og15 wrote:I don't even know why I remember Montross much, maybe from a late 90's video game, but very sad.
Cavsfansince84 wrote:azcatz11 wrote:You’d think we would invest billions into cancer research. Like take money out of everyone’s paycheck. Maybe even trillions to cure it. It should be a main focus point for everyone.
I think at this point we've sunk trillions into it. I also think they prefer to make billions every year than actually have a cure.
While I'm not here to suggest all pharmaceutical companies are looking out for the best interest of all people, I also realize that a lot of people would be very dissapointed at the reality if they actually went into cancer research.
A couple of cancers have 90-100% 5 year survival rates at early stages, eg: testicular, breast, prostate, skin, but that's also heavily based on early detection, but those are ones that are also more easily detectable and/or are screened for.
A "cure for cancer" as a singular event is not a thing because, first, there's technically no true way to "cure" it in terms of, never coming back, and secondly because treatment wise, there are so many different cancers (hundreds) and the mechanisms are not the same, and for example, even in the same tumor, the cells differ and different treatment is needed. Killing only the out of control cells while not killing normal cells or deteriorating the body is not just some easy task.
Think of how we can't cure the flu which ravages everyone every year, so why do we think we can just cure cancer if we just put enough money into it? It is the belief many of us have ingrained in modern life that we can just pour money and resources and figure anything out, but it's just not that simple. There's a lot we can't cure actually, and a lot we can't even treat as well as we would like.
There are also the cancers which you rarely detect until they are in later stages, eg: pancreatic, and by the time a person has symptoms to know something is up, they are in later stages. It's also not practical to just be testing people for every possible thing, constantly, just from a reality and also from a cost/benefit standpoint. (more people do need to go for regular checkups though)
druggas wrote:Cancer is a billion dollar business. If money could find a cure, it would have done so by now.
If cure was just a money issue, the super rich would never be affected. Steve Jobs died in his mid 50's from pancreatic cancer for example.
Usually if something affects the rich and famous, they will pour money into the cures and treatments, cancer is one of those things that doesn't discriminate. It can disproportionately affect less rich people in outcomes, as well as susceptibility from environmental factors, but it affects everyone, it's not just about money.
While I'm not in the field (almost did it), the things people say about cancer research and therefore the researchers themselves is quite demeaning to those working hard in this field. We have drastically increased cancer survival rates, and there are tons of people working to find "cures" or at least better treatments, and we keep improving.
