I see the sole previous top-level comment here [edit: which has now been deleted] started out with a misstatement of fact. In fact, age-adjusted cancer death rates have been steadily dropping in the United States[1] and in general death rates from cancer and from other major causes of death have been decreasing throughout the developed world throughout my lifetime.[2] What that means in practical terms is that life expectancy at age 40, at age 60, and at even higher ages is still rising throughout the developed countries of the world, so if you have reached the age of 50, you can be ever more confident of reaching the age of 65, and if you reach the age of 65, you can be ever more confident of reaching the age of 80, and so on.

It is possible for expanded cancer screening programs to produce the illusion that rates of age-adjusted cancer diagnosis have increased because of a real increase in cases of cancer,[3] but what is really going on with increased screening is increased detection of early cases of cancerous growths that eventually die off and never cause clinical disease. The human body has some defenses against cancer, and many cancers reach a growth dead-end not long after starting. Screening programs sometimes detect harmless cancers that don't need any treatment except watchful waiting.

[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/31/us-cancer-casualti...

http://www.bloomberg.com/dataview/2014-04-17/how-americans-d...

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science_of_...

[2] http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v307/n3/box...

[3] http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/recent-developments-and-...