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The Cure Culture: Our Obsession With Cures That Are 'Just Around the Corner'
citadrianne writes: Cures for major disease always seem just a few short years away. We constantly read about promising new treatments for cancer, diabetes, HIV, ALS, and more. While the prognosis for these diseases has improved over the years — sometimes greatly — we still focus doggedly on the cure. "The idea of a cure is simpler, it's more appealing as a fantasy." This article takes a look at so-called "Cure Culture" — the focus on reaching for a cure when our scientific efforts may be better expended attacking a disease in other ways. It asks, "Why are we telling our children, our friends, and our family members that we are going to cure them? ... What does it mean to be cured of a disease that is encoded within your DNA from the moment you become a zygote until the moment you are dead? ... And why are we eschewing or overlooking treatments—real, honest-to-god treatments—that can let patients lead longer, more normal lives?
Cancer is so diverse, saying we have cure for cancer is like saying we have cure for viral infections.
I'm pretty sure lots of cancer types are now curable, and the number is growing.
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I am on treatment. Have been for years. Treatment fucking SUCKS. It takes over your life. Treatment controls what you eat, drink, what medication you take.Treatment keeps you alive and stable, but it is not the same as a cure. It's what we beg for until we get a cure.
Treatment means I get twice as tired as a normal person my age.
Treatment means I can't stay up late, get drunk, or smoke marijuana.
Treatment means keeping your blood pressure low that you need Viagrea to get an erection when you are 30.
I thank god for treatment - it keeps me alive. But it is not enough.
GIVE ME THE CURE. Some people will literally kill for a cure. If you tell someone they can cure the lung cancer their 8 year old child has just by killing a criminal in China and stealing their organs, some people will do it.
Treatment is nice - but it isn't close to a cure.
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Exactly. Why ruin a chance for profit. Diabetes is the drug company's wet dream. cannot be cured, requires constant medication but takes a while to finally kill you (enough time to really make some money).
people want cures, not treatment, because a cure means the problem is *gone*. Asides from not having to deal with the disease anymore, they don't have to worry about the side effects of the "treatment" (there are always side effects, and the treatments are never full solutions - both the side effects and the disease itself continue to impact one's day-to-day life). Who the heck would want that? Much, much better to actually get rid of the disease completely.
As for "imprinted in the genes from birth to death" that is malarkey. Most of the genes in every person's makeup are never actually *expressed*, so the idea that because the potential for something is in one's genes means it cannot be suppressed is just silly. In addition, modern research has demonstrated that one's genes change over the course of one's life (there has been research on identical twins and longitudinal studies on individuals that demonstrate genetic drift over time). Genes are *not* constant.