dandate2 wrote:
Since 1971 the United States has invested over $200 billion on cancer research (plus whatever other countries pay into it); that total includes money invested by public and private sectors and foundations.[122] Despite this substantial investment, the country has seen a five percent decrease in the cancer death rate (adjusting for size and age of the population) between 1950 and 2005.
And why is that?
Because that research is spend on developing drugs that can treat cancer.
This means that this research aims to prolong the life of cancer patients.
Since cancer rates have gone up, a decrease in mortality rates is proof that they developed fairly effective drugs.
Equally so, one can fight lung cancer with drugs, with some success,
but it would be far more effective to fight lung cancer by preventing it.
If nobody smokes cigarettes, lung cancer rates would go down substantially.
So, where should that research money go to?
finding out more about what
causes cancer.
why dont they do that?
Because the drug companies cannot make any money that way.
they can only make a good profit by keeping relapsing cancer patients alive as long as possible, needing lots of drugs.