For fifty years, the gov­ern­ment has thrown bil­lions of dol­lars into the ​“war on can­cer,” pro­duc­ing some excep­tion­al research but fail­ing in the fun­da­men­tal mis­sion: reduc­ing trag­i­cal­ly high death rates. Ear­ly Detec­tion explains in a deeply researched but high­ly read­able analy­sis how mis­guid­ed poli­cies have focused on treat­ments for late-stage can­cers, with only mod­est suc­cess, rather than empha­siz­ing greater use of screen­ing to detect can­cers in their ear­li­est stages, when they can be treat­ed and, often, cured, sav­ing thou­sands of lives a year. This book urges new ear­ly detec­tion poli­cies that would final­ly turn around the fal­ter­ing bat­tle by sharply increas­ing screen­ing rates and fund­ing research to devel­op more can­cer detec­tion tests.

Bruce Rat­ner, a for­mer New York City Com­mis­sion­er of Con­sumer Affairs, a real estate devel­op­er, and cur­rent Chair of the Muse­um of Jew­ish Her­itage, and Adam Bon­is­laws­ki, a skilled med­ical writer, argue with pas­sion and urgency that cam­paigns to increase ear­ly detec­tion would slash death rates and help elim­i­nate unac­cept­able dis­par­i­ties in screen­ing and treat­ment between the more afflu­ent ver­sus low­er income, minor­i­ty, and rur­al communities.