Investment In Cancer Control And Research: A Sure Bet

摘要

In the early 1970s, a diagnosis of cancer was often construed by patients and their families as a death sentence. Yet despite this, funding for cancer research wasrndeclining. In 1969, the appropriation for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was up only 1% from the preceding year and in 1970 was down 2% from 1969, a situation eerily similar to the present NCI funding situation.1 Responding to a call for action from the public and private sectors, President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act in 1971 setting the stage for a major expansion of federal financing of cancer research. And the investment made a difference. Since 1990, the US cancer mortality rates have been declining about 1% per year. Declines have been especially favorable for cancers of the breast and colorectum for women and for cancers of the prostate, colorectum, and lung for men. The 5-year survival rate for patients with cancer diagnosed from 1974 to 1976 was only 49.6%. Individuals diagnosed from 1996 to 2001 fared substantially better, with a 5-year survival rate of 65%. Today, people are increasingly living with cancer rather than dying from it-a testament to our nation's investment in biomedical research, prevention, early detection, improved therapies, new technologies, and a better understanding of the molecular basis of cancer. We now understand that cancer is a continuum that can be interrupted at many stages from susceptibility to initiation to clinically detectable disease. Cancer research has clearly been a sound investment.