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Shane's Wish
Dax
Redshirt
in Zocalo v2.0
[URL="http://www.shaneswish.com/"]Shane's Wish[/URL]
I read this on facebook this morning and I think that with all of our internet connections getting this done shouldn't be that hard!
Spread the word!
I read this on facebook this morning and I think that with all of our internet connections getting this done shouldn't be that hard!
Spread the word!
Comments
[url]http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/medical/bernier.asp[/url]
Claim: Cancer sufferer Shane Bernier wants to set a world record for number of birthday cards received.
Status: True.
Origins: This request for birthday cards for a languishing tot first reached us in January 2007. Unlike some of the other "sick child asks for cards" entreaties, this one is for real — there is such a child, and both his condition and request are as described.
Sorry to rain on the parade.
Click the donate button.
I'd rather have a cure than a false sense of hope.
Billions upon billions have been put into cancer reaserch of various types over from all the developed nations from the Japan to the US to everywhere in Europe, and many great strides have been made, but actually solving the problem is decades off and frankly even 750 million dollars probably wont mean a damn thing to the end result of cancer reaserch, compared to the amount of money that STILL will be spent across the globe on it.
This argument illustrates the problems I have with utilitarian theory, it its pursuit of the greatest good, it ends up sacrificing its humanity.
Hell, as sick and unfortunate as it sounds, they'll probably be dead before they finish all 100 million.
Also, why would research into cures for cancer decrease the rate of its occurance?
"Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud and that the major cancer research organisations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them." - Linus Pauling PhD (Two-time Nobel Prize winner).
australian source [url]http://100777.com/node/201[/url]
Jake
And I am flat out calling bullshit to those who say that the research has been a waste. Survivability and quality of life has improved drastically over the past 50 years.
And I am flat out calling bullshit to those who say that the research has been a waste. Survivability and quality of life has improved drastically over the past 50 years.[/QUOTE]
here here.
Hence my sarcastic remark earlier.
Edit: nevermind. found the source.
There have been plenty of tangible results in both diagnosis and treatment. Just because we don't have a cure-all for every type of cancer, that doesn't mean that cancer research is not producing any results. For example, the use of radioactive iodine to diagnose the spread of thyroid cancer and determine necessary treatments is one result to come out of cancer research that I know at least two people on this forum can relate to.
[quote]Actually cancer rates have incresed after billions of dollars of goverment funding and private donations with 0 results.[/quote]
Our ability to diagnose a disease better can lead to a perceived increase in the rate of that disease. That doesn't mean research into [i]cures[/i] is not having any results.
[quote]This is not just some wack idea. Research scientists who don't depend on goverment grants to feed themselves say the same thing. Do you stop research no, but something must be done for accountability an approaching a solution. It may not be profitable to cure cancer or prevent it, too many people would be out of jobs.[/quote]
Are you suggesting that researchers should be accountable if their research doesn't achieve a desired result, like having to pay back the funding or something? That wouldn't work because you can never guarantee the outcome of a research project. Research funding is granted on the basis that any result is a benefit, because you find out whether an approach has merit or not.
[quote]"Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud and that the major cancer research organisations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them." - Linus Pauling PhD (Two-time Nobel Prize winner). [/quote]
There are a few interesting points about Linus Pauling: Firstly, he died in 1994. This means he probably said what he said many years before that, but even if he said it just before dying, it's still 13 years ago. That's quite a long time and much work has been done since then. Secondly, he disagreed with medical research into cures in general, advocating research into disease prevention over disease cure (an admirable goal, but cures will always be necessary because absolute prevention is impossible). Thirdly, while not really relevant to the argument, it is somewhat ironic that he died of prostrate cancer.
[quote]australian source [url]http://100777.com/node/201[/url][/QUOTE]
Perhaps you should read what that article is actually advocating (as suspicious as it is - anyone who throws their qualifications at you at the very start of their argument should be treated with suspicion): that the research should focus on ways to prevent cancer rather than cures for it (this is actually what Linus Pauling advocated as well, both specifically and the taking of vitamins for a generally healthy life). While research should naturally be done on prevention, and prevention is better than having to treat it, prevention will never be 100%, and given how wide the range of possible cancers is, and their causes, finding a magic prevent-all is just as difficult as finding a magic cure-all. Research into cures is just as important.
While I have no doubt that the huge pharmaceutical companies would prefer to find a cure that they can sell to desperate people for lots of money over finding simple methods that everyone can follow to avoid cancer, this doesn't mean that government-funded researchers are simply trying to scam tax payers for money rather than actually trying to achieve their research goals.
However, this doesn't mean that just throwing money at the problem is a good idea, because throwing money at researchers doesn't lead to good research. Picking out good research proposals and giving them the funds necessary is what leads to good research. So if you want to send a card to a dying little boy, go right ahead.
One of my more amusing typos, I must admit. :)
It was like the anti-abortion thing here last week. In the Park Blocks (city property that is in the middle of campus) an organization put up a bunch of big pictures that attempted to equate abortion to genocide and child abuse. What bugs me about people on both sides of this issue is that if they want it to be a non-issue they should be out being proactive in reducing the root cause of abortions -- unwanted pregencies -- instead of the three ring circuses that plague the conversation.