Together with the cancer center, ACS CAN hosted a briefing for state legislators and community and business leaders to showcase the groundbreaking research researchers are conducting at Hollings and the people who are alive because of it.
Undoubtedly you saw the countdowns on your local news stations sequestration took effect on Friday. Sequestration is what Washington is calling the $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts to domestic and defense discretionary spending agreed upon in the 2011 Budget Control Act. While a lot remains unknown about how the cuts will affect us, we know one thing is for sure: funding for cancer research and prevention programs is taking a dangerous hit.
I was pleased to hear President Obama mention the need to invest in science and innovation in Tuesday's State of the Union address. Cancer patients and survivors nationwide need a renewed commitment from Congress and the administration to fund the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute at levels that keep up with inflation and allow promising research to continue.
To illustrate just how crucial federal funding is for cancer research, ACS CAN released a new report this week, Catalyst for Cures: How Federally Funded Cancer Research Saves Lives. This report underscores the threat posed by sequestration to future progress in the fight to end death and suffering from cancer by highlighting federally-funded scientists who have discovered new ways to treat specific cancers, including breast cancer, melanoma and lung cancer and the patients who benefited from those advances.
The public health community lost a tireless and enormously effective champion when Senator Arlen Specter succumbed to cancer on Sunday at the age of 82. I thought it was only appropriate to pay tribute to him by recognizing his unparalleled contributions to the fight against cancer.
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee responsible for funding programs at the NIH and CDC passed a budget proposal that flat lines cancer research and defunds important programs that would improve access to care for families affected by cancer. Needless to say, this is a huge disappointment for cancer patients across the country.
Nearly 150 cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, physicians and researchers are on Capitol Hill today urging their lawmakers to make the fight against cancer a national priority.
Through research, we have available screening tests for the top four cancers including colonoscopy, mammography and most recently, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center, the low-dose spiral CT scan that has the potential to identify early lung cancers.