WAR ON CANCER

2183 WD

The fight towards winning the war on cancer is a national priority. Cancer is now the number two killer in the United States, and takes nearly 550,000 lives each year. In the article, "Losing the War on Cancer," from the Cancer Prevention Coalition, by Ralph W. Moss, the efforts made since 1971 when President Nixon launched America 's war on cancer is discussed at length. Nixon allocated billons of dollars towards funding resources to find a cure for cancer. Since then, it is estimated that approximately two trillion dollars are spent on conventional cancer treatments and research. Despite the huge amount of funds that have been directed towards cancer research, there has been little progress made since the efforts. In each of the 31 years since the "war on cancer" was launched, more and more Americans are suffering from cancer each year.

Despite all of this time and effort put into for research and spending, the medical community 's war on cancer has been a failure thus far. We are no closer today to understanding the underlying causes for the rapid rise of cancer rates, or to finding safe and effective treatments for patients. The incline in cancer rates has paid a great toll on America, and for years the public has been waiting for any new advances for cancer prevention. With new hypotheses of the causes of cancer everyday, society itself has to take precautions, and try to avoid dangerous environmental hazards, and live a healthier lifestyle.

In another article, "Report Finds U.S. Cancer Death Rates Declining" in CNN.com, it discusses how The National Cancer Institute recently claimed; "that there has been a decline in cancer deaths in