Fighting The Wrong War On Cancer?

Fight Aging!

Do you want to live a longer life in good health? Simple practices can make some difference, such as exercise or calorie restriction. But over the long haul all that really matters is progress in medicine: building new classes of therapy to repair and reverse the known root causes of aging. The sooner these treatments arrive, the more lives will be saved. Find out how to help »

A long, very interesting article at Fortune looks at efforts to defeat cancer and finds them wanting: "virtually all these experts offered testimony that, when taken together, describes a dysfunctional "cancer culture" - a groupthink that pushes tens of thousands of physicians and scientists toward the goal of finding the tiniest improvements in treatment rather than genuine breakthroughs; that fosters isolated (and redundant) problem solving instead of cooperation; and rewards academic achievement and publication over all else." Cancer research perhaps has more in common with the current sorry state of aging research than might be thought - I don't think the author correctly identifies the nature of the problem, but his piece echoes major concerns regarding the efficiency of medical research from other sources.

Link: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,598425,00.html