Why is cancer so common nowadays?

Question

every day new cases are found, and its increasing. could it be that the chemicals used in growing food is causing cancers?

Answer 1

Millions of people must be asking this question, but maybe there's not one definite answer. The world has evolved with amazing speed over the past 50 years, changing and affecting all our lives, with the things around us, the things we use and the food we eat. Surely the human body has not been able to evolve at the same speed, so perhaps it cannot handle the new things it's being subjected to, causing various cells in some bodies to go 'haywire'. My personal experience has shown that members of particular families seem more likely to develop cancer than others, in the same way that heart disease affects some families more so than others. The only heartening thing is that research has enabled a lot of cancer pateints to go into remission, whereas they would have undoubtedly died say 10 years ago.

Answer 2

The above's reasons are quite good, but there are other possibilities, while also considering radioactivity in with the mix. Foods are preserved with many chemicals now that are not very good for the body. We use health care and beauty products that the asthmatic/allergic person's body has the right idea to reject. We live in a world where most things are manufactured or preserved with harsh chemicals somehow. People are obese--a factor that always increases the risk. People are living far longer than they used to--that always increases number of people with a disease. I'm sure there are more reasons.

Answer 3

That one person was dumb- move to another country (after all the effects have already been absorbed). The main reason that cancer is more common is because our life span is increasing. In the old days, people would die from getting hit on the head from a caveman's club, before they got old enough to get cancer.

Answer 4

highly probable...but we can't conclude that the increased numbers is caused by the existence of the chemicals in food alone. Cancer could also be hereditary. So the number of humans carrying that cancer gene naturally increases with time. Besides, the increase in the number of radioactive objects (microwave ovens, mobile phones...) in modern society is another cause. Lastly, the increase in the number of scientific researches indicate too many other causes of cancer as well. Even cheap shampoo and nail polishes causes cancer.....so yup....death's inevitable.

Answer 5

Chernobyl, too. The deadly clouds drifted everywhere, especially covering the eastern states of the U.S. There has been a HUGE increase in cancer rates where I'm from. (Northeastern US.)
Landfills, where the owners sometimes take in hazardous wastes for profit. All this seeps into the ground and gets into our water systems.
It's the result of the aftermath of modern technology.

Answer 6

Between 1935 and 1965, a lot of radioactivity was released into the Western Hemisphere due to United States nuclear bomb testing. Radioactivity always causes cancer for thousands of years afterward. Best thing if you are concerned is move to some healthy clean country.

Answer 7

yes, that, too...but for skin cancer for example has also as a cause the long exposure at the sun; and we are so far away of what we have to really be!

Answer 8

it has been there all the time: but incidence for certain cancers, e.g. lung cancers are probably increasing due to lifestyle changes

the other fact is that we are getting better at diagnosisng cancers, so statistically more cancers are being discovered

Answer 9

Probably because of several combined things:

< Better detection
< Living longer
< Exposure to things that weren't around 100 years ago

I'm sure that many died years ago from cancer, but no one knew that was what killed them.

Answer 10

I believe cancer has been around for ever. We just didn't call it that. They can now name the reason someone dies. Years ago, they would just say a person died of heart failure, or natural death