In developed countries, approximately 50% of patients diagnosed with cancer die from the acual disease.

In developing countries the mortality rate rises to 80% largely due to late detection.

The incidence of cancer in developed countries is about twice as high as less economically advantaged countries, possible due to the higher incidence of smoking, industrial exposure and diet/obesity.

The most common cancers overall worldwide are lung, colon and stomach cancer.

In men, lung and stomach cancer are the most common.

In women breast and cervical cancer have the highest incidence.

The most common types of cancer in affluent countries are lung, breast, colon, and prostate cancer whereas stomach and liver cancer are far more prevalent in `developing countries.

In 2000 according to the WHO there were 6.4 million deaths attributed directly to cancer worldwide.

The Association for International Cancer Research (AICR) estimates that by 2020, there will be 10 million deaths from cancer per year worldwide, based on current mortality rates that indicate that cancer accounts for 13% (7.6 million) deaths worldwide.

AICR base these figures on an aging global population, smoking, poor diet and the spread of infectious diseases linked to cancer.

In 2006 there are 25 million people worldwide suffering from cancer.

Probably a third of the current cancers are preventable.

Probably another third of the current cancers are treatable with medical methods.

The medical approach then is to address the preventable third, in particular smoking, to give the appearance there is progress in the treatment of cancer.

"Chemotherapy Market Insights, 2006-2016", a report published by Spectra Intelligence in 2006 states:
The oncology market is currently the fastest growing in the pharmaceutical industry, driven by the explosion of potential therapeutic targets revealed by the molecular genetic assessments of cancer biology and fuelled by the magnitude of the disease worldwide, which shows every indication of increased incidence and sustained mortality rates over the next decade.

Therefore in summery we can say that cancer is a growing deadly disease that is partly preventable and partly treatable with modern medicine, but there appears little chance of preventing the rapid expansion of the disease in our lifetime without a radical change which is not expected from the ever increasingly expensive new drugs being developed.

Many people know nothing about cancer until it hits them or their family for the first time, literally. Here is a case I read on the net that is food for thought. A man is taking legal action against his Health Insurer...

"In a typical insurance policy, what you have to pay is generally capped," says Antony Stuart, a Los Angeles attorney who has represented about a dozen policyholders suing HealthMarkets. "These (policies) are upside down, where what the company has to pay is capped and what you have to pay is not."

One of Stuart's clients is Christopher Closson, whose lawsuit alleges he bought a health insurance policy in 2003 from Mega Life that Closson thought covered a broad range of medical costs.

It was only after his wife, Kathy, was diagnosed with colon cancer that they learned the policy's payment caps of $800 a night for hospital care and $1,250 a day for chemotherapy were far below what such care costs, Closson's lawsuit says. By the time Kathy died at age 40 in 2005, the couple owed more than $200,000 to hospitals and doctors, according to the lawsuit filed in California state court.

If I buy a new car and the brakes fail a month later, and my wife dies in the accident, I sue the car manufacturer for millions especially if it is a common occurrance.

It is not sufficient to say we did our best or we did not know if you are a car manufacturer, but fine if you are a professional oncological specialist with years of university study, research and training in this one field of medicine. This man is should be getting compensation for the loss of his young wife and the side effects she (and her family) had to endure for pointless treatment. Welcome to the cancer industry, little care, no responsibility, but give us all your money and then some.

Most people see a doctor at his practice. This is fine for getting a diagnosis, but if I have cancer I want to see a doctor who has stopped practicing and is curing people. So when I, a father of a 3 year old son and with a wife expecting a girl in 2 months, was told I had cancer inside me in 1995, and couldn't find a doctor who cures cancer, I treated myself with herbs, and that is why I am still here cancer free in 2007, and I paid no medical bills!