Should we continue to waste money researching cancer?????

Question

Cancer kills people... but then it is jus part of the system of nature... this is why predators exist... to keep the population of other animals lower than them steady... otherwise there wud be over population.... yet.. we keep tryin to research for sumthin tht is uncurable... when we already have people sufferin who are perfectly healthy... why use a lot of money to give a person an extra month... an extra year to live... when they are inevitably goin to die... i know it sounds mean.. but philsophically... would it not be better to spend all that money on starvin people... with tht money you could help a lot of people who actually are not gonna die... unless they starve..

Answer 1

I understand your question and do not think you are a mean person, but trying to figure things out. The same question, however could be applied to starvation and population control. Nature works in an apparent perfect circle where the suffering of one creates life for another. Humans came along, began to question, and put a monkey wrench in the process. I equate cancer with what we as humans are to the planet, our source of sustenance. Humanity, what does it mean? As one who has suffered tremendously, I appreciate it's value and hate it at the same time. Human consciousness and judgment over the things that happen seem to be more of the problem than the the things themselves. I have witnessed the love and sorrow of animals, but they do not question it. I do not want to die from cancer and hope if I get it someone will help me. All creatures are attached to life and resist death. We as humans have evolved such a strong ability to fight it that we will eventually cause our own extinction with our desire to survive, or not, so far it remains to be seen what will be the result of our domination and destruction of nature.

PS - Wake up people this is philosophy, don't come here if you are gonna take it personal. Philosophy is trying to understand things, not making judgments or conclusions, but asking questions.

Answer 2

Whoa....you're trying to step on a lot of toes with that thought...First, you need to understand that cancer is not a natural predator or the product or creation of nature. It's man's problem and it's up to us to fight it and cure it. Secondly, you neglect to see all those that have already been cured which I must add that it takes the human mind and spirit to overcome this dis-ease. All the research that has been going on has brought hope and medicine and ways to prevent cancer from happening. It can even be destroyed in it's early stages because of the succes of ongoing research.

I do agree with you that money is better spent on people that have a better chance of living but the truth is how does one know that someone will overcome cancer or not. What if you neglected someone and they had the chance to live and be well but you turned them down for help? That's why people spend money on people with cancer and that hope is the very thing that creates the cure for many. Even though the money is lost in the death of a cancer patient the history of that patient will help find a better cure so there really is no loss in investment.

By the way if you're still reading this, overpopulation is a self stabilizing circumstance. Too much of anything in one place will create lack of resources which in turn kills off the population. The strong will survive and with less numbers to feed it will stabilize.

Answer 3

Cancer is not necessarily uncurable. Some cancers are preventable, but some are not. Just as no one decides to starve to death, no one decides to get colon cancer. Yes, its true that people in other coutries (some even in our OWN country) need help to keep them from starving, or dying for easily cured diseases, but why take money away from cancer research? Why not cut down on government waste spending. The government is spending millions of dollars on TRASH. Nothing. Why not cut funding for silly, little things, instead of cancer research.

I wonder if you have lost someone to cancer? Maybe because I have lost several members of my family to cancer, and have had many more fight through it, that I feel that we shouldn't cut funding towards finding a "cure". I'm biased, I'll admit that, but so are thousand (maybe millions) of other people. What about children with cancer? A cure wouldn't give them a month, or a year, it would give them a LIFE. 10 years of living isn't exactly a life, now is it?

And if you want to get down to the nitty gritty, why have cures for polio, chicken pox, and all the other now easily cured diseases? Without research for those (that were just a part of the system of nature) a lot of us wouldn't be alive. They were probably once thought of uncurable, but they are easily curable now. Maybe we only have to wait a few more years until the cure of cancer is found. Would it be a waste then?

"It is important to mention that modern cancer treatments are also improving cure rates. Many kinds of cancer that were almost always incurable fifty years ago are now routinely cured by modern day therapies."

