WASHINGTON, D.C. -- July 17, 2009 -- “Today the cancer community is celebrating the House Appropriations Committee passage of the FY 2010 Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill that provides $30.9 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including $5.23 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and $6.68 billion for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
“These funds are an important down payment on the President’s goal of doubling cancer research funding over the next eight years and to mount a long-term effort to reduce suffering and death from cancer. We applaud Chairman Obey and the other members of the committee for supporting an effort that will continue to fund important cancer research and early detection programs, and once again make cancer a top national priority.
“This year alone, an estimated 560,000 Americans will die from cancer and the financial costs associated with cancer in America will total more than $228 billion. The investment in cancer research and prevention programs approved by lawmakers today would go a long way toward reducing cancer incidence and mortality rates. We are hopeful that this vote is an indication of a sustained commitment from Congress to fulfill its critical role as a partner in the fight against cancer. Millions of Americans touched by this disease are counting on their legislators to make these proposed increases for critical medical research a reality.
“While we have made tremendous strides in the last century, funding for research into the deadliest cancers and those that we still do not have early detection and treatments for is a critical component of a comprehensive approach to defeating a disease that will kill thousands of Americans this year and cost the economy billions of dollars.”
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 https://www.fightcancer.org/.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Christina Saull
Phone: (202) 585-3250
Email: [email protected]
