How can we make curing cancer a global priority?

Question

When I was ten years old, my younger brother Jeff died of leukemia.

Cancer kills 7 million people worldwide each year. Yet it is a treatable disease that—in time—is beatable. However, in today’s troubled global environment, valuable resources that would otherwise go to cancer research are frequently re-directed by the crisis du jour.

What can we, as individuals and as a global community, do to focus & mobilize our governments to find the cures that will make cancer a fear of the past?

Click here to watch a video of Cindy explaining more you can do to help:
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=43484/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/ltn2006/videoanswers.html

Connect with others on this issue on Yahoo! Groups: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/cancercure/

Yahoo! Answers Staff note: This is the real Cindy Crawford! http://blog.360.yahoo.com/y_answrs_team?p=10399

Dear Readers,

Thanks to all of you who took the time to respond to my question. There were so many thoughtful responses, it was difficult to choose just one. The most important point to be made after viewing responses is, I believe, to take action. If everyone would do something in the fight against cancer, whether it’s to volunteer or donate to organizations such as The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society or to take the time to make our legislators aware of the need for resources to tackle this critical problem, we could succeed in finding cures.
Best wishes and be well, Cindy

Answer 1

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

I think the answer resides in the people. The more people to champion the cause, the more likely movement will be made towards a cure. THere is a role for everyone.

1. Invest in the future.
The children of today are the hope for tomorrow.

2. Advocate for change.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and other cancer organization make it easy for you to email letters to your elected officials. If a lot of emails arrive on a cancer issue, you bet they will look at it.

Asking questions like this, while general in nature, help people start thinking about what they can do.

3. Participate in a fundraising event hosted by a cancer organization.
Many of them have benefits to the participant as well as the patients.

4. Donate to a cancer organization.
I know there are a lot of worthy causes competing with what little funds we have (for some us), but moeny, time & resources are all commodities for non-profits.

5. Evangelize.
Tell the people around you to get involved as well. They can support your efforts, join you in your fight or just spread the word. No ask, no get.

If more people took on one role above, if more celebs helped heighten the awareness & specifically called people to action, if one politician took a stand, i think we would be surprized at what we could accomplish.

"Complacency yields failure, so do something! Because the scary thing about cancer is that it could be you or someone you love." JNRism

Answer 2

Why is it that the ultra wealthy always find "a cause" and then preach at all the working people about what more they (the working people) can do? I know it's good PR, but I think it's time certain wealthy private citizens put their money where their mouth is. I do not know how you are in regard to this, so this is in no way a judgment on you. However, there are many people in similar situations as you, with wealth and influence, who merely think that "giving their endorsement" to a cause is enough. Well, I have heard that the nut inside of the pit of a peach contains special ingredients that will actually attack cancer cells in the body. It could be that the reason why cancer is such an epidemic is that few people know there is something edible inside the peach pit. Most people see the peach pit and throw it away. I also know that there has been some research on the effect vitamin B12 has on cancer. There is a book titled, "World Without Cancer" by G. Edward Griffin which addresses this specific issue in greater detail. I have not read the book myself but am very interested in doing so. So, how do we make the cure for cancer a global priority? I think the answer to that question is to better inform all nations about how nutrition and vitamins effect the body.

Answer 3

What a shame. It's not the government's role to cure every social ill... or every health ill for that matter. But most politicians today are not "statesmen." They're politicians who just want to get re-elected and gain power. So whenever the media throws an issue out there, every politician feels like they have to find a big, expensive solution so they don't get criticized later by the media for not doing anything or for taking an approach the media won't agree with. This is why our nation is all messed up. Politicians are reactive and the media is constantly searching for issues that will keep viewers stirred up and tuned in. Well, I have heard that the nut inside of the pit of a peach contains special ingredients that will actually attack cancer cells in the body. It could be that the reason why cancer is such an epidemic is that few people know there is something edible inside the peach pit. Most people see the peach pit and throw it away. I also know that there has been some research on the effect vitamin B12 has on cancer. There is a book titled, "World Without Cancer" by G. Edward Griffin which addresses this specific issue in greater detail. I have not read the book myself but am very interested in doing so. So, how do we make the cure for cancer a global priority? I think the answer to that question is to better inform all nations about how nutrition and vitamins effect the body.

Answer 4

They're politicians who just want to get re-elected and gain power. So whenever the media throws an issue out there, every politician feels like they have to find a big, expensive solution so they don't get criticized later by the media for not doing anything or for taking an approach the media won't agree with. This is why our nation is all messed up. Politicians are reactive and the media is constantly searching for issues that will keep viewers stirred up and tuned in. Well, I have heard that the nut inside of the pit of a peach contains special ingredients that will actually attack cancer cells in the body. It could be that the reason why cancer is such an epidemic is that few people know there is something edible inside the peach pit. Most people see the peach pit and throw it away. I also know that there has been some research on the effect vitamin B12 has on cancer. There is a book titled, "World Without Cancer" by G. Edward Griffin which addresses this specific issue in greater detail. I have not read the book myself but am very interested in doing so. So, how do we make the cure for cancer a global priority? I think the answer to that question is to better inform all nations about how nutrition and vitamins effect the body.

