That's the title of an article in the May 29, 1997 issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

Here are some of the findings:

Despite the billions spent on research, age-adjusted rates of mortality for all forms of cancer increased steadily from 1970 to 1991. (Starting in 1991, the rates are going down, and are presently at late 1980's levels.)

In 1986, the same authors did a similar study which concluded that "some 35 years of intense effort focused largely on improving treatment must be judged a qualified failure." Now, with 12 more years of data and experience, they see little reason to change that conclusion, although there have been some areas of progress. (Better treatment for Hodgkin's disease, great advances in imaging technology, the significantly improved outlook for children and young adults with cancer--to name a few.)

Much of the recent decrease in mortality is because of enhanced prevention efforts, such as a decline in smoking, and other lifestyle changes.

The authors propose a sensible balance between spending money on treatment modalities, and spending money on prevention efforts.

While we hope for the "magic bullet" to be discovered, history suggests that this is most likely a fantasy--as much as we would like for it to be true.

So what does this all mean, and why have I devoted a column to dry medical statistics? Easy. High-tech and the modern way can only go so far. Like nearly everything else in life (in this case prevention), tuum est, as they used to say in ancient Rome. Or, for our modern ear--it's up to you.