The cancer epidemic - Part II

The organization later renamed the American Cancer Society was created in 1913 "to disseminate knowledge about cancer symptoms, treatment and prevention; to investigate conditions under which cancer was found; and to complile cancer statistics" (American Cancer Society, "Cancer facts and figures 2005", Page 49). Beginning with 10 physicians and 5 laypeople, "the organization now includes more than 2 million friends and volunteers working to conquer cancer" (ibid). According to its latest report: "For nearly a century, the American Cancer Society has continued to make significant progress toward victory over cancer" (ibid). The report goes on to claim that "we have seen remarkable strides in cancer science, prevention, early detection, treatment and cancer patients' quality of life". As Professor Samuel Epstein has been trying to tell us for the last 30 years, this claim is patently false. He is being too kind. The claim is absurd! Both the incidence of and mortality from cancer have escalated to epidemic proportions, as I began to indicate in my previous post (6 January).

This was clearly recognized by 1971 when the US Congress passed the National Cancer Act, launching President Nixon's "War on cancer" through the "National Cancer Program" under the direction of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), with a mandate to eradicate cancer. By this time, deaths from cancer had reached epidemic proportions (see previous post, 6 January). To allow the NCI to do its job, its 1970 budget of USD$149 million was increased by 50% to USD$223 million. During the next eight years its budget was increased by a further 321% to USD$940 million, although this figure (321%) does not take inflation into account. Nevertheless, huge increases have continued to the present day, so that the NCI's annual budget has been USD$4.6 billion for the past two years (2003 and 2004), over USD$6 billion being requested for 2005 (Figures cited by Samuel S Epstein, "Why we are still losing the winnable cancer war", The Humanist, December 2004/January 2005, reprinted in Samuel S Epstein, "Cancer-Gate: How to win the losing cancer war", 2005, Page 286; and Samuel S Epstein, "The crisis in US and international cancer policy", International Journal of Health Sciences, 2002, Volume 32, Number 4, reprinted in "Cancer-Gate", Page 112 Table 1). "By one recent estimate", Epstein writes, "total public and private spending on cancer will amount to over $14 billion this year (2005)". Again Professor Epstein is being kind to the industry. The American Cancer Society, in its recent report for 2005, published two weeks ago, quotes a far higher estimate (for 2004) by the National Institutes for Health (NIH), being USD$69.4 billion for direct medical costs alone!

This is as good a place as any to mention that "healthcare spending" (in reality, expenditure to cure sickness and disease, including cancer and heart disease) has itself become an epidemic to cure an epidemic. The New York Times reported 12 months ago that expenditure on "health" in the US amounted to a staggering USD$1.6 trillion during 2002, an increse of 9.3% on 2001 (The New York Times, 3 December 2004). This figure had been issued the previous day, on Thursday, 2 December 2004, by the National Center for Health Statistics, as part of a report on the nation's health. According to the report, prescription drugs accounted for about 10% of the nation's total health bill, with no fewer than 49% of women and 39% of men taking at least one prescription drug during 1999-2000 ("more than 40% of Americans"). Heart disease is still the number one killer disease, killing even more Americans than cancer. In 2001, according to the National Vital Statistic Reports, 14 March 2003, Volume 51, Number 5, there were 699,697 deaths in the US due to heart disease and 553, 251 deaths from cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates the number of cancer deaths for 2005 at 570,280. This equates to some 1560 deaths every day, or almost 11,000 people dying from cancer each week!! Given the awful statistics on heart disease it is interesting to note that, according to the above report from the National Health Statistics, use of cholesteol-reducing statin drugs (especially Lipitor, Pravachol and Zocor) among people 45 and older more than tripled from 1995 to 2002. The use of antidepressants by adults "almost tripled from 1988 to 2000 (The New York Times, 3 December 2004). Even more horrifying, the report states that, in 1999-2000, 10% 0f women over the age of 18 reported taking antidepressants during the previous month. "The report also confirms a sharp increase in the use of stimulants (like Ritalin...often used to treat impulsive, aggressive traits known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorder in children) by children aged 5-17" (To be continued)