Answer 5

The unfortunate truth is that searching for a cancer cure may be a waste of the resources devoted to the fight. When we count both Federal and private funds that have been donated to the cause over the last forty years, the amount is staggering. And, while progress has been made, many types of cancer are still as deadly as ever.

Yet, the medical profession knows that nearly all cancers can be cured. Early surgery, for example, is curative of many cancers. Other treatments also work well when cancer is at an early stage.

The words "early stage" , then, are the key. We need an all out effort to develop screening techniques that can be done quickly and easily on routine doctor visits. Surely, for example, cancers release chemicals into the blood at levels which are not there when a person is cancer free.

But such research is limited because the vast amount of funds are directed towards a cure instead of detection. We already have the cures. But far too many of them come too late. Ask any doctor what would happen to the cancer death rate if everyone had a Spiral Lung Scan, an MRA, a Pet Scan, a Colonoscopy exam and a Mammogram every six months. These things work, but they are far too costly and inconvenient to be used for screening.

The solution is for people like you and people like the politicians to rebalance the funding so much less is spent trying to find a cure and much more is spent looking for simpler, more cost effective ways to spot cancers at their earliest stages. With such screening at hand, being told you have cancer will have little more impact than being told you have a cavity in a tooth.

Answer 6

Politicians are reactive and the media is constantly searching for issues that will keep viewers stirred up and tuned in. Well, I have heard that the nut inside of the pit of a peach contains special ingredients that will actually attack cancer cells in the body. It could be that the reason why cancer is such an epidemic is that few people know there is something edible inside the peach pit. Most people see the peach pit and throw it away. I also know that there has been some research on the effect vitamin B12 has on cancer. There is a book titled, "World Without Cancer" by G. Edward Griffin which addresses this specific issue in greater detail. I have not read the book myself but am very interested in doing so. So, how do we make the cure for cancer a global priority? I think the answer to that question is to better inform all nations about how nutrition and vitamins effect the body.

Answer 7

I was in my mid 30's when diagnosed with this disease that only older adults get. Usually pancreatic cancer patients don't live long because the symptoms are too close to other diseases such as ulcer or gallbladder disease. By the time it is caught it is usually too late to treat.

The real question is the rest of the world interested in finding a cure for cancer? It seems as if cancer is more accepted in the American culture than it is in other cultures. Do other countries and cultures have months that are dedicated to a specific type of cancer?

Maybe finding a cure should be something the World Health Organization or the United Nations should be pulled into. It should be a global focus...but there are too many other things out there that seem more important to governments than finding a cure for cancer at this time. So in the meantime another 7 million people will die around the world this year. A few of them might be some of the good peop

Answer 8

Yo Cindy, what needs to be done is that there needs to be one agency that oversees all of the cancer collections and donations. Right now every country, every hospital, every doctor involved in the fight to find a cure solicits help from individuals near and far. This way no one knows how much is collected, by who or for what purpose. I heard a story about some company stating that for every unit of their product sold a donation would be made to the Breast Cancer Fund. As it turned out only 1 cent was donated and to who it wasn't stated and where who knows. Right now the Cancer Society in Canada sells $100.00 lottery tickets that could win you a million dollars or a new car. How the money is spent, who knows? Enough said about that, so there needs to be one agency that collects, and accounts for all the money donated and in turn gives back some of the money to doctors or scientists that make application for grants which could truly make a difference. This new collection body should not be a large group that ends up with all the money themselves but perhaps group of well known physicians and academics who are familiar with what is needed in this field and would even volunteer for such a position. After all the reason for the group is to find a cure not make these people rich. Once such a group is set up then money could be given for research projects and reports expected in say a 5 year period. How long can we hope to have a cure? If a reward was offered of say 1 billion dollars then it could be a reality in 5 years. Once the big drug companies get motivated then they really start to come up with some good research. Such a reward would be an incentive to finally find a cure and beat this thing once and for all. We have been throwing money at this cancer thing for over 50 years and some progress has been made but what really is needed is not a cure but a reason for why cancer gets started in the first place.

Answer 9

I am a mammographer. My job is to create images of breast tissue for a radiologist (an xray doctor) to seek and find breast cancer. I have been in mammography for almost 30 years.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, except in the topic of cancer research. I have this odd kinda sick in the pit of my stomach feeling that someone somewhere knows the link...knows the reason cancer does what it does, and knows how it can be obliterated. The technology is out there. There are new viral microbes being discovered in the microworld all the time.

