$200 billion
Since our bail-out economy is now making trillion the new billion, speaking in billions of dollars doesn’t send the shockwaves through our soul like it used to. However, in the context of a specific health issue, $200 billion is huge. That’s how much the people of this nation have invested in the cancer war since it was declared in 1971. During this four decade war, the mortality rate has decreased less than 10% and the longevity of cancer victims has not lenthened appreciably. Positive movement that has been recorded in both of these areas is primarily due to prevention awareness and earlier detection from better screening. The actual fight against the disease, the main target of the $200 billion, has seen very little success. Yet, the sources of this $200 billion, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the Komen Foundation, and numerous other government agencies and private charities, contribute almost exclusively to the long-established conventional treatment institutions and modalities. Any funding of integrative oncology research for promising complements to conventional therapy from these sources is miniscule. Our nation invests less than 1% of its cancer fighting dollars to anything outside of conventional research and treatment. Billions and billons continue to be funneled toward improved chemicals and radiation. We must change this paradigm. Over the last few years, scientists have proven the efficacy of many natural products and methodologies for reducing the mortality of cancer, extending the life of the patient, and lessening the severity of the treatment. If we just moved 25% of our funding to integrative oncoloty research and practice, that would be more than a 25-fold increase in support of this new strategy. There are some signs of top-down activity from a small minority in the professoinal medical community in pursuit of this movement, but not enough to win the war. Grass roots action from the public is what will be required. Learn more about it. Do more about it. Redirect your donations to it. Read my blog every day.