This document with hyperlinks is available at: www.crosettofoundation.org/uploads/391.pdf
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See “From THEORY to PRACTICE”:
www.authorstream.com/Presentation/stopcancer-428630-english-education-ppt-powerpoint/
Sign the PETITION at: www.gopetition.com/online/33546.html
UNITED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF CANCER AND REDUCE ITS
ECONOMICAL BURDEN:
funding only research projects with real potential to reduce premature cancer deaths
To achieve as soon as possible the goal of maximizing the
reduction in premature cancer deaths with a minimum cost per life saved
compared to the current cost, and, at the same time to keep the door open to
progress through the development of basic research (long-term development), it
is necessary that every researcher who submits a cancer research project (and
each DECISION MAKER who plans a service related to cancer) provides an estimate
of the percentage of reduction of premature cancer death and an estimate of the
percentage of reduction of cost for each life saved.
- Dimension
of the problem (see full
document at: www.crosettofoundation.org/uploads/383.html)
Cancer takes prematurely (For
those under 75 years of age) over 6 million lives every year: One every 5
seconds!
In the 38 industrialized
countries , identified as those with "Very
High Human Development" (VHHD), with a total population of 989 million, the total cost for cancer
is $741 billion/year, or about $750 per-capita annually.
According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), global cancer rates could increase by 50% to 15 million by
2020. These estimates can be found in the numerous world cancer
reports prepared by WHO.
- Meager
results in 50 years (see full document at: www.crosettofoundation.org/uploads/382.html)
The $93.2 billion direct medical expenditures for
cancer in the U.S. in 2008 were almost 100 times
greater (or 10,000% increase) than those of 50 years earlier (1963,
for example, had only $1.2 billion in medical expenditures for
cancer ). Compare this to the increase in cost of primary food for the
same time period of only 3 to 4 times (in
comparison: bacon went from $0.79/lb to $2.99/lb; eggs from $0.55 dozen to
$1.29/dozen, bananas from $0.10/lb to $0.39/lb, hamburger from $0.20 to $0.99,
chicken from $0.29/lb to $0.99/lb; onions $0.15/lb to $0.59/lb, etc.).
Over the past 50 years,
reduction in cancer deaths has been recorded as a
mere 5%, while for heart disease the reduction was 64%, although smaller
investments were allocated to the latter.
That a change in the
direction of cancer research is necessary to make it more efficacious is
evident when one becomes aware that the reduction of the cancer death rate in
the world’s most industrialized countries with a cancer cost of $741
billion/year is approximately the same as in less
developed countries.
3. The need
for a change (see full document at: www.crosettofoundation.org/uploads/388.html)
Since the rate of deaths from
cancer has seen little improvement (5% reduction) over the past 50 years and
because the annual "WORLD CANCER REPORT" by the World Health
Organization (WHO) continues to report rising figures in the number of cancer
deaths and new cases each year is proof enough that a paradigm change in cancer
research is needed.
The key to this
change can be summarized in two essential points
1.
The need to equate a reduction in cancer deaths as the principal
measurement for assessing the progress in the fight against cancer because
DEATH RATES are considered “THE PUREST MEASURE” (for example from researchers
and groups like the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute,
etc. See The
New York Times, April 24, 2009) to assess the advances in the fight against
cancer with respect to the measurement of other parameters such as the number
of people living with cancer. Therefore, it follows logically that the goal of
researchers and their cancer research projects should be a reduction in cancer
deaths. They should also provide a quantitative estimate of what their
research will achieve supported by scientific arguments, and a plan describing
the procedure to measure their results, and finally provide the data of
their experimental results.
2. The need to implement the DIALOGUE, involving technology, physics, medicine, etc., requested by CERN Director General, Rolf Heuer, during his opening speech at the first workshop of PHYSICS FOR HEALTH held at CERN, Geneva, from February 2 to 4, 2010, among scientists, health-care service planners and providers, researchers, physicians, epidemiologists, pharmacologists, biologists, and geneticists at drug companies and research centers; officials at the FDA, NCI, and NIH; fundraisers, activists, patients and anyone who aims to the solution that will reduce premature cancer deaths and cost per each life saved. (See video of the opening speech of CERN General Director who requests to implement the DIALOGUE).
The “Cancer Research
Projects Comparison Table” (see Figure 1), implements the
above points 1 and 2 and when “implemented consistently”, becomes the tool that
could lead to a substantial reduction of premature cancer deaths and cost
reduction for each life saved. (See table at: www.crosettofoundation.org/table.php?lang=en).
In order not to penalize long-term
basic research (for example those conducting experiments on mice or small
animals), cancer research proposals or activities prepared by DECISION MAKERS
who have the responsibility to plan services related to cancer should be split
into two lists (or categories as shown in the second column “CAT” of the table)
that should refer to two independent budgets: one for fundamental research or
basic research (long-term plans) and another for applications that will provide
short-term results.
