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Many people support cancer charities because they truly want to
help find a cure for cancer and alleviate the suffering of so many
people. However, what are these charities
actually doing with all of this money?
There is an excellent article in this month's Ecologist
(http://www.theecologist.org) on this very subject entitled "Your
Money AND Your Life". Although the magazine is British,
as are the Cancer charities they discuss, most of the issues apply
to US charities as well, and not necessarily only cancer charities.
Although The Ecologist
is a British publication, I have seen it available at some of the
larger newsstands in the US.
Below is the beginning of the original article. For the full
article, CLICK
HERE.
Your Money AND Your Life
Britain's cancer charities are a multimillion pound industry.
But they are no nearer to 'curing' cancer than they were half a
century ago. Quite the opposite - much of their time and money is
spent avoiding awkward questions about what causes the disease.
Martin J Walker investigates.
Everybody knows what causes cancer. Bad diet; too much sunlight;
cigarettes; faulty genes - and, of course, that virus which crops
up near nuclear power installations. Modern science has told us
so, and now it must tell us how it can be cured. But we are getting
there. Diligent research, largely carried out by Britain's cancer
charities, means that a cure for cancer is probably now nearer than
ever.
That, at least, is one side of the cancer story; the side you can
hear from establishment scientists, drugs companies and media science
correspondents. But the other side is hidden from history and
the public record. For, in truth, we do not know what the main
causes of cancer are, nor why the disease is escalating. Apart from
the continual propaganda about cigarettes, there is no public discourse
about the chemical or environmental causes of cancer.
And it is unlikely that the public will
ever be informed about them while cancer research in Britain is
dominated by a cabal of unaccountable doctors, scientists and surgeons
- a 'cancer club' which garners
some of its funding and much of its philosophy from an industrial
infrastructure which independent scientists believe is itself the
cause of rising cancer rates. For cancer 'research' in Britain is
a misnomer. As science and medicine have become increasingly interlocked
with industry, the motivation, initiative and funding for preventative
cancer research has all but dried up.
Throughout the postwar years in Britain, industry, government
and science have tried to tackle the cancer epidemic by searching
for miracle cures rather than investigating causes; by playing with
gene sequencers rather than looking at environmental pollution;
and by taking industry's money rather than looking at its record.
The conclusion today is inescapable: Britain's
cancer research charities are part of the problem, not the solution.
CLICK HERE
for the complete article posted on The Ecologist's website.
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