From: Info01@...(Jon Barron)

In this issue, Jon examines the latest study from the American Cancer
Society that claims that better medical care has saved 650,000 lives
from cancer over the last 20 years. If only it were true.

Cancer - 650,000 Lives Miscalculated
by Jon Barron

On May 27th, the American Cancer Society announced that 650,400 U.S.
cancer deaths were avoided from the early 1990s through 2005. The
headline on their release was Cancer Death Rates Steadily Declining. As
might be expected, the media promptly picked up the story, and ran it
over and over again with virtually identical headlines:

More Than 650000 Cancer Deaths Avoided

More Than 650,000 Cancer Deaths Avoided

Etc.

If you read the stories, you learned tidbits of information such as:

The decline in cancer death rates has been greater for some groups than
for others

People with more education generally had bigger declines in their cancer
death rates
Access to cancer screening and medical care is part of the reason for
that discrepancy

But overall, what you learned from reading the story or listening to it
on the news is that 650,000 lives have been saved over the last 15 years
and that the drop is driven in large part by better prevention,
increased use of early detection practices, and improved treatments for
cancer.

This is thrilling, exciting, and, oh yes, absolutely unsupported by the
evidence at hand. To learn the real story, read the complete newsletter
at:

http://www.jonbarron.org/baseline-health-program/2009-06-08.php.