One of the goals of the Rally for Medical Research, held in conjunction with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2013 Annual Meeting, earlier this month was to bring awareness to and education about the impact of the cuts in federal funding for medical research.
Dana-Farber’s Kenneth C. Anderson, MD participated in the Rally. He says in this video, that the scientists who exist today are extraordinary, and for the new generation of cancer researchers to build on today’s advances, it is all dependent on funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.
I wrote a research paper as to why funding for cancer research needs to continue. Part of the assignment was to add a summary of my paper to a related website. I am commenting my summary as I was extremely please with the information I read on this page. I hope that this is acceptable.
Thank you for your time,
Leila
For my research paper I looked at the advancements in cancer treatments that have been made from the first diagnosis to the latest treatment. Not everyone is for funding cancer research. There is 4.9 billion dollars spent annually on cancer research. There have been many advancements in cancer treatments that have reduced the number of deaths. From the first recorded diagnosis of cancer came from ancient Egypt (Bates and Ciment) to the discovery of chemotherapy in World War II. The numbers of cancer causing deaths are astronomical. In 2008, 1.37 million people died from lung cancer, 736,000 died from stomach cancer, 695,000 died from liver cancer, 608,000 died from colorectal cancer, and 458,000 died from breast cancer. With the advancements that have already been made via clinical research studies, these numbers have significantly dropped. In 2015, 158,040 people died from lung cancer, 10,720 died from stomach cancer, 24,550 died from liver cancer, 49,700 died of colorectal cancer, and 40,730 people died from breast cancer (Bates and Ciment). These number do not lie. With the amount of individuals that have been saved from the advancements that have been made, there is no reason that cancer research funding should cease.