This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 677, an undergraduate course at UW-Madison
A New Category of Cancers Found
The New York Times
July 24, 1984
In 1984, Harold M Schmeck wrote an article for The New York Times entitled, “A New Category of Cancers Found”. In this article Schmeck reported on the discovery of Retinoblastoma and Wilms Tumor, both of which arise due to a loss of normal functioning genes. At the time of the writing there was much to be discovered about cancer. As Schmeck writes, “The fundamental cause of most human cancers is unknown.”. The article also states that this is the first type of cancer studied that has suggested that the disease can arise as the result of missing or inactivated genes. The article contains comments from Dr. Webster K. Cavenee of the University of Cincinnati, who states that he believes the genes related to the cancer reside on chromosome 13. At the time of publishing the RB1 gene was yet to be discovered. The article concludes by stating that testing exists to determine the predisposition of unborn children to developing the cancer, but at the time testing was an uncommon thing.
I felt that this article was well written. Its main purpose, which was reporting on the discovery of these new cancer categories, was straight forward. While the reporting is competent, it is very light on the actual science of cancer in general and specifically on retinoblastoma. However, I believe that this can be attributed more to the fact that retinoblastoma research and molecular genetics research was still in it's infancy. What science that was specifically reported, was correct and was backed up by the appropriate resources, i.e the researchers themselves.
What made the article stand out to me was something that it was missing as opposed to something that it had. As is often the case in the public reporting of scientific discoveries, the untrained authors of popular press articles have the tendency to inflate the possible implications of discoveries. This erroneous reporting can lead to the general public having expectations that are not ready to be met by the current state of the science. This article did not resort to this kind of unfounded reporting. The majority of the science in the article is stated by informed cancer researchers, who did a good job of balancing the fact that a signifigant discovery was made with the fact that at the time there was much left to be discovered about retinoblastoma.
References
1. The New York Times. July 24, 1984. New Category of Cancers Found. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E06E3DA1E39F937A15754C0A962948260&scp=2&sq=retinoblastoma&st=cse
Justin Lengfeld
[email protected]
Genetics 677
Last Update: 5/13/09
