The Department of Health announced last year that cancer has now become the biggest killer, with 135,000 people a year compared to 110,000 deaths from heart disease. Dr Peter Marks, lecturer in public health medicine at Southern Derbyshire Health Authority and at the University of Nottingham, says that improved detection might have increased the reported rates of cancer. However, he admitted that there were some cancers that had genuinely increased, such as breast and testicular cancers. There are all sorts of contributions - there are genetic factors and lifestyle and environmental issues. The problem with cancer, it seems, is that no-one really knows what causes it, so it is difficult to know why rates have increased.
All experts can do is point to factors which increase the likelihood of developing the illness.
The jury is still out on factors such as pollution and mobile phones, but there are definite links between cancer and smoking and diet. The Department of Health says that a third of all cancer deaths are caused by smoking and diet accounts for a quarter of cancer deaths. There is also the question of whether this country is doing enough to treat cancer. The report shows that the survival rate in the UK for common cancers is lower than in comparison with several comparable European countries and America. Dr Deirdre Mitchell, consultant haematologist at Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, says that the statistics should be viewed with caution.