>  The claim that cancer is just because people are living longer has
serious defects, including >  the sheer fact that people are, in that sense,
not living longer.

I think that what the good doctor may have been getting at is that the sharp
increase in cancer is mainly a result of longer life spans. The cause of
cancer, and the bodies ability to fight it off are very complex issues and
deal with both exposure to agents and the immune system.

A good example of this would be skin cancer cases. With my skin type the
damage I did to it as a youth is now showing up. If my life span was 30-40
years I would most likely not die of skin cancer. But now that I am in my
late 30's the problem is starting. The same argument could be made for other
"exposures" early in life. Chemicals that did not result in cancer early in
life may leave us with a higher potential for the development of cancer in
later life.