“I will also ask for an appropriation of an extra $100 million to launch an intensive campaign to find a cure for cancer, and I will ask later for whatever additional funds can effectively be used. The time has come in America when the same kind of concentrated effort that split the atom and took man to the moon should be turned toward conquering this dread disease. Let us make a total national commitment to achieve this goal.” (1)
On December 23, 1971, President Nixon followed through on his promise as he signed the National Cancer Act into law, declaring;
“I hope in the years ahead we will look back on this action today as the most significant action taken during my Administration.”
“The War on Cancer,” gave the NCI unique autonomy at NIH with special budgetary authority. (2)
Since 1971, the federal government, private foundations and companies have spent roughly $200 billion on the quest for cures. That money has bought us an estimated 1.5 million scientific papers, containing an extraordinary amount of knowledge about the basic biology of cancer. It has also brought real progress on a number of fronts, not least the invention of drugs for nausea, bowel problems and other side effects of the disease or treatment.(3)
Even with this vast amount of knowledge, cancer is still on track to kill 565,650 people in the US this year—more than 1,500 a day, equivalent to three jumbo jets crashing and killing everyone aboard 365 days a year. (4)
Incidence extrapolations for USA for cancer:
- 1,248,899 per year
- 104,074 per month
- 24,017 per week
- 3,421 per day
- 142 per hour
- 2 per minute
- 0 per second.(5)
After 40 years, it looks like cancer is still winning the war. Its not surprising folk are beginning to question the tactical wisdom employed by the home side. Newsweek , an American weekly news magazine distributed throughout the US and internationally, recently reported that this is a time to consider the missed opportunities of the war on cancer – surely of which the greatest is prevention. (6) read full article at Heroin and Cornflakes...
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