Los progresos de la medicina en el ámbito del cáncer pueden interpretarse como aquello de si "una botella está medio llena o medio vacía". Tras décadas de investigación, la lucha a todos los niveles - prevención, detección, terapias - permiten afirmar hoy que, en general, un enfermo de cáncer de cada dos podrá seguire viviendo cinco años después del primer diagnóstico.

La investigación contra el cáncer, muy apoyada por las autoridades nacionales, cuenta también con importantes inversiones de la industria farmacéutica. El apoyo de la Unión ha ido en aumento, buscando la integración de esfuerzos y la creación de sinergias entre las capacidades científicas europeas.

Frente al cáncer, multiforme y terrible, la investigación diversifica sus estrategias. Las clásicas- cirugía, radioterapia y quimioterapia - se perfeccionan constantemente. La genética y la inmunología aportan perspectivas innovadoras a este combate. Y hay nuevas formas de diagnóstico y detección que ofrecen nuevas posibilidades para adelantarse a la evolución de la enfermedad.

¿Cómo reunir y dar a conocer los saberes y progresos incesantes sobre el cáncer? Hay varios organismos y redes que ya se encargan de esta indispensable tarea. El problema es que, o son muy especializados o más bien "generalistas"; los primeros son para los investigadores, y los ultimos para los que practican la medicina a diario, o para el público en general.

Con los 2500 medicos voluntarios de unos 360 hospitales, la red europea de la EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer) es uno de los instrumentos más importantes de la investigación mundial contra el cáncer. Gracias a la organización de rigurosos ensayos clínicos a gran escala, se han realizado considerables progresos en el tratamiento de las formas más variadas de la enfermedad.

Tres de cada cinco europeos utilizan diariamente su teléfono móvil. Las ondas electromagnéticas que emiten esos aparatos y sus antenas de transmisión ¿perjudican a la salud humana? No hay ni una sola prueba científica, pero, precaución obliga, la investigacion europea quiere estar segura.

Cada país se encarga de la definición de las normas tolerables en materia de exposición humana a los campos electromagnéticos. La mayoría de las normas nacionales reflejan las recomendaciones de la OMS.

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A clinician, researcher and teacher, Philippe Evrard is one of Europe's pioneer paediatric neurologists. For the past three decades he has been investigating the structure of the brain, the factors which could distort its development in the womb, the neurological handicaps which affect very premature babies and possible forms of preventive or curative treatment.
 

The search for alternative methods to experiments on animals is stimulating reliable, more effective and less costly techniques for the development of new therapeutic molecules. Under the combined effect of a strict legislative framework and adequate financial support, Europe is providing the impetus in the field which is producing encouraging results.
 

Nearly one in three Europeans suffers - or will suffer - from an allergy. 10% of children suffer from asthma. Described by some scientists as 'the real millennium bug', allergies have become progressively more common over the past two decades. And the social cost - in terms of health care and absenteeism, for example - is estimated at 45 billion euros a year. A major research effort is essential in this field where our knowledge shows some surprising gaps.
 

European researchers have succeeded in growing blood stem cells - the source of white and red corpuscles and of platelets. This success makes what may otherwise be quite a major transplant operation much less daunting. And opens the way for growing stem cells from other human tissues.
 

The lead content of drinking water is now subject to a strict European directive. But its application is not without problems. So what is the best way of measuring this capricious poison?

Thanks to meticulous monitoring, bathing water quality is improving considerably in Europe. But the lack of standardised microbiological measurement methods leaves the result open to dispute. A number of European research projects have tried to put an end to the discord, and, in the process, have provided good examples of what could become the 'support for Community policies' strand of the European Research Area launched by Philippe Busquin.
 

If we can hear and speak, it is because our brain has specialised neurons in the inner ear and the eye. Two research projects are currently seeking to understand the causes of malfunction in these cells. One is focusing on congenital deafness and the other on blindness associated with ageing.
 

Consciousness, intelligence, language use, memory, emotions... The faculties which make man unique in the biosphere are the result of a very special system - the brain - which is without doubt the most complex organ evolution has produced. It is not surprising therefore to find that science has taken a long time to penetrate its mysteries. Understanding the organisation and activity of its several thousand billion cells - the neurons - and the billions of connections between them is a truly enormous task.
 

If neurons die, then why not replace them? This is simple idea which proved remarkably effective when transplanting foetal neurons to sufferers from Parkinson's disease. Research is now turning its attention to finding new sources of neurons for transplantation, thereby making the treatment as widely available as possible.
 

Our accumulated knowledge of the workings of the human brain has become so complex that it can no longer be understood without recourse to computer modelling of the cerebral functioning.
 

To communicate with each other, neurons exchange molecules, which create electric currents by binding themselves to the receptors on their membranes. Deceiving, blocking, and saturating some of these receptors are among the strategies used in research on new medicines to combat brain disease and pain.
 

Are the genes or the environment to blame? And are drugs or psychotherapy the solution? The scientific approach to the causes of mental illness remains marked by uncertainty, which is why multidisciplinary European research is now attempting to identify the factors which can trigger these disorders.
 

Is there reason to fear the effect of mobile phones on the brain? Although scientists have no proof that mobiles are harmful, neither are they prepared to commit themselves to their absolute long-term safety. In an attempt to remove the doubts, this year saw the launch of the first large-scale international epidemiological study.
 

Three billion human beings live in increasingly sprawling and over-populated cities. The deterioration in the urban environment and the dramatic impoverishment of large sections of the population have assumed such a scale that they are one of the major causes of the worsening health of inhabitants, in the face of which health and care systems are failing.
 

In Africa, where heterosexual transmission of the Aids virus is particularly virulent, women could play a major role in combating its ravages. New preventive microbicides, for women are currently being tested by researchers from Europe, Uganda and the Ivory Coast.
 

Biomaterials which can be used to repair human organs or tissues are no longer the stuff of science fiction. They are being used increasingly often in skin regeneration, and this will soon be the case for bones, the liver and the kidneys too. Small European businesses are competing in a global market - estimated at several tens of billions of euros - in this highly competitive field which has revolutionary implications for the health and well-being of millions of severely handicapped people.