From all the publicity given to new cancer diagnostic tools and new therapies, one could reasonably conclude that we are winning the fight against cancer. In fact, this is partially correct.
The National Cancer Institute (a branch of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland) and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta track cancer survivors. In 1971, with a US population of slightly over 207 million, there were 3 million cancer survivors. In 2001, with a population over 285 million there were 9.8 million cancer survivors. By 2007 that number had increased to 11.7 million (total 301 million).
+Read more about cancer and geography from Dr. Stark at the BS757 blog.