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Robert Weinberg
the evolutionary origins
of human cancer
I want to talk today about the origins of human cancer and how the
disease of cancer intersects with the process of Darwinian evolution.
Much of what we know about the disease of cancer comes from epidemiology,
and I thought I would give you some insights into the
origins of cancer through some epidemiological studies that will
eventually converge on the issue of how Darwinian evolution affects
the development of human tumors.
You should know on an optimistic note that the death rate from many
kinds of common cancer has actually been progressively declining.
So we start off on a positive note.
I.
Here you see certain cancers which were major killers 70 years ago
(Figure 1). Their death rates have been declining progressively for
the last 70 years. Stomach cancer in men and women, for example,
used to be very common; it has been decreasing precipitously due to
the effects of refrigeration of foods and of food preservatives. So the
next time you hear »Die Grünen« telling you how evil food preser-
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