Mystery of the environmental triggers for cancer deepens

Study shows that our knowledge of why tumours form is still inadequate

Scientists will have to rethink how environmental triggers allow tumours to form and develop, one of Britain's leading cancer experts warned last week. Michael Stratton, director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said recent results from an international cancer research study - which aimed to pinpoint environmental triggers involved in oeosophageal cancer - indicated current scientific understanding of tumour formation was inadequate.

The research - on a type known as oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma - was aimed at uncovering why certain parts of the world suffer extremely high rates of the disease. These areas include parts of Iran, Turkey, Kenya and China where the disease is the most common form of cancer. In many other parts of the world, its incidence is relatively low.