NEXT week will mark the 35th anniversary of the National Cancer Act, the opening salvo of the US government’s battle to eradicate cancer. In those 35 years, the US has spent tens of billions of dollars on cancer research, and we are frequently told that this has won us significant progress. Look at the data, though, and the picture is more confusing. Are we really winning the war on cancer?
In 1971, when the National Cancer Act was signed, we were assured that cancer would be cured by 1976. Since then this and other targets have come and gone, leaving…
