Although the expectations turned out to be overly optimistic, the research in that field remains promising. Scientific teams are investigating substances extracted from plants in Brazil, for example, which could play an inhibitory role without the side effects of synthetic products. Studies in genetics are another battlefront. The discovery of a ''cancer gene'' whose carriers are more likely to develop the disease is to be reported, the result of a study by Brazil's INCA in association with the Hammersmith Hospital in London. While the gene has been discovered in people suffering from a particular kind of leukemia, it could also be linked to other kinds of cancer, said INCA researcher Daniel Tabak.
Early diagnosis is another crucial element in reducing cancer- related deaths.
Many scientists are involved in the search for new, affordable methods for identifying the presence of malignant cells as early as possible. Brazil's Health Ministry has launched an information campaign urging women to undergo frequent pap smears, to prevent cancer of the uterus. INCA projects that close to 108,000 women will die from that kind of cancer this year and 269,000 new cases will be reported. In Brazil, the incidence of cancer of the uterus is highest in Belem and Recife, the capitals of two impoverished states, Para in the north and Pernambuco in the northeast, due to poor living standards and lack of information. Lung and breast cancer, meanwhile, are more frequent in the south, the most highly developed part of Brazil, as the result of unhealthy consumption habits.