Funding for cancer research?

An interesting article caught my attention today, and it made me question the some of the current methods the healthcare industry is using today.  Dr. James Salwitz of the health care blog wrote how it might be beneficial to stop funding cancer research.  The amount of money we have spent funding cancer research is tremendous, and yet with all the effort that we have put in over the years, the actual gain is extremely minimal.  An interesting fact from the article states that between the years 2000 to 2010 drugs that were produced to help cancer patients actually did very little.  As a matter of fact the drugs did little to extend the life of terminally ill patients, they did however increase the risk of death and or increase side effects.  At the beginning of the 20^th century cancer was not nearly an issue as what it is today.  The reason being is that the average life span lasted till only 47 years of age.  So the main concern during that time was to cure different types of serious infection, medical researchers sought out to make birth safer, and to treat different types of injuries.  Thus by doing this, researches inadvertently almost doubled the life span of the average human being.  After this came a whole new set of issues due to the extended life a person could expect.  Dementia was now prevalent, diabetes and cancer too.  This was now a major issues for medical professionals because with the population living longer these diseases were now popping up more frequently.

            The research that has been funded for cancer the past few decades focused mainly on treatment, and prevention.  That is where the bulk of funding has gone, not that it is a bad thing, but I believe that in this time that we live in now we desperately need a cure, not preventative care, we have many different forms of treatment already.  And while this may extend the life of a person 5,6, maybe 7 years, they are miserable years in which families spend ghastly amounts of money, and the patient is exposed to many different toxins.  Many of us know the destructive nature of cancer and what it can do to not only an individual, but their family as well, so without question I believe that since we already have found the needed treatments, we need to find a cure.  The billions of dollars spent on cancer research needs to be heavily focused on cures, not prevention.  There needs to be a major over hall on cancer research, priorities need to be set and the top priority needs to be to end the suffering of the cruel doings of cancer.  I offer a few suggestions at this point.  Simple and straightforward ideas that can offer better results.  First is getting priorities in order, the money that is being given to cancer research needs to be given to focused more on a cure, than whatever money would be left over can be used for further preventative care, and medicine.  Giving up funding for cancer would be ridiculous, and is in no way an option, however fixing our priorities and focusing on our priorities is how we can and will find a cure.