(Just so you know, I'm not trying to mean, either. And I completely understand where you are coming from. People starving around the world is absolutely TERRIBLE, but with a little snip in some government spending could easily make a dent in that, but they apprently just don't care. That is why, we, as human beings have to our part to help that.)

Answer 4

From the moment you are born you are eventually going to die. It is said that the knowledge of our own mortality is one of the attributes unique to our species. Seeking a way to postpone that inevitable conclusion lies at the core of the human experience. You might as well say why bother taking antibiotics for the flu since you are inevitably going to die anyway.

Cancer is not incurable and survivability rates are improving. There are many forms of cancer that are currently completely curable. There are other forms of cancer that are totally preventable, for example HPV causes cervical cancer and there is now have a vaccine against HPV.

There have been some exciting developments in cancer research lately that show promise for a functional vaccine against a wide variety of cancers within your lifetime. Here is a link to an article I read today on the subject: http://www.discover.com/issues/aug-06/rd/areyouimmune/

As for your argument about natural death, you might say the same thing about many diseases that were once considered fatal that have become very uncommon (if not completely eradicated) because of research that gave us a vaccine. Among these are polio, tuberculosis, and the black plague to name a few.

As for providing "a few extra years", were it not for chemo I would have had 10 less years with my mom. I think those "extra" years were definitely worth the research.

Answer 5

I can already see that a lot of people are getting angry about this question...and I can see why. This is one of those things that is hard to understand unless it hits close to home. I just recently found out my aunt has cancer and only has about a year to live. She didn't smoke but got sick from the toxins at her job. So would my family financially support any of her medical needs? Yes, of course. She has grandchildren that she wants to spend as much time with as possible even if she knows she only has so long to live.

You know, there is money that taxpayers pay to help the needy. Welfare, social security, disability....Where do you think that comes from? People work and it benefits other people. You made a comment about "the system of nature". In what category are starving people in? Would you also say that's part of population control?

Answer 6

Did you know that many of the people who die from cancer are poor working class living from paycheck to paycheck? People are starving but if you do a little research you will find that less than 10 percent of the population owns 90 percent of the resources. A new pair of a celebrity's shoes could probably feed a family for a year.

Answer 7

If you had to watch someone that you loved die from cancer I think that you would understand why it is important to continue working for a cure. What would have happened if brilliant people decided not to spend the time to find a cure for polio? There are many illnesses today that are minor but were once deadly until a cure was found. So I think that you should keep that in perspective.

Answer 8

I am proof that cancer research pays off. When I was 22 years old I was diagnose with cervical cancer. At the time there was little known about the disease. However they knew that if caught early, it had a very high cure rate. Today there is a vaccine being tested against HPV, the cause of cervical cancer. More money and effort should go into cancer research.

Answer 9

First, you are going to learn how to spell and learn proper grammar and punctuation. Then, and only then, will you be able to waste our time spewing nonsense about cancer research.
Have you sat by your Grandmother's bedside for 10 YEARS while she wasted away from a cancer that is NOW curable? Then, and only then (and when you realize the word is going, not goin - lots of words end in "ing", you know) are you capable of comment.
What about the children? Should they be condemned to a life of constant pain followed by inevitable death - or should they be CURED by a new treatment that was just discovered by the men and women who spend years researching cures. Maybe one of these kids will be the one who, in 15-20 years, comes up with the cure to world hunger... Maybe one of these kids will be yours? Have you lost your grandparents or parents, yet? Ever think of the kids? Or are you jus goin to blah blah bla bout nothin?

Answer 10

You are a heartless moron and you will have that mentality until cancer stikes someone you love. I lost my grandfather to cancer 27 years ago and I can only wish there was the technology available back then to give him a few more years so that maybe I could have remembered him. I dont remember him, I was young, but my entire family has told me I was the light in his life. And I can never get that back and from what my family has told me, he was the only grandfather that had the time and the heart to care about his grandchildren. So, because of cancer, I missed out on what it was like to have a good old fashion grandparent.