WASHINGTON January 23, 2012 Cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones are calling on the president to commit to keeping the fight against cancer a top national priority. Cancer advocates will gather across the country tomorrow night to watch President Obama 's State of the Union address, sending a message to the White House and Congress that funding medical research and proven prevention programs in a way that will help eliminate death and suffering from cancer must be high on the national agenda. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, is organizing a live online watch party for volunteer advocates across the country.æ The State of the Union comes just months after ACS CAN launched its second-ever nationally televised advertising campaign urging Congress to keep cancer patients and survivors top of mind even in a challenging budgetary environment. The ad is part of a broader national grassroots campaign, including dozens of events across the country and more than 25,000 calls into Members of Congress, to protect federal funding for groundbreaking cancer research at the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, lifesaving efforts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that promote the prevention and early detection of cancer, and laws and programs that expand access to adequate, affordable health care. We 've made tremendous progress thanks to past federal investments, but funding isn 't keeping pace with our opportunity to capitalize on recent discoveries in the fight to defeat cancer, said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., chief executive officer of ACS CAN.æ We must be steadfast in our commitment to fund proven prevention measures and research where we still need answers if we want to have the best chance to end suffering and death related to cancer. It is projected that an estimated 1.6 million people in America will be told they have cancer this year, and 579,000 people will die from the disease.æ The federal government continues to be the largest financial supporter of cancer research, and research funded by the NIH and the National Cancer Institute has played a major role in every significant advancement in the fight against cancer over the last 70 years. Forty years after declaring war on cancer in this country, we are at a critical moment as a nation and now have an opportunity to accelerate this lifesaving work, said Christopher W. Hansen, president of ACS CAN. The president and Congress have the power to ensure that we reach our potential in the fight to defeat cancer by sustaining critical research projects and ensuring access to proven prevention. To learn more about ACS CAN 's efforts to increase federal funding for cancer research and critical cancer control programs, please visit: www.fightcancer.org/research. 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 IMMEDIATE RELEASE For More Information, Contact: Alissa Crispino or Steven Weiss Phone: 202-661-5772 or 202-661-5711 E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] #research #prevention #cancer #ACSCAN #SOTU
