Mark Gibbs <mgi...@gibbs.com> wrote: You could level the same charge of trying for years and spending billions > of dollars against the search for a cure for cancer. Given that progress in > this field could be described as moderate at best would you also say > "enough"? >
Yes, I would reform and refocus cancer research. It has been largely ineffective, according to many experts. See, for example: http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/02/07/where_do_the_millions_of_cancer_research_dollars_go_every_year.html Quote from David Chan, MD, Oncologist : "I'll be the first to admit that despite all the billions put into cancer research, the end results of preventing cancer and treating advanced cancer have been disappointing. Unlike reducing deaths from heart attacks and stroke, progress in reducing deaths from cancer has been disappointingly slow . . ." Chan quotes a researcher: "Simply put, we have not adequately channeled our scientific know-how, funding, and energy into a full exploration of the one path certain to save lives: prevention. That it should become the ultimate goal of cancer research has been recognized since the war on cancer began. When I look at NCI's budget request for fiscal year 2012, I'm deeply disappointed, though past experience tells me I shouldn't be surprised. >From other sources: "Overall, cancer mortality in the United States is unchanged in the last 25 years and higher now than it was in 1950 (even after taking into account the aging population) because a rise in the number of people developing cancer has swamped any improvements in treatment. As recently as the mid 1990s, an expert trying to measure the benefits of medical care ignored cancer because he considered the effects of treatment negligible. ..." NCHS, Health, United States, 2003, p. 136 . . . [A] task force assembled by the public health service . . . refused to recommend screening for lung cancer or diabetes. Even if people with these chronic conditions go to doctors for their problems early, most will continue to deteriorate." J. P. Bunker et al., "Improving Health: Measuring Effects of Medical Care," Milbank Quarterly 77 (1994), p. 225 - Jed
