 B.C.), - The world's oldest documented case of cancer is from ancient Egypt, in 1500 BC. The details were recorded on a papyrus, documenting 8 cases of tumours occurring on the breast.

Answer 6

I think it's combo of more accurate diagnoses and the world we live in now.  So many things are known to cause cancer, the food we eat, the products we use, plus there are so many pollutants in the air and a thin ozone layer.  I think the number or rather percentage of people getting cancer is going up as well as the diagnoses.  What is obvious as cancer today may have not been recognized as cancer in the past.  I'm sorry about your family.  I hope everything turns out alright.