Xia Guan

Biology 1090-001
TR 8:30 -9:50AM
Spring Semester 2015
Are We Winning the War on Cancer
John R. Selffrins article is on the yes side. By using the data of potential deaths cancer
by 2020, he states the importance of find a solution to win the war on cancer. He talks about the
use of tobacco. It is only limited to several types of cancer. He shows the effects of tobacco use
on cancer. By using the data on the effects of tobacco use, he illustrates that tobacco use leads to
the most major health issue today. Most people died of cancer are because of tobacco use. He
persuades the public to find a way to cut down the use of tobacco. He uses these evidence to
commit that it is possible to win the war on cancer. It is possible to eliminate cancer as a major
health problem. We have to make choices to defeat cancer on the war. Besides the suggestion of
control the use of tobacco, he says it is important to conducting more research on cancer. And it
is even more important to balance the research portfolio. The researchers need to include applied
behavioral research, psychosocial and translational research. He claims it is possible to win the
war on battle if we are ready for the war. The facts he shows in the article mostly are the data on
effect of tobacco, such as Tobacco killed 100 million people last century, and 650 million
people will die with the current rate of tobacco use. The opinions are the suggestions he shows
in the article, which has been summarized above. His misleading statement is that he said more
people could survive if the rate of tobacco use is controlled. He didnt consider other factors,
such as environment pollution, and radiation effect. This author impressed me by his data. He

uses a lot of data to convince that tobacco use is one of most major cause of cancer, which makes
it very persuasive.
Reynold Spector is on the opposite side. He thoughts the war on cancer failed. The
amount of facts he uses in this article is much more than the other side. He uses charts to show
the rate of people died of cancer is not decreasing as much as other health issues such as stroke
and heart disease. Another fact he uses in the article is the plot of Cancer death by rate. The first
death shows cancer is not the first cause of death. He uses data to show the war on cancer is not
successful, and it is not too necessary. Then he explains what is cancer, fact of cancer, and his
opinion on why the war on cancer is falling. He also talks about the treatment of cancer. Smart
drugs is one of the way to treat cancer. However, he claims to win the war on cancer we need to
do more to prevent cancer. Some types of cancer are not deadly. Therefore, if we can find it
early, it will be less dangerous. His opinion is also the suggestion he gave. His opinion sounds
more rational, because they are more based on data. The first opinion he shows is that we fail the
war on cancer. Another opinion is that he claims war on cancer is not too necessary. These two
opinion are both misleading. Even though he summarizes this result by the data, he didnt
consider the amount of people died from cancer.
I am more on the Spectors side. His article is much more clear, it is really hard to find a
personal opinion not based on scientific data in his article. And his ideas about preventing cancer
is more realistic now. Spectors article shows his excellent work on this research, all the data are
well organized, which is more clear than Seffrins. The problem of Seffrins article is that he
relied more on unsupported statement. In the other side, Spectors article is like a summary of
scientific fundings which is much more reliable.