On World Cancer Day: BCRF Calls to Unite Around Research

All normal cells grow and divide. But cancer cells grow without limit. They divide without stopping. They change and they spread, invading healthy tissues. And all too often, they're lethal. On World Cancer Day, we have a very simple message: to overpower a disease that thrives on dividing, we must unite around research. Cancer knows no age, gender or race. It has no boundaries. As cancer's toll grows around the world, it is becoming just as much a threat to global health and development as infectious diseases. According to the World Health Organization more people die from cancer than from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined; with the number of new cancer cases expected to rise by 70% over the next two decades. President Obama's recent announcement of a "moonshot" to end cancer must be geared towards research and the renewed energy is welcome. However, federal funding will never be the sole answer. Testing "out of the box" ideas that might be high risk, may also yield high rewards that advance the field in remarkable ways. And these "risks' are primarily taken on by private dollars. Without organizations that seek to allow investigators to take risks and pursue their brightest ideas, seminal discoveries might not have happened. Nonprofit organizations uniquely have the ability to inspire rallying calls and spur scientific creativity. Through research we've learned that discoveries made in one type of cancer can inform many other types of cancer. Cancers used to be ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news