WHEN I WAS A KID

When I was a kid in the 1950's, I don't remember cancer as being a disease or condition that we were afraid of.  The health profession's energy was directed at polio and tuberculosis.  I got shots for both.  We were constantly checked for that telltale scar on our upper arms proving we were safe from TB.

I can't remember the 1940's but I'm sure the focus was also on malaria.  One of my uncles brought it back from the war.  It tends to resurface in a person periodically for life.  Several of my father's sisters died of cholera which spread across the area early in the 1900's.

Here's my point.  Diseases come and diseases go.  None of the above diseases is considered a problem in America, today.  Cancer is the scourge of this time.

There is no doubt in my mind that a cure for cancer will be found in my children's lifetime.  It could possibly come through gene therapy.  If so, that will bring us one step closer to being in the designer baby business.  I'm not so sure that is good.
*o*