WASHINGTON, D.C. -- December 17, 2007 -- "Cancer patients and their loved ones are saddened that Congress, at the insistence of the President, has for the fifth consecutive year put forward appropriations legislation essentially flat funding cancer research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"It is incredibly disappointing that this president and his allies in Congress have so little regard for the concerns of the American public, which has said repeatedly that improving health care is its No. 1 domestic priority. Each passing year that legislators and the Administration refuse to make cancer research a priority, we risk reversing the progress we've made in the fight against this disease.
"Flat funding means that lifesaving research is in danger and groundbreaking new projects may never get off the ground. By underfunding NIH, this country is jeopardizing its worldwide competitive edge in biomedical research and threatening to incur enormous medical costs in the future. We are also making it more difficult to get critical prevention, detection and treatment measures from the labs to the doctors’ offices and the patients who need them most."
ACS CAN is the nonprofit, nonpartisan sister advocacy organization of the American Cancer Society, which is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage lawmakers, candidates and government officials to support laws and policies that will make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Alissa Havens
Phone: (202) 661-5772
Email: [email protected]
Steve Weiss
Phone: (202) 661-5711
Email: [email protected]
