Cancer Cure

 In our soon to be published ebook Nutrition The Easy Way, we questioned all the money thrown the last 35 or so years into the black hole of cancer research arguing the return on the investment was, to put it in civil terms, subpar. Pathetic would most likely be more accurate, but we'll skip the acrimony for the present.

Now some heavyweight support in the form of James Watson, one of this nation's most noted scientists, apparently shares a similar view. Watson, now 84 years old, you might recall won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962 as a co-discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA with his colleague Francis Crick.

In a paper published 1-9-13 in the journal Open Biology Watson takes issue with the current trend in the so-called war on cancer, suggesting that much of the money being spent "is not likely to produce the truly breakthrough drugs that we so desperately need."  What little progress there has been, according to Watson, many of the new therapies are effective for "just a few months," especially in cases where the cancer has spread or metastasized.

Here are Watson's direct words. "And we have nothing for major cancers such as the lung, colon and breast that have become metastatic." Statements like that, especially when one is talking breasts, could stir up a lot of pink feathers. Watson goes on to say that blocking a specific pathway by targeting DNA sequencing in effect just causes the cancer to seek and find another pathway.

One could postulate that given the above, cancer, like the human body itself, has its own form of homeostasis.

And Watson seemingly is not alone on this point. Cancer biologist Robert Weinberg of MIT apparently agrees, noting the "cancer cells activate a different, equally effective pathway." Watson and other scientists are advocating a different approach. Watson concludes his article that though the war against cancer faces obvious obstacles, "The biggest....(is) the intensely conservative nature of today's cancer research establishment."

Watson's choice of the term establishment in our view is no accident. Without any significant changes, Watson concludes,"curing cancer will always be 10 or 20 years away."

RLE