Have you been following the goal of the National Breast Cancer Coalition to end breast cancer by 2020? Read what this author has to say about the goal in an editorial Misguided Cancer Goal published in Nature.
UPDATE see my post 2-15-13 with NBCC’s president’s comments on the deadline.
He makes sense, unfortunately.
I have never understood this goal. You can’t put a date on something out of your control. You can say I will finish that project by May 1 because you are doing it. This goal relies on work done by others AND is depending on the results of research being what was expected – which is not always true. I believe that pinkification has expanded and helped create this goal. If you can paint it pink, you can make up a date when it will all just go away.