TAKING SIDES ANALYSIS REPORT (LONG FORM)

Name: ANRONG LIU

Course:BIOLOGY 1090 Human Biology
Book: Taking sides readings
Issue number: 4 Title of issue: Are we winning the war on cancer ?
1. Author and major thesis of the Yes side. Author, John R. Seffrin, believes
that we are winning the war on cancer due to the fact that we understand
what cancer is, how it is developed, and what we can do to prevent it and
defeat it.
2. Author and major thesis of the No side. Author, Reynold Spector, believes
that there has been little gained against cancer, so we are not winning the
war against cancer.
3. What fallacies of question-framing are made by the authors of the text?
None. I feel that both authors have valid points. One more opinionated than the
other, but all together they both have facts and state why they think the way they
do.
4. Briefly state in your own words two facts presented by each side.
Yes side: John R. Seffrin brings up the approval of the HPV vaccine which can
prevent cervical cancer, now they have to make sure its available to every woman
who needs it. He really hits hard on the fact of tobacco and how that causes cancer.
He shows us the facts of how we have worked over the years to reduce smoking and
making the air more clean for everyone.
No side: Reynold Spector gives us the percentages on how much stroke and heart
disease deaths have decreased due to improvements in drug therapy and yet
cancer therapy is decades behind.
5. Briefly state in your own words two opinions presented by each side.
Yes side: In John R. Seffrin opinion if we dont do something about tobacco
use 650 million people alive today will eventually die, I didnt see any facts
supporting this idea unless he has a time machine and has gone into the
future then he would be able to state this not as an opinion but as a fact.
No Side: Spector does not state his opinion that often in the article. He is always
pointing out the facts of the charts and graphs. His main opinion is that we have
failed over forty years in the war against cancer.

6. Briefly identify as many fallacies on the Yes side as you can. I did not find
any statements that mislead
7. Briefly identify as many fallacies on the No side as you can. if statistics
show that cancer is the number two leading cause of death, then we havent made
progress in the war. This war will be difficult to overcome, but if we werent trying
to find a cure, they would be even, Now the research has improved cancer, I believe
that one day we will winning the war on cancer!
8. All in all, which author impressed you as being the most empirical in
presenting his or her thesis? Why? Seffrin impressed me the most because he
didnt said we winning war on cancer, he just told us that our approach, preventive
measures, and the experience of many years of research, he has given us great
confidence that we will win this war
9. Are there any reasons to believe the writers are biased? If so, why do
they have these biases? I found that Spector was more bias to the war
against cancer. He Doesnt really think that we have made progress in this
war.
10. Which side (Yes or No) do you personally feel is most correct now that
you have reviewed the material in these articles? Why? I feel the yes side is
more correct. My grandfather had suffered from stomach cancer, but after
treatment he successfully survived, I believe we have come to a better
understanding of how to prevent cancer and some ways we can defeat cancer. We
are making progress in the fight against cancer.