Why can't the government put together a "Think Tank" to find a cure for cancer?

Question

If a country can fund a program in the 1940's to bring together in one place, some of the greatest scientific minds in the world to create an atomic bomb, is it not possible to approach a cure for cancer in the same way, instead of asking the tax burdened public outside supermarkets to do it?

Answer 1

Great question,

My heart does go out to those that suffer from any form of cancer or know someone close who suffers from cancer. However, there are different forms of cancers. Some are more severe than others, some are caused by different things etc. It was only today that Pavoritti, a great opera singer, died of pancreatic cancer.

I don't think only the American government should get a "think tank" to try and cure cancer; we should get people from around the world, regardless of race, gender, sexuality etc. I mean, I remember reading about the Manhattan Project and America got the nuclear bomb successfully. So if they could achieve that, then why not achieve curing cancer. I don't think governments give two hoots about what the general public suffers - in my opinion, some of them only care about prestige and wealth - which leads to why people pay tax.

However, simply focusing all your efforts on Cancer is bad in itself. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket". There are other diseases/conditions we need to worry about: High Blood Pressure, HIV and AIDs, Epileptic Seizures etc. Until goverments around the world get their acts up, we, unfortunately, are just going to have to bear these diseases.

I hope that answered it.

Answer 2

there are that many different types of cancer so which one would you have them concentrate on, and most cancers can be cured if caught in time, research takes a lot of time and money and god bless all the people who dedicate their time and experience to find these cures, yes the government could give more money but then what about all the other illnesses that need researching with cures needing to be found, and then theres new illnesses that come about every day, all this research needs money and the government cant pay for the full cost of all of them thus people giving up their time to stand out side supermarkets asking for your help to top up any funds that they have, so next time drop a few coins in their tin, their research or cure just might help you one day

Answer 3

The answer to this is simple.TOO much money involved, I am over 80 and as long as I can remember, and I have a very good memory, there has been a Cancer research charity, who knows how many billions of pounds have been donated?If a cure were to be found many lucrative jobs would go,so its best left as it is, what,s a few thousand lives a year compared with fat cat jobs? For the honourable sir this or that, take a look at the top names of any charity.

Answer 4

Because finding a cure for cancer would destroy the government. What would happen to our society if people started regularly living to be 100-110 years old? Where would Social Security come from? Medicaid? Medicare? Housing? Jobs?
The government has no interest in finding a cure for cancer.

Answer 5

I've lived long enough to have seen the advancements in the detection of cancers. My mom died of breast cancer and there wasn't any technology to detect it. My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and the tumor was so small that they found and removed it. She hasn't had a recurrence since then. I remember that a lot of my friends parents died from colon and pancreatic cancer that went undetected. Today cancer is detectable and treatable. I had a colonoscopy 2 years ago and they found 11 polops. I would have been dead if it hadn't been for technology. I think that if people were to get an annual physical cancer can be detected and treated. I'm happy for that we have the technology to detect it.

Answer 6

Cancer is not a single disease. It is a whole category of conditions in which cells divide uncontrollably. Cancers in different types of tissues have completely different pathologies, and a cure for one will not necessarily be effective against another. Also, there are many different causes of cancer, including different genetic mutations, each of which might respond to a different treatment. As a research biologist who studies cancer, I seriously doubt there is a single treatment that can cure all types of cancer.

Answer 7

problem is that all cancers are caused by different things, act in different ways and are treated in different ways. So finding a cure for cancer is impossible, it might be possible to find a cure for the individual types of cancer and i think experts are working on that, but we can't have them all working on one cure because then the advancement in other illnesses will slow down

Answer 8

The Manhattan project as you describe it, was an engineering problem. We already knew that you could cause a chain reaction. The project was instituted to figure out how to build a bomb to do so. It was also brought in one place to control secrecy.

The gov't does in fact invest lots of money in all sorts of medical research. And scientists communicate back and forth quite easily with phone, email, conferences, medical journals, etc. There's nothing to be gained by rounding them all up in one place, other than to disrupt a lot of the researcher's lives.

Answer 9

Cells grow and regenerate. If DNA of those cells is altered in any way (ingesting certain foods, inhaling certain gases, absorbing the sun's rays), cell growth and regeneration can become uncontrolled. This is what cancer is. It can occur anywhere in our bodies.

There's never going to be a simple "cure" for cancer in our lifetime. The best we can do is improve existing treatments, search for other methods of treatment, and promote healthy lifestyles.

Answer 10

This question was asked before, and I'll give you the same answer.

Cancer is not one disease, but a constellation of diseases, each with it's own causes and effects. Some cancers are caused by environmental factors smoking, asbestos exposure, radiation exposure) some cancers appear to be inherited. Their effrects also vary. There simply isn't one answer to the disease of cancer.