Cancer Deaths Down Since 'War on Cancer'

March 10, 2010 -- The U.S. is making gains on at least one war front, the
"War on Cancer," according to a new analysis of cancer death statistics.
Researchers found cancer deaths have dropped by 11% in men and 6% in women
since 1971, when President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act declaring a
"War on Cancer."
Although cancer death rates rose during the first two decades of the cancer
war, peaking in 1990, researchers say since then there has been a major
downturn in cancer deaths, thanks largely to reductions in tobacco use,
improvements in cancer screening to allow for early detection, and advances in
cancer treatment.
“Contrary to the pessimistic news from the popular media, overall cancer
death rates have decreased substantially in both men and women, whether
measured against baseline rates in 1970/71 when the National Cancer Act was
signed by President Nixon or when measured against the peak rates in 1990/91,�?
write researcher Ahmedin Jemal of the American Cancer Society and colleagues in
PLos ONE.
Researchers say cancer death rates have been dropping steadily since the
early 1990s, but some reports have declared the war on cancer a failure because
of limited improvement in cancer death rates overall since 1971. But they say
many of these analyses do not account for the dramatic increase in
tobacco-related cancers in the latter part of the 20th century.




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