While my deepest sympathy goes out to the families and those who are diagnosed with cancer, I really can’t justify donating to cancer research.  I think the cure for cancer is prevention.  Researchers around the world have repeatedly indicated that what we eat is primarily the cause of cancer and the prevention.  In fact, it has been estimated that 30% of our cancer is caused by a bad diet and 30% is caused by the chemicals we consume.  For example, in a study with 125,000 adults based on 22 years of health data, those who drank at least one 12 ounce can of diet soda containing aspartame a day were 42% more likely to be diagnosed with leukemia.  In the same study, men who were assessed to drinking at least one can of diet soda daily also had a higher risk of multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  Risk for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was also 66% higher for men who drank the same amount of sugar sweetened soda daily.  Soft drinks that are consumed today are not the soft drinks that we drank as kids 60 -70 years ago.  The soft drinks today are a pool of chemicals.  Aspartame consumed in many foods beyond soft drinks are reported to break down into compounds that become carcinogenic (cancer causing).  While sugar is bad for us, it appears that sugar sweetened soft drinks consumed in moderation are far safer.