In the United States alone, cancer kills one person every minute of every day. However, this rate is slowly declining thanks to advances in medicine due to cancer research.
A recent budget proposal would slash allotted funding of medical research by the federal government. If Congress passed this budget it would cause a drop in cancer research funding, thus threatening to slow the astonishing progress being made in the battle against cancer - progress that saves lives every day.
This proposed reduction of funding comes despite staggering support for such federal funding amongst the American electorate.
One Voice Against Cancer, a coalition of national non-profit cancer organizations, recently commissioned a nationwide survey of likely voters. This study found that 90 percent of those surveyed overwhelmingly believed in the importance of cancer research, and supported its sustained funding by the federal government.
The survey also revealed voters’ concerns regarding cancer funding becoming politicized. The issue of promoting cancer research was believed to be too important to become partisan by 91 percent of those surveyed, including a large majority of both Democrats and Republicans who participated in the study.
In order to continue the discovery of lifesaving developments in cancer treatment, the federal government must continue to provide funds for medical research. Please join us in encouraging our lawmakers to reject any cuts to cancer research that could slow progress in our mission to detect, prevent and treat cancer.
After months of delay and hard negotiations, Congress has finally passed a funding bill! The bill includes a small increase for cancer research and prevention programs.