Many of us are still feeling the effect of last year sequestration. The automatic budget cut known as sequester that threaten hundreds of thousand jobs cuts, and cut vital services for children, seniors, people with mental illness and our men and woman in uniform(“The Sequester”). Among those funding cuts that are on the chopping block, funding for cancer research is one of them.
The National Cancer Act of 1971 was signed into
law by the president Richard Nixon in 1971 and since then, there has been a tremendous advancement in
treatment and understanding of cancer. Despite the huge lifesaving benefits,
with more than 13 million cancer survivors alive today, our elected officials in Washington seem to
careless because they are so busy with their political shown down that
ultimately leads to the sequester begins March 1. According to National
Institutes of Health, director Francis Collins, MD, the funding for the cancer
research has remained flat for more than a decade, but 2013 is considered
“darkest ever” for the agency due to the
budget sequestration. The National
Institutes of Health is not the only ones, the sequestration also threatens the
technology and science communities as well according to “all thing research
2013” event (“Funding for Cancer Search”).
2014 seems to be a better year
for cancer research funding. At least,
there seems to be some lights at the end of the tunnel. The Senate has agreed recently to pass a bill
that is sponsored by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor(R-VA) called “The
Gabriella Miler Kids First Research Act” which then signed into law by the
president Obama on Thursday April 3rd, 2014 wherein the funding of
126 million is directed into pediatric disease research at the National Institutes
of Health (Goldberg, Korff,2014).
The
passage of the bill seems to be a very small victory compares with the actual
cut the National Institutes Health suffered but obviously, the research community
would welcome any any additional resources it can get. At least, our
politicians put aside their political differences and come to some agreements
on for the a good cause.
The
lack of the funding in cancel research as a result of sequestration clearly is
a major setback for the for the research community and the longer it lasts, the
more damages it will cause. “It is like a slow growing cancer,” said Steven
Warrent, Vice Chanceller for research at University of Kansas(Stein).
We’ve seen the benefit, we know the
effect and for now , the only cure is
clearly more funding is needed for cancer research.
References:
Funding for Cancer Search. American Cancer Society Cancer Action
Network. Retrieved from http://www.acscan.org/research
Federally Funded Cancer Research. American Society of
Clinical Oncology. Retrieved from http://www.asco.org/advocacy/federally-funded-cancer-research
Goldberg,J.,Korff,J. (2014) Gabriella Miller Kids First
Research Act signed into Law .Retrieved from
Stein, Sam. Sequestration Cuts To Research ‘Like a Slowly
Growing Cancer’. Retrieved from
The Sequester. The White House. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/sequester
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI found your post interesting because I actually think there has been a decent amount of cancer research developing. I am not saying that it is enough since the disease is not a hundred percent treatable.I wish you would have included some background information about the "Sequesters" because I am unfamiliar with this term or idea. Your post does state how politics is working in favor of cancer funding which is a positive for those suffering. Bills are clear signs that there in fact is a light at the end of the tunnel. If you were an important government official what would you push for? more funding towards cancer or a bigger idea?
Nice post, Yen. It’s good that the government is doing its job in funding research for cancer. A lot of progress has been made since the passage of the act. Apparently the survival rate has nearly quadrupled and the funding received by the National Cancer Institute has been increased to $5 billion. Non-governmental organizations are also to thank for the spread of awareness and push for change. As the average life expectancy increases, I’m sure cancer will become more widespread. Hopefully the research groups are able to develop a treatment that is less costly and without the side effects that are associated with chemotherapy.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to learn how much private funding there is for cancer research. Although your blog focused on government funding it does seem that alot of private donations and fundraising events go on that contribute alot of money to cancer research. I personally have donated and also participated in events that raise money such as 5k races. Hopefully the weak economy has not also affected private funding.
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