It’s not every day that a standing ovation at a medical conference goes viral. Dateline Chicago and the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Doctors from around the world out of their seats to cheer a new pill that doubles the survival time of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease. At the same conference, big announcements on breast cancer bladder cancer, neck cancer, and more. Why all the breakthroughs?
Is down to the same sort of innovation that led to Covid vaccines in record time, to artificial intelligence and more targeted and effective data science, or to the political will to double down on fighting diseases that affect an ever-growing percentage of the population? On that score, we’ll ask about prevention, access to screening, lifestyle choices, and a sometimes underreported factor that's beyond any one individual's control, exposure to all sorts of pollution.
Case in point, the bill passed Wednesday in the French parliament to reduce the amount of cadmium in our fertilizers and food. Lawmakers voted for stricter rules than the government, a government wary of France's powerful farm lobby. The dangers of tobacco and alcohol are well advertised but how much of the cancers do we contract are down to politics and profit margins?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.
