SCARY! Science says there's a downside to curing cancer

The good news is, modern medicine has the fix.

Why are cancer rates up to 14 times higher in countries with advanced healthcare? It's because there are more cancer survivors, and they pass their genes to the next generation. This is according to an Australian professor, who has pointed out the stark danger of circumventing natural selection.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- Nature is cruel, for the devil left no work of God untouched. This belief is affirmed by our understanding of natural selection. Natural selection, which is often summarized as "survival of the fittest," is a common-sense phenomenon of nature. Simply put, those who are unfit for survival die early and often, and those who are fit survive to pass their genes to the next generation.

Over time, this produces healthier individuals, better suited to their environment. This phenomenon applies to all living organisms, from bacteria to human beings.

Cancer is a major concern among people because it has become so prevalent. People in the modern world with advanced healthcare suffer from cancer 14 times more than people in less developed regions. Why is this so?

While some have suggested it could do with pollution, or the way we eat and other lifestyle choices, Professor Maciej Henneberg from the University of Adelaide has another, startling hypothesis, it's genetics.

Henneberg explained: "However, natural selection has been significantly reduced in the past 100 to 150 years, and the direct consequence of this process is that nearly every individual born into a population can pass genes to the next generation, while some 150 years ago, only 50 per cent or less of individuals had this chance... Unfortunately, the accumulation of genetic mutations over time and across multiple generations is like a delayed death sentence."

Bluntly put, we have the ability to cure cancer and to prolong life. In that time, people with genes that make them prone to cancer pass those genes to their children. The cumulative effect of this is that more people have genes that make cancer more likely.

There is one simple, brutal way to reverse this trend, which is to let people with cancer die.

Of course, that isn't an option, and would be the height of barbarity. Fortunately, Henneberg does not propose such a cruel solution. Instead, Henneberg suggests gene manipulation to remove cancer causing genes from children.

Modern healthcare is making our descendants weaker and sickly, not healthier, simply because natural selection cannot cull the human population.

Fortunately, modern medicine and technology can negate many conditions, and cures for dreaded diseases are on the horizon.