Spinning Facts

We have an economic crisis and there are many competing needs for taxpayer money, but maybe 2009 is the year that cancer becomes a national priority.

Congressional leaders have finally begun to reverse the disturbing five-year trend of flat or declining budgets for federal  institutions that are crucial to the fight against cancer.

Congress and the President determine research funding. Over the past 5 years, federal funding for cancer screening and treatment programs for breast cancer, colon cancer, blood cancer, prostate cancer awareness, skin cancer prevention, and ovarian cancer prevention  have all been cut.

Funding for the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Cancer Institute has remained stagnate, but  the FY09 Labor-HHS appropriations will help uphold  past progress in the fight against cancer and begin to move vital programs forward again.

If cancer research and funding for cancer screening is important to you, you can easily contact your elected officials to let them know that you expect them to stand up for cancer victims and their families. As a constituent, you can ask that they work to make funding, research education, treatment and prevention a true priority.Follow this link to take Action. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network will send emails to your legislators. All you have to do is type in your zip code.