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A ‘silver bullet’ for cancer

The really good news is that, at long last, scientists may be on their way to finding a cure for all forms of the disease.

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Photo by: Courtesy
How close are we to finding a cure for cancer? Some 40 years after US President Richard Nixon declared war on the disease in his State of the Union address, and following the investment of an estimated $3 trillion in research and treatment in the United States alone, there is both bad news and good news.

First, the bad: Cancer remains the biggest killer in Israel, with the disease responsible for around 10,000 of the country’s approximate 40,000 annual deaths – a ratio of one in four, and 60 percent more than those caused by heart disease. According to the World Health Organization, some 12.7 million people worldwide are diagnosed with cancer every year, and over 7 million die from it, with almost half – or 3.4 million cancer deaths – the result of smoking Cancer deaths have been on the rise in Israel since 2000, mainly due to lifestyle (e.g., smoking, obesity and alcohol consumption) and population aging. According to the Israel Cancer Association, some 60 percent of current cancer deaths can be prevented by lifestyle changes, early diagnoses and proven medical interventions. People die because they smoke and fail to get to doctors early enough.

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