Question: how long have you been trying to kill cancer cells?

Alexis Barr answered on 18 Jun 2013:

Well I’ve been a scientist for nearly 8 years now and I’ve always done research related to cancer. But I’m a very young scientist. In general, people have been trying to find drugs to kill cancer cells for many years. The first time people first used a chemical to try and kill cancer cells was in 1942. They found that during the war, Mustard Gas – one of the chemicals used to kill enemies during the war, could stop blood production. So, doctors started using it in smaller doses to kill blood cancers in 1942. It worked well for a short time but the cancer often came back later. We’ve progressed a lot since then though!