A ratio of BCL‐2 to BAX above 1 was shown to correlate with caspase 3 activation whereas a low value (<1) has been described for cells where the onset of apoptosis is suppressed, e.g., in cancer cells.47 Here, IL‐5 significantly decreased the BAX/Bcl‐XL ratio in eosinophils whereas BW245c moderately lowered the mean ratio to a value below 1 (Supplementary Fig. 6). This evidence concerns the gene BCL2 and cancer.