Cancer, Capitalism and the Classroom

Here it is Movember, I think I have convinced two guys to grow a monkeytail and next week my sister is shaving her head as a cancer fundraiser.

But I keep thinking of the session I attended at a teachers convention a couple of years ago.  Wendy Mesley about chasing the answer to cancer.  The gist of her message was that our research dollars go into cures for cancer, when what we really should be doing is looking at prevention.

 How much of our fundraised cancer dollars go into looking at what causes cancer?  Because, seriously, wouldn't any human rather not get cancer, rather than find a cure? As the old "Demotivators" poster says, "If you're not part of the solution, there's money to be made prolonging the problem."  Am I cynical about big pharma and --I admit it-- capitalism in general?

Today I came across this video on, of all place, aljazeera (where I was looking for an XML code to put in my D2L News Widget (which I still haven't figured out, btw)

And I wonder, what am I allowed to say on this subject?  Teachers are supposed to be impartial and present fair and balanced views. But if it's true that the chemicals we use in farming and industry cause cancer, should I remain quiet?