Statement from Mary Woolley, President/CEO, Research!America
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
703-739-2577, ext. 44
WASHINGTON—August 23, 2007—“In the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum hosted by the Lance Armstrong Foundation next week, it is critical that candidates explain how as President they would address our declining investment in cancer and other areas of health research.
“In a recent Research!America poll, just 11% of registered voters said they are very well informed about their elected officials’ stance on medical research, yet nearly half (47%) say we must increase our investment in the National Institutes of Health to ensure our health and economic security.
“These historic debates will make cancer part of the national dialogue. This dialogue cannot happen without discussing our nation’s investment in research—a topic that to date has been notably missing from nearly all candidates’ platforms.
“Cancer deaths fell this year for the second year in a row, yet cancer remains the leading killer of Americans under age 85. This is not the time to continue flat-lining the budgets of the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies that contribute to advances against cancer.
“The progress in our search for cures is promising. Research has brought hope to childhood leukemia patients, to those suffering from testicular cancer and other once-terminal forms of the disease. We have new diagnostic tools and new ways of thinking about cancer, as a collection of 200 related but distinct disorders. Yet years of funding that fails to keep pace with inflation has put many research programs in jeopardy. Flat-lining federal research budgets impacts work done at our leading academic medical centers and independent research institutes and stalls life-saving progress.
“Research! America challenges all presidential candidates at these historic forums to reveal their plans to increase funding for cancer and all types of health research. The time to make a difference was yesterday, so our next best option is now.”
Woolley will be available for comment in the days leading up to and the days following the Iowa debates.
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