Today marks the 29th year of the 'War On Cancer' ......
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"WAR ON CANCER"
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Twenty nine years ago today, on December 23, 1971, President Richard Nixon declared the "War on Cancer" when he signed the National Cancer Act, expanding the mission of the National Cancer Institute and releasing major resources for the new National Cancer Program......
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"WE SHALL CONQUER CANCER IN 20 YEARS!" (Richard Nixon)
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In 1971, then-President Richard Nixon challenged the medical establishment to find a cure for cancer. More than a quarter of a century later, that cure remains elusive. The government spends $2.4 billion each year on cancer research, but some critics believe that just isn't enough. "We're paying $100 billion a year for cancer treatment and funerals, about $2 billion for research," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, (1998). "Something is wrong with that picture."
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EDITORIALS: "The War On Cancer":
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Check out these editorials from various newspapers, written over the last year, directly on the "War On Cancer":
egroups.com
"National Cancer Institute researchers have shown that rates of non- Hodgkin's lymphoma, kidney, brain, thyroid, bone marrow, liver and testes cancer have more than doubled in the general population since the last half of the past century. Why? These changes surely have nothing to do with sudden shifts in inherited genetic defects."
"Some $33 billion and three decades into the War on Cancer, the costs of treatment and worker lost-time each year run at more than $100 billion."
(THIS IS AMAZING....)
"The United States spends about five times more per patient on chemotherapy than the United Kingdom, but survival for most common cancers does not differ."
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"SURVIVAL RATES DON'T TELL THE CANCER STORY "
egroups.com
"...And although five-year survival rates are increasing for all cancers, it may not mean what you think.... Most of us assume that rising five-year survival rates mean that cancer death rates are falling. But in a study for the Journal of the American Medical Association, my colleagues and I found no relationship between changes in five-year survival rates and changes in how many Americans die from cancer, as measured by the number of cancer deaths per 100,000 population. "
"There has been only a trivial change in the five-year survival rate for stomach cancer patients since 1950 (from 12 percent to 19 percent), but it is America's biggest cancer success story because people die at one-fifth the rate they did in 1950."
"But the public and the press need to understand the limitations of five-year survival rates. And those of us who evaluate medical care can help by being clear about what we know. One thing we know is that five-year survival rates will increase over time, even if death rates don't change, simply because we are telling people they have cancer earlier in their lives."
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egroups.com
"MANY battles have been won. But the war on cancer is far from over. A huge piece of the puzzle has eluded us, while 1 million new cases are diagnosed in our country each year."
"...What we have lacked is hard scientific evidence."
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THE REAL STATS
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waroncancer.net
Did you know that...The U.S. Government spent more on Desert Storm in six months than it has spent funding cancer research in the last 30 years?
Did you know that...The U.S. Government spends as much on each stealth bomber as it does on cancer research for an entire year?
Did you know that...Due to insufficient funding by the U.S. government, only 23% of cancer research projects approved for funding actually receive funding?
Did you know that...1 in 2 males and 1 in 3 females will develop cancer over his or her lifetime.
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egroups.com
"About 563,800 Americans died in 1999 from cancer, the second leading cause of death by disease. Since 1990, nearly 12 million new cases have been diagnosed. There have been an estimated 5 million cancer deaths. One of every four deaths in the United States is from cancer. "
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FDA/People in Government jobs who could help?
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Why does it take so long? Why are there so many hurdles for people with a TERMINAL illness?
"... But the bureaucratic process has become so burdensome that, according to information in the 1996 book Advancing Medical Innovation: Health, Safety and the Role of Government in the 21st Century, the total time required for drug development--from discovery to market approval--has more than doubled since 1964, from 6.5 years to 14.8. Likewise, the cost has skyrocketed."
redherring.com
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THE PLEA /THE HOPE/THE NEW STRATEGY
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PLEA....
"If a Titanic were to sink every day for five straight years, killing 1,500 passengers each time, wouldn't we sit up and take notice? Wouldn't we urge Congress to do more about it, to figure out what was making this happen? "
abcnews.go.com
Cancer Community, the reality is we are still losing the "War On Cancer" despite all the 'breakthroughs.' We need to educate and demand better treatment.
HOPE....
In researching for this e-mail using the terms "War On Cancer", using GOOGLE
( google.com )
(GOOGLE ranks searches based on number of times visited, the next link below was ranked as the third highest visited site for the above terms.)
STRATEGY....
"A Military Strategy for the War on Cancer"
cancer.mednet.ucla.edu
This is still what I feel is our biggest hope and my enthusiasm for Folkman hasn't waned. The irony is, while I can't stand the use of moronic, military, metaphors when discussing cancer, look what is highlighted in this strategy? And then think back to the last few wars we have fought and think how we won so easily, by targeting the bridges, electrical plants etc. Eventually, the enemy soldiers were sitting ducks, just like tumors can be with this approach. We could have sent in the ground troups (i.e. chemo) to kill the rest of the soldiers and lost some of our own. CNN might have shown what looked to be a huge healthy army, just like a CT scan may have shown a 'healthy' looking tumor but are they with their supply lines cut off?
Also, see this book due out February 2001? The cover photo is the exact picture I have had hanging by my PC since May 1998:
randomhouse.com
To put things into perspective in Amercia, since May of 1998, over 1,250,000 men, women, and children have died from cancer. Enough to fill 833 Titanics or 2,500 747s.
Compare that to ALL our wars casualties and keep in mind, this is just 2.5 years worth of cancer deaths we are comparing to:
USA today, July 31 - August 2, 1998 (Weekend Edition), page 13A:
Here are the number of American casualties in major wars:
Revolutionary War: 4,435
Civil War: 400,414
World War I: 53,402
World War II: 291,557
Korean War: 33,651
Vietnam War: 47,378
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The total casualties for all our major WARS are: 830,837
Total casualties for 2.5 years worth of cancer deaths: 1,250,000 or it takes 31 days to equal the total amount we lost in VIETNAM.
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PREDICTION....
My point to all this, why not try something NEW? Dr. Folkman's WAR will make the "WAR ON CANCER" look like a skirmish....for his is the REVOLUTION on cancer fought on a shoestring budget with a small SWAT team compared to a huge army and very...very little support from his fellow researchers and people worldwide who WILL be forever grateful for his incredible science and perseverance that offers incredible hope. Folkman's approach on targeting the BLOOD SUPPLY IS the huge missing piece of solving the cancer puzzle and ending the War On Cancer.
"PATIENTS, not patience."
Happy, Healthy Holidays and to a better future in 2001.
Regards,
-NHLlowKIA
'...Do not be afraid for standing up for what you believe;
what you do, no matter how small, will make a difference.
A candle is a protest at midnight,
It is a non-conformist.
It says to the darkness, "I beg to differ." '
(from E Duncan ed.) |
