History has taught us that looking for cures for disease is not always medically nor economically effective. President Nixon's "War on Cancer" is a great example of the unproductive nature of this approach. In 1971, he signed the National Cancer Act legislating $1.6 billion expenditure to find a cure for cancer. That year, 335,000 Americans died of cancer. In 2008, 37 years later, this number has increased to 565,650 people — up by 69%!
Since 1971, the Federal Government, private foundations and companies have spent around $200 billion in a quest to cure cancer. This $200 billion generated 1.5 million scientific papers about the basic biology of cancer. For 37 years, the War on Cancer (the majority of the funding for cancer) has gone into research to eradicate malignant cells rather than to keep normal cells from becoming malignant in the first place.
The best way for prevention is to adopt a healthier way of eating and enjoying nutrient-rich foods, which have been found to contain many potent disease-fighting compounds that help prevent disease. Americans need to learn that the drugs used to treat today's chronic preventable diseases not only do not cure them, but would be rendered largely unnecessary.