From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Fri Sep 12 2003 - 12:05:56 MDT
On Fri, 12 Sep 2003, Robbie Lindauer wrote:
> As for whether or not plants cause cancer - maybe they do, but that
> wouldn't explain why it's a greater killer now than 200 years ago. For
> that you'd have to add in the social factors.
Facts not in evidence. 200 years ago, the average lifespan was
significantly less -- perhaps as much as 50%. So people died
prematurely from various diseases (plague, flu, smallpox, etc.)
before the mutations that cause cancer could come into play.
You cannot use that argument. Cancer is a greater killer now
simply because things like vaccines, antibiotics and better
nutrition allow people to live longer and therefore they have
a greater risk of developing cancer. The human genetic program
never evolved to the point where it could prevent cancer from
developing in 80 year olds -- because during most of our evolution
people never lived to 80 (this is called the "declining force of
natural selection" in the study of gerontology).
Robert
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