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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The radical mastectomy needed to be tested against what?

2. The cancers being matched to the drugs included breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer and ________________.

3. In ___________, George Canellas and Tom Frei spent time in the lab matching various drugs to various cancers. Included on the drug list were cytotoxic drugs cytoxan, vincristine, procarabazine, and methotrexate.

4. Farber was determined to make people understand what?

5. Several months later Rudolf Virchow, a German researcher, published a case study strikingly similar to Bennett's case. How does Virchow argue with Bennett's theory?

Short Essay Questions

1. How was this letter to Richard Nixon significant at the time?

2. Describe Min Chiu Li's work. Why did others believe further treatment was not necessary?

3. Describe the New York Times letter to Richard Nixon. How could this tactic be useful today?

4. On what two fundamental tenets is biology based? Explain these tenets.

5. What important drugs came out in the 1940s and 1950s? How are these important to us today?

6. How was the chemotherapy ward a battle ground in the 1970s?

7. What was the significance of using MOPP in the treatment of breast cancer?

8. Describe the drug and cancer lists of Canellas and Frei. How is this significant?

9. Who is Ben Orman? How is he significant to the study of cancer?

10. What symptoms led to Carla Reed learning she had leukemia?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

It was once said that all drugs are poison.

Part 1) Why was this believed by Paracelsus? Would you agree? Why or why not? Would most doctors today agree with you? Why or why not?

Part 2) How is this statement flipped with discussing cancer? What does this reveal about cancer research throughout time? What does this say about the dangers of cancer research?

Part 3) Do you believe that this can still be said about cancer research today? Is it as experimental as it once was? Why or why not? Would you have participated in these experimental trials? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

The late 1940s and 1950s brought the world a great number of new pharmaceuticals.

Part 1) What are four of these pharmaceuticals? What is the purpose of these pharmaceuticals? How is this growth in medicine significant?

Part 2) How have we been affected by these new pharmaceuticals? How different would the field of medicine be today if it were not for these new medicines?

Part 3) What problems have these new medicines caused? What issues must we now deal with in which these new types of medicine are at least partially to blame? How might these problems change the world of medicine yet again?

Essay Topic 3

James Watson is quoted as saying, "The National Cancer Institute, which has overseen American efforts on researching and combating cancers since 1971, should take on an ambitious new goal for the next decade: the development of new drugs that will provide lifelong cures for many, if not all, major cancers. Beating cancer now is a realistic ambition because, at long last, we largely know its true genetic and chemical characteristics." Part 6, p. 393

Part 1) What does this quote reveal about the mindset regarding cancer at the time? Is this a realistic mindset? Were these realistic goals? Why or why not?

Part 2) Is this the view of many today regarding cancer? Do many believe that cancer can be eradicated in the next decade? Why or why not?

Part 3) Do you believe that cancer will ever be eradicated? Why or why not? Can any disease ever be completely eradicated? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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