Researchers at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston have made some startling predictions for cancer in the coming years. They have launched the "moon shots program" to virtually eliminate some types of cancer by the end of this decade.
The program is based upon an event 50 years in the past, when John F. Kennedy promised that man would go to the moon before the end of the sixties. Kennedy was barely able to achieve that goal in time, in 1969, so it is likely that these researchers will have to tack a few years onto their original estimate, but anything is possible.
According to program officials, this will be a push like never before to get rid of five different types of cancer, or at least significantly reduce the number of deaths from them. "The Moon Shots Program signals our confidence that the path to curing cancer is in clearer sight than at any other time in history," President of MD Anderson Ronald DePinho says. People have believed for years now that modern medicine has the capability to cure or nearly eliminate cancer, if they put all of the best minds on it.
Doctors claim that one day soon, dying from cancer will be as rare as dying from a disease like pneumonia. This is especially true in the cases of lung cancer, melanoma, prostate cancer, some types of leukemia, ovarian cancer and triple negative breast cancer. Out of these, lung cancer is particularly important, because it is the number one killer worldwide.
President Nixon may have declared war on cancer, but it is these researchers that are actually taking the fight to the battlefield, implementing some of the major technological advances the world has seen in the past few years. This is how things get done—with someone squaring thier shoulders, and just wading in, determined to get the job done.
This project will receive $3 billion in funding over the next ten years and will launch in February 2013.
Photo: Army Medicine on Flickr.com
Gabriel Legend covers a wide range of breaking news for Gather. He writes fiction as well, with his first novel coming out in 2013. You can follow on Twitter at @GabrielLegend1 or contact him directly here.
recommend
Facebook
Twitter
bookmark 
print
