>It occurs to me to wonder why we're surprised the cancer rates are so high.
Mainly because people live so much longer than they used to (and not just in rich countries). I never understood this kind of argument. All evidence is that people are not only living longer, they're staying healthy and active longer too. U.S. life expectancy (at birth) rose from 73.3 in 1977 to 76.5 in 1997 - more than three years, a nontrivial amount. It was 69.5 in 1957, and 60.0 in 1937. If we're poisoning ourselves so profoundly, why aren't life expectancies falling?
Doug