WASHINGTON February 13, 2012 The president 's budget proposal to cut funding for cancer research at the National Cancer Institute in Fiscal Year 2013 is deeply disappointing after he specifically called out the importance of cancer research earlier this month in his State of the Union address. Further, these cuts contradict the president 's previous commitment to increase cancer research and come just months after Congress showed bipartisan support by including an increase in the current research budget. Cuts to funding for research could jeopardize our ability to leverage the progress that past federal investments have made possible in developing screening tests and treatments for the deadliest cancers.
An estimated 1.6 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer and more than 577,000 will die from the disease this year. Even when budgets are tight, cancer patients cannot afford to see the federal commitment to defeating the disease scaled back. They are counting on the president and Congress to make cancer research a national priority, year in and year out, until we eliminate death and suffering from the disease.
Additionally, we are concerned about the president 's proposal to continue to underfund proven cancer prevention programs such as the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and further to pay for it with money that was intended to break new ground in prevention. The goal of the Prevention and Public Health Fund is to refocus the health care system on early detection and disease prevention through innovative and integrated methods at the federal, state and local levels. The president 's budget proposal instead would use the fund to plug budget holes in existing programs this year and limit the fund 's potential by cutting more than one-fifth of its overall budget by 2021.
Cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones are calling on Congress to reinstate funding for cancer research and prevention programs and truly make cancer a national priority in a way that we can capitalize on past advances.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Alissa Crispino or Steven Weiss
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Phone: (202) 661-5772 or (202) 661-5711
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
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