Not too long ago a story about a study examining mummies for the prevalence of cancer caused a flurry of articles in the media claiming that cancer is a man-made disease. The researchers claim that cancer was very rare in ancient Egypt compared to modern times.

In their press release about the study the author states

“In industrialised societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.”

Are those claims valid? What evidence is there about the environmental causes of cancer? I'm not just asking about this specific study, but also about other studies showing how important environmental factors are in the incidence of cancer.

Not too long ago a story about a study examining mummies for the prevalence of cancer caused a flurry of articles in the media claiming that cancer is a man-made disease. The researchers claim that cancer was very rare in ancient Egypt compared to modern times.

In their press release about the study the author states

“In industrialised societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.”

Are those claims valid? What evidence is there about the environmental causes of cancer? I'm not just asking about this specific study, but also about other studies showing how important environmental factors are in the incidence of cancer.

Not too long ago a story about a study examining mummies for the prevalence of cancer caused a flurry of articles in the media claiming that cancer is a man-made disease. The researchers claim that cancer was very rare in ancient egypt compared to modern times.

In their press release about the study the author states

“In industrialised societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.”

Are those claims valid? What evidence is there about the environmental causes of cancer? I'm not just asking about this specific study, but also about other studies showing how important environmental factors are in the incidence of cancer.

Not too long ago a story about a study examining mummies for the prevalence of cancer caused a flurry of articles in the media claiming that cancer is a man-made disease. The researchers claim that cancer was very rare in ancient Egypt compared to modern times.

In their press release about the study the author states

“In industrialised societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.”

Are those claims valid? What evidence is there about the environmental causes of cancer? I'm not just asking about this specific study, but also about other studies showing how important environmental factors are in the incidence of cancer.