But here is the consipiracy. There are a bunch of people who will lose their jobs if the cure is found and distributed. Plus someone would have to wait til the right time to reveal it.

If I had proof, it would be this: A couple years (5 maybe) there was a researcher who found that bone marrow transplantation was not a successful end stage treatment for breast cancer. This guy held the information for 6 MONTHS until he could announce it at an international conference and get all the glory for the research. Someone leaked the information first, and there were a MESS of angry family members whose mothers/sisters/wives were not able to be close to their families at the end of their lives because they were living in painful sterile "boy-in-a-bubble" environment while the marrow transplants took, or didn't, all for nothing.

I would, as another did on this list already, argue that the atypical development of cells with age, and thus cancer in the aged, is a natural process of environmental death, and we humans, either scientifically or spiritually, must face the fact that some will never be saved.

The research for leukemia has brought great strides in curing that disease, obviously too late for Cindy's brother and her family. But I still say the technology is out there NOW.

One more point...LEAVE THE AMAZON ALONE! There are some real gems out there in the way of plants that have healing properties.

Thanks.

Judijo.

Answer 10

Hi Cindy, Let me start by saying how sorry I am about your brother.

Secondly, however, I was under the impression the curing cancer WAS a global priority. I find your view of cancer, and it's treatable condition, a little unrealistic at this point. It is definitely something we're all hoping, working and praying for, but we are not yet as on top of this horrible disease as one would tend to infer from what you wrote.

Why is it that the ultra wealthy always find "a cause" and then preach at all the working people about what more they (the working people) can do? I know it's good PR, but I think it's time certain wealthy private citizens put their money where their mouth is. I do not know how you are in regard to this, so this is in no way a judgment on you. However, there are many people in similar situations as you, with wealth and influence, who merely think that "giving their endorsement" to a cause is enough.

Also, why is government always looked to as the other solution? I suppose the U.N. could pass a resolution. Fat lot of good that would do. More wealthy people telling the common man the they (the common man) have to do more. We could always raise taxes, but here again, the working people get passed the burden that should be on the shoulders of those more capable. Government doesn't solve problems, it creates or exacerbates them. The solution is in the private sector. The less government meddling the better.

Your words- "However, in today’s troubled global environment, valuable resources that would otherwise go to cancer research are frequently re-directed by the crisis du jour.
What can we, as individuals and as a global community, do to focus & mobilize our governments to find the cures that will make cancer a fear of the past?"- disturb me a little. It seems to me that with this inference you are attempting to use cancer as a political soap box. I seriously hope this is not the case.

It would be wonderful to drop everything and just focus on solving one problem. However, that too is unrealistic. The different crisis' "du jour" as you call them are , for the most part, as real and as serious as cancer. Your world view seems a little too trite and simplistic, if you ask me.

Nothing personal, of course, as I don't know you. I am just making observations based on what you wrote.

Answer 11

First thing you need to do in order to find a cure is take away the monoply on cancer treatment.

Right now Sloan Kettering Memorial Hosipital is the only one able to authorize "accepatable" treatments (not cure's -- notice their lingo) for cancer.

Sloan Kettering Memorial is also the Corporation that holds the exclusive rights to Chemo-Therapy Radiation. So they alone can determine what treatments can and can't be used... and guess what, the treatment they hold the rights to is the only one they have approved (that and surgery)... Big Surprise HuH?

The truth is Cindy there isn't "A" cure for Cancer... there are many. All of which have been surpressed by these Giant Multi-National Mega Corporations in order to protect there market share.

You see Cindy, there is no money in a cure. But there is a LOT of $$$ in a long drawn out death with drugs that have horriffic side effects that are treated with a cocktail of other drugs. These drugs ofcourse cause other health problems and then those can also be treated... for a high price.

But who cares about the price when you're dying right?

If you want to research real Cancer cures, the information is out there... but you really can't get any of it in America ofcourse... because of the above mentioned reasons. You can start by looking into:

Royal Ramond Rife
Gerson Therapy
Black Salve
Hulda Clark
Hydrazine Sulfate
Oxygen Therapy

and there are lot more, but that's just right off the top of my head.

You want a cure for cancer? Open up the market for real Cures... buy as long as they can convice you that they are looking Susan G. Komen and others are making 100's of million every year in fundraisers to find a cure.... Hey! What do you suppose will happen to that 100's of millions per year people are donating if they actually found a cure?.... LOL.. yeah... like I said, there is NO money in a cure.

Good Luck In your quest for answers, I hope this has been enlightening.
Hoxey Therapy