Letter To The Editor – June 10, 2010

Cancer Research Funds Needed

Dear Editor:

  There are 11 million cancer survivors in this country today because of past investments in medical research. However, 1,500 people still die from cancer in America each day because there are no effective tools for the deadliest cancers, such as pancreatic and ovarian cancer, that can detect the disease early and treat it effectively.

  New screening tests and treatments won’t see the light of day if we fail to make federal funding for cancer research a top priority. Each year, 1.4 million people in America are told they have cancer, and 560,000 people die from the disease. To ensure that new, innovative projects are not short-circuited, Congress must make the necessary investment in cancer research funding.

  I am calling on Senator Cochran to boost funding for the national Institutes of Health to $35 billion and the National Cancer Institute to $5.8 billion to sustain research funding at levels provided last year in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

  Too many families are still waiting for the development of screening tools and treatments for the deadliest cancers. Congress must act this year to provide the funds needed to ensure that the progress being made against cancer is not squandered.

  /s/Ethel Morgan
  American Cancer Society
  Cancer Action Network
  Volunteer, Water Valley