Salon.com > melanoma

My “truly remarkable” cancer breakthrough

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:45:00 +0000

I've spent my whole career trying to make some kind of a name for myself. But it turns out that if I am ever remembered for anything, it will likely be as a number.

My patient number is how I'm identified in the immunotherapy clinical trial I've been in since the fall of 2011. It protects my privacy as my doctors and researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering assess my results. And those results have been, in the words of American Society of Clinical Oncology president Dr. Sandra Swain, "very exciting." "Truly remarkable," even. Results with far-reaching implications not just for countless melanoma patients just like me, but, soon, for patients with a variety of other forms of cancer. It's a whole new era of treatment.

This is something I've known about – and lived firsthand -- for a while. But the first abstract from the report my doctor, Jedd Wolchok, will be presenting at the ASCO annual meeting starting May 31 was released Wednesday – and even in a cancer news week dominated by Angelina Jolie and prophylactic mastectomies, the findings still managed to make waves.

Finally: FDA cracks down on tanning

Tue, 07 May 2013 20:15:00 +0000

They're going to need a really big sticker on those beds. On Monday, the FDA announced that it is proposing new warning labels on indoor tanning.

The tactic, aimed at teens, wouldn't prohibit the use of tanning devices, but would require them to carry a warning of "the consequences" aimed at users under 18. The American Academy of Dermatology says there is a 75 percent increase in the risk of melanoma for "those who have been exposed to ultraviolet radiation from indoor tanning, and the risk increases with each use." Brace yourselves now for the inevitable backlash from the tanning industry, which has already been none too pleased with the push for stricter regulation in several states.

Sunscreen: Worse than cigarettes?

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 20:45:00 +0000

Sucks to be you, tanning industry. Sure, people are still using tanning beds, but with melanoma rates on the rise, you're being restricted from peddling your golden promises to adolescents in several states. And now Pennsylvania is considering requiring you to post warnings about the dangers of your services. These days, you're more associated with leathery New Jersey moms than the glow of good health. No wonder you're so pissy lately.

The death panels are already here

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:30:00 +0000

Bad news, right-wing nutjobs – it turns out that getting sick is not just a problem for those freeloading, uninsured socialist troublemakers. With drug shortages on the rise – and other countries tightening the reins on treatment coverage – who lives and who doesn't won't be determined by politics but by the frightening economics of supply and demand.

A piece last month for the Wall Street Journal highlights the problem: Severe shortages of chemotherapy drugs, antibiotics and nutritional supplementation are leading to limited treatments and have caused "hundreds of clinical trials to be stopped." Drug shortages have tripled in the last six years. And with a new high of 213 different drug shortages this year, patients with life-threatening conditions like high blood pressure, breast cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma and leukemia have been affected.