Controversy: Is cancer man-made?

Recently, a press release on the scarcity of cancer in Egyptian mummies caused a stir on some news sites. As Tom Chivers, of Telegraph.com.uk, writes:

Egyptian mummy undergoing a CT scan. (Not part of the study). CyberMed, LLC Images

Now, I want to make it clear, we – and other papers – are not over-reporting this, at least in one sense. The press release from the University of Manchester is fairly unambiguous: “Scientists suggest that cancer is purely man-made“, says the headline.

While not a surprising conclusion to some, apparently, according to Andy Coghlan, cancer charities and cancer research organizations “are not happy”. The article in question, Cancer: an old disease, a new disease or something in between? by A. Rosalie David and Michael R. Zimmerman, was published this October in Nature Reviews. Dr. David summarizes their conclusions in the press release:

Yet again extensive ancient Egyptian data, along with other data from across the millennia, has given modern society a clear message – cancer is man-made and something that we can and should address.

So, is cancer “purely man-made?” Did the authors overstate

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