According to the University of Manchester’s researchers (UK), cancer is a modern, man-produced disease. Cancer is responsible for over 150,000 deaths per year, only in the United Kingdom. According to statistics, 1 in 3 people in the U.K is likely to get this deadly disease.
Before their final conclusion, these researchers spend a lot of time analyzing fossils, mummies, and classical literature. They claim that cancer is a man-produced disease further fuelled by the excess of nowadays life. Cancer was a rare disease until; poor diet and pollution became serious problems.
For instance, in their study of Egyptian mummies, researchers didn’t discover any cancer signs in all of them, except for one specific case. Hundreds of Egyptian mummies were examined, and silvers of tissues from them were re-hydrated and put under a microscope. As we mentioned, they discovered a single case of cancer.
Some researchers from the past claimed that ancient Egyptians didn’t have a long life to develop this disease. However, the researchers dismissed this belief by emphasizing that other diseases that are related to age, like brittle bones and hardening of the arteries, occurred in that period.
According to the Nature Reviews Cancer Journal, fossil proof of this disease is not solid proof, with classical literature giving a couple of dozen, usually disputed cases in animal fossils. Moreover, only one possible cause of cancer was provided by the study of thousands of Neanderthal bones.
Ancient Egyptian texts show insubstantial evidence of cancer, with problems similar to cancer probably being caused by varicose veins or leprosy. It is considered that the first nation to define this deadly disease and to distinguish between malignant and benign tumors is the ancient Greeks.
The first descriptions of breast cancer operations are from the 17th century. Nevertheless, the first accounts of distinctive cancers in scientific literature appeared in the past 200 years. In 1775 the chimney sweep’s carcinoma appeared, while in 1761, nasal cancer was discovered.
Michael Zimmerman, the leader of this study, believes that there should have been much evidence related to cancer in ancient societies since at that period there wasn’t appropriate effective healthcare.
He stated that cancer evidence should have remained in all cases in ancient society since there was a lack of surgical intervention. Therefore, this lack of malignancies in mummies points that cancer was a rare disease in ancient times, whose causing-factors are present only in societies influenced by modern industrialization.
Another important person in the analysis of the potential reference to cancer in fossil records, classical literature, and mummified bodies is Professor Rosalie David.
He states that nowadays, cancer is right after cardiovascular disease as a second death cause in modern industrialized societies, as opposed to the ancients ones when it was a rare disease. Since nature doesn’t possess anything that can cause it, cancer has to be a man-produced illness, as a result of lifestyle and diet changes, and pollution.
He continues to say that the crucial point of their study is the historical perspective of cancer it provides. They included masses of data for a period of millennia. Their study gives a clear message to modern society, and that’s that this deadly disease is man-made and one that could and should be addressed.
These researchers suggest a regular physical activity, a healthy diet, and maintaining a healthy weight. They believe that these 3 simple lifestyle choices can prevent about 1/3 of the most common types of cancer.
Via The Mirror Post