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|1|2  One in three of us will get cancer at some point in our
lives. Once so feared its name was whispered, the disease is no
longer an inevitable death sentence. Today, almost two-thirds of
those who develop cancer will still be alive five years later,
compared with just half in the 1970s.  Cancer has turned out to
be tougher to crack than everyone hoped when US President
Richard Nixon launched the War on Cancer in 1971. But death
rates are falling, thanks to earlier detection of tumours and
improved use of existing treatments - mainly chemotherapy and
radiotherapy. The success has been biggest for children: since
the mid-1970s, death rates from cancers of childhood have
halved. Of those with the most common childhood cancer, acute
lymphocytic leukaemia, 85% are still alive five years later,
compared with just 53% in the 1970s.  Inner workings  A key
reason why cancer patients are living longer, is that scientists
now understand more clearly wh