Is Cancer man-made?

A fascinating new study on cancer delivers the view that it is unnatural.

A research team at the University of Manchester has been examining mummy remains from Ancient Egypt and, from thousands of samples, can find only one case of (rectal) cancer.

It also notes that mention of cancer-like illnesses is extremely rare in Ancient Egypt, Greece and Palestine. Descriptions of cancerous diseases only start to become common over the past three hundred years or so.

I have often wondered whether Bodymind can be all that clever if its cells were programmed to develop cancerous cells. Now it appears that Bodymind may be cleverer than we think. The origins of cancer are still not clear but the current thinking is that the causes are likely to be environmental pollution, toxic diets, addictions and stress. If this is true then short-sighted Headmind thinking is likely to be the culprit.

Which raises the interesting thought that, thousands of years ago, our ancestors were far more attuned to Bodymind than we are.

Thanks to Mark McGuinness for bringing this item to my attention.

Comments

[Cynthia]

I subscribe to your blog, so enjoy reading reminders of keeping my body in mind. However I must say I disagree with your idea about cancer, as a close friend just lost a beloved baby of 9 mths to cancer - surely a little baby couldnt 'cause' her own cancer from 'stress' etc?? It is crazy to suggest that.

[Dr John Eaton]

Hi Cynthia. The article nowhere states that individuals 'cause' their own cancer.

What I am arguing (as does the original research) is that, since Cancer seems to be largely a modern illness, then man-made changes to the environment, as well as changes to life conditions over the past 400 years, must be factors in the rise of reported cancer cases.

The tragic death of your friend's child should remind us that Cancer is a poorly-understood and very complex condition. And we should avoid simplistic theories about it.