Cancer in American In modern society cancer is the disease most feared by the majority of people throughout the world, supplanting the "white death," or tuberculosis, of the last century; the "black death," or bubonic plague, of the Middle Ages; and the leprosy of biblical times. Cancer has been known and described throughout history, although its greater prevalence today is undoubtedly due to the conquest by medical science of most infectious diseases and to the …showed first 75 words of 333 total…

…showed last 75 words of 333 total…cancer of the blood, is the most common type seen in children. An increasing incidence of cancer has been clearly observable over the past few decades, due in part to improved cancer screening programs, to the increasing number of older persons in the population, and also to the large number of tobacco smokers--particularly among women. Some researchers have estimated that if Americans stopped smoking cigarettes, lung-cancer deaths could virtually be eliminated within 20 years. Word Count: 355