Lobbying for cancer is a worthwhile effort.

More than 3,300 cancer patients, survivors, friends and relatives fanned out across Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby Congress for more money for cancer research and detection.

Aiming to visit the offices of every member of Congress, the group also appealed to lawmakers to reauthorize a program that provides breast and cervical cancer screening and therapy for uninsured women.

President Bush's proposed budget for the fiscal 2007 year beginning Oct. 1 would cut the National Cancer Institute's budget by $40 million.

Wendy Selig, the American Cancer Society's vice president for legislative affairs, said the institute needs a 5 percent increase - $240 million - in its $4.8 billion budget this year just to keep pace with medical inflation.

National Institutes of Health estimates for disease research show cancer funding staying fairly flat in recent years, with annual increases of $115 million and $92 million between 2003 and 2005, followed by a $49 million drop this year.


Posted by: Andria    Source

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