Here on Earth

I was speaking about Less Cancer the other day with a young teacher, when he quoted the Greek proverb: "A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit." He told me that we are those people. While I hated to admit to the "old" part, I thanked him for the insight.

He gets it. Our work about prevention is all about planning for the next generation, about turning the tide on increased incidences of cancer.

But the giant leap to protect our children against the destructive disease of cancer is not understood by many, even by those who know it first-hand.

The focus is always about treatment, not prevention. Look at the latest headlines: Sean Parker has pledged $250 million for a new institute that will focus on immunotherapy. It is wonderful news to be sure, but it is the same old story: A new institute focusing only on treatment.

The treatment industry is huge and powerful. Look at President Obama's "Moonshot" effort, which will devote billions of dollars across the Federal government to work to eliminate cancer. Some of the focus is on prevention and vaccination, but much more is dedicated to treatment.

Recently Vice President Biden and Michael Bloomberg co-wrote in Bloomberg View, "One of the most frightening words a patient can hear from a doctor is 'cancer.' We know it from the experience of our families and friends, and the millions of Americans who hear it directly from their doctors each year."

My heart breaks for all those who hear those words.

Biden and Bloomberg continued, "A key element of the cancer moonshot is to incentivize more cooperation between the government and the private sector. We recognize that while the U.S. government has tremendous resources at its disposal, we also know a lot of our best expertise exists outside the government, within the private medical and research community. There is little doubt that this will be the site of the next big breakthroughs in cancer treatment."

There is no mention of prevention. This old approach to cancer leads us to the expectation that everyone will get, and then be treated for, cancer. This is not about Less Cancer but rather more treated cancer. This is not about less suffering but rather more suffering; this is not about less loss but more loss.

I see these billions of dollars going to new institutes, new buildings, new jobs, a whole new bigger better cancer treatment world.

But what would happen if we had these resources - even a fraction of those resources - for prevention, stopping cancer before it starts? Let's clean our air and water; fix our unhealthy eating; promote active lifestyles; ultimately accept the fact that 50% of cancer is preventable.

We live in a country in which we cannot trust our water or food. We have a next generation that will be the fattest and most unhealthy. Essentially, we are raising children that can expect to get cancer in their lifetime. Cancer should not be an expected stage of life.

I ask the Michael Bloombergs of the world, the Sean Parkers, and Vice President Biden: how we can include prevention into the notion of a moonshot cure for cancer? I think that a program that starts here on earth, as opposed to the moon, will be the best solution for ending cancer once and for all.