A late-winter mix of marvels and miscellany. . .
What a fabulous story about how far we have come in cancer. The latest data show that for the first time since 1930, year-to-year total U.S. cancer deaths in 2003 declined; percentagewise, cancer deaths per 100,000 have been dropping for more than a decade. The explanation: earlier detection, more effective therapies, and - regarding lung cancer - reduction in smoking.
XXX
Medicine and medical science clearly are gaining on cancer. A multibillion-dollar genetic research enterprise soon will begin building a cancer genome atlas categorizing the hundreds of glitches that turn healthy cells into cancers. Completion of the effort - the most daunting genetic undertaking since the Human Genome Project - remains years away. Yet it likely will turn the developing victory over cancer into a rout.
XXX
Also in the realm of marvelous news: British Columbia has announced the designation of a 4.4-million-acre park twice the size of Yellowstone. Running up the B.C. coast from Vancouver Island to Alaska, the Great Bear Rainforest will boast grizzlies, bald eagles, cedars that took seed in antiquity and staggering scenery. This is a victory, too - not least for future generations - and made possible by naturalists, businesses, native groups and governments working together.
XXX
In case you missed it, the Supreme Court has given an unequivocal answer to the hoo-ha about whether states can legally require parental involvement before minor girls can have an abortion. Yes, said the court - states can require parental notification, as long as the law allows doctors to act without parental notification in medical emergencies. Sandra O'Connor, known increasingly as she approached the end of her career as a swing justice who could go either way on various questions, wrote the opinion - her last. The vote by an unequivocal court: 9-0.
XXX