Composed and posted on April 1, 2015
One of the more compelling personalities profiled in Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies is the anti-cancer crusader Mary Lasker. You can read about her at
In reading about Mary Lasker, I was caught by the conflict inherent in her story. The conflict lies in the fact that the funds used in part to fund the medical research sponsored by the Lasker Foundation was based upon money the advertising executive Edward Lasker obtained from his tobacco industry clients. In essence, because of Edward Lasker's success, millions of people took up smoking and perhaps millions of Americans died from cancer. But on the other hand, because of the research funded by the Lasker Foundation, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have had their cancers cured and as is noted in the Wikipedia article:
" Eighty-one Lasker laureates have gone on to received a Nobel Prize."
The questions posed are: "Do the research advances funded by the Lasker Foundation outweigh the deaths that may be attributable to the successful advertising campaigns from which the funds for the Lasker Foundation are derived?" "On what kind of scale, does one weigh the lives of the many of today and yesterday against the promise of the lives of tomorrow?"
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
________________________________________________________________________________________
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365450686/
The amazing aspect of this story is the use of one scourge (polio) to fight another (cancer).
________________________________________________________________________________________
P.S. You can read more about the series at http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-st-ca-cancer-20150329-story.html#page=2
Episode 1 of Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies aired last night. If you missed it, you can see it at
So far the series appears to be a history of science documentary intertwined with real life stories of real life patients. It is, like almost all of Ken Burns' documentaries, very well done.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, 60 Minutes aired a segment called "Killing Cancer" this past Sunday which was more than just well done ... it was amazing. You can see the segment at
The amazing aspect of this story is the use of one scourge (polio) to fight another (cancer).
There are an endless number of wonders in this world of ours. I hope you are enjoying one of them yourself today.
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
________________________________________________________________________________________
I have long been a fan of our fellow Pioneer Valley alum, Ken Burns, the documentarian who is arguably America's most famous historian. Next week, Ken Burns latest documentary project will be aired. Entitled Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, the show promises to be a very informative program into the scourge that seems to touch so many of us and our families. Accordingly, I highly recommend that those who can, do tune into your local PBS station and watch with me Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies.
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
No comments:
Post a Comment