Cancer: It’s Scaring

After spending $39 billion on research at the National Cancer Institute on the "war on cancer," plus over $1 trillion on therapy at hospitals around the country, Americans have experienced a 13 percent increase in cancer incidence and a seven percent increase in deaths caused by cancer. Breast cancer kills about 45,000 women each year. Even with early detection and proper conventional treatment, a "cured" breast cancer patient will lose an average 19 years of lifespan. Since 1950, overall cancer incidence has increased 44 percent, with breast cancer and male colon cancer up 60 percent, and prostate cancer up 100 percent.

Fifty percent of all cancer patients die within five years of diagnosis. More than 2.5 million Americans are currently being treated for cancer, and 1.3 million more Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in 1999. The incidence of children's cancers climbed 28 percent from 1950 through 1987; much of which experts believe is due to the toxic effects of environmental pollutants. In 1998, experts estimated 45 percent of males and 39 percent of females living in America will develop cancer in their lifetime. Dr. Bruce Ames and his colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley have shown that each of the 60 trillion cells in the human body is bombarded by an average of 1,000 to 10,000 hits on DNA each day. It result 400-600 cells turn cancerous daily.