Currently the table is gathered
from official sources of over 124,000
cancer research projects (far from being the total number) from 1986 onward,
costing about $37 billion. At the same time
the table provides powerful tools to search and sort data making it easy to
find: a) projects that provide the highest estimate (supported with scientific
arguments) of cancer deaths reduction (by clicking on “Estimated lives saved”
in fifth column), b) active projects that have received conspicuous funding
without providing an estimate of the results, c) projects ended without
providing results in reduction of cancer deaths (both, b) and c), could be
sorted by clicking on the third text of the fourth column), d) the party who invested
in such projects and to whom benefits are returning –or profit- of the
investment (by clicking respectively on two and one before the last column),
etc.
Furthermore, the search tool
by “key words” in the table (for example: “lung cancer”, “ovarian cancer”,
“PET”, etc.), will allow the unfortunate who has been AFFECTED by this disease to
search for the most advanced cancer research projects, if any,THAT may save
his/her life and compare these with previous projects to see the
advances that has been made. By clicking on the text of the first column it
is possible to have access to the details of the project and to links that access
further details - making it a valuable tool for consultation. In the
event anyone knows of a project based on solid scientific grounds, or of a project
that can provide reproducible results, statistically consistent, that do not
appear when “search tool of this table” is used, please contact info@crosettofoundation.com,
so that the project may be added.
When using this table, THE BEST SOLUTIONS WITH HIGHEST POTENTIAL
TO REDUCE CANCER DEATHS WILL IMMEDIATELY EMERGE. Surprisingly, however, the table also shows that
such solutions have not been funded. This clearly is unreasonable and should be
addressed and resolved.
Figure 1. Cancer Research
Projects Comparison Table (www.crosettofoundation.org/table.php?lang=en)
The Table is only a tool - for
it to work and provide useful results, overcoming the inconsistency mentioned
before, the collaboration of several parties is necessary. Very important are
the journalists and media. Also important are the Directors of research
laboratories, the chairmen of international conferences in the field, and the
decision makers in the field of healthcare (who should guarantee the DIALOGUE).
a)
The journalists could play an important role in identifying
the obstacles by interviewing the researchers positioned at the top of the: “Cancer Research
Projects Comparison Table” when sorted by “Estimated
percentage of lives saved”. For example, they could interview those who claim
the highest reduction in cancer deaths with projects costing a few million
dollars as shown in the column “Estimated Project Cost” and those who receive
funding from taxpayers for hundreds of million of dollars in one year but who
did not make any estimate of the percentage of lives they might save. They
should organize publicly broadcasted round tables inviting the researchers at
the top of the list in “Estimated percent of lives saved” who are funded and
those who are not funded. These researchers could then discuss publicly, asking
each other questions, clarifying in this way why, after many years of public
spending, funds continue to be assigned to projects that are known in advance
to be unable to provide cancer death reduction. (One should keep in mind that
in science the JUDGE is THE EXPERIMENT and not the opinion of a luminary
- different from what could be the practice in other fields-). Considering
that experimental data shows that total cancer reduction over the past 50 years
(as shown in column ten of the table) was only 5% (mainly thanks to abstention
from smoking, changes in lifestyle, etc. and not significantly from a
contribution from cancer research), journalists could interview the Project’s
Principal Investigators who received more funding and who have the highest
estimate in cancer death reduction. In the event the sum of the estimates
claimed by several researchers is higher than 5%, the scientific truth will
prove which claims are not supported by scientific arguments or it will unveil solutions
with merits that have been blocked. These valuable solutions instead should
have been (and still must be) tested according to the experimental measuring
plan described in the ninth column.
b) The
Directors of research laboratories, chairmen of international
conferences in the field, and decision makers in the field of healthcare, should
organize public meetings inviting researchers at the top of the list “Estimated
percent of lives saved” whether funded or not, to discuss their claims with
experts in the field appointed by them. They should give each researcher, or
proposer of a solution, the possibility to ask questions of other researchers,
to make sure that no question is ignored or answered evasively, and to
evaluate whether the answers provided are based on solid scientific grounds or
not. Ultimately they should guarantee that the DIALOGUE requested by the
CERN Director General is IMPLEMENTED CONSISTENTLY.
(Support the development of the “Cancer Research
Projects Comparison Table” to increase efficiency in
reducing cancer death and cost by writing a check to “Crosetto Foundation” 900
Hideaway Pl. DeSoto, TX 75115 or by making a
deposit at Frost National Bank, 3801 Matlock Rd., Arlington, Texas 76015 USA,
Acct # 832035308, Swift # FRSTUS44A, Transit # 114000093).