As with the War on Poverty, so many false hopes have been raised in the War on Cancer that there's a temptation to greet with cynicism announcements about new drugs and encouraging test results.
Some skepticism is warranted.
That's more deaths per capita than when the war was declared. But cancer research appears to be moving into a new, watershed phase. This week Tribune writers John Crewdson and Judy Peres described how rapid advances in computer science, biochemistry and genetics have combined to demystify cancer and point the way to potential cures. Relatively indiscriminate radiological therapies and chemotherapies have been used for decades. But early results are encouraging, and in some instances, breathtaking.