Periodically, we will publish articles by legislators who recognize the importance of preventing cancer as well as helping patients with the disease and who have sponsored and supported legislative efforts to improve cancer prevention and early detection. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa is such a leader. We thank Senator Harkin for his leadership and his continuing efforts.
Tom Harkin
United States Senator
In January of this year, the American Cancer Society reported that the number of cancer deaths in the US had dropped for a second year in a row--despite an aging population. We are making tremendous progress in the war on cancer – both in prevention and treatment. As we get closer to victory, we must renew our commitment to fighting cancer through greater research and education efforts by increasing the funding in the Federal budget.
For me, this is personal. I have lost two sisters to breast cancer, one brother to prostate cancer, and another brother to thyroid cancer. Tens of millions of Americans and their loved ones also have been touched by cancer. This is why I have long been an advocate of robust funding for cancer prevention and research.
As chairman of the Senate’s health and education appropriations subcommittee, it has been one of my top priorities to provide researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the resources they need to find the cures and causes of diseases such as cancer. Working on a bipartisan effort with Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, I led the effort to double NIH funding between 1998 and 2003.
Fifteen years ago when I looked into the issue of breast cancer research, I discovered that barely $90 million in federal funding was directed to breast cancer research. That’s why in 1992 I offered an amendment to dedicate $210 million in the Defense Department budget to begin the breast cancer research program, a partnership between the military, medical, and breast cancer survivor communities to develop and implement innovative research towards the goal of curing and eliminating breast cancer. This funding was in addition to the funding for breast cancer research conducted at the NIH. My amendment passed and overnight it doubled federal funding for breast cancer. Since then, funding for breast cancer research has been included in the Defense Department budget every year.
In my own state of Iowa, and across the US, we frequently fail to make an adequate up front investment in preventing chronic disease. So we end up spending hundreds of billions of dollars on hospitalization, treatment and disability that could be avoided. Instead of a true "health care" system a system that keeps healthy people healthy we have a "sick care" system that is focused on helping people after they get sick.
We each have a responsibility to make smart choices in order to stay healthy. But, too often, Americans lack basic information about staying healthy. And too many Americans don't know about or lack access to health screenings and preventive services. This must change. Ben Franklin got it right: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
To achieve these ends, I introduced the Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention (HeLP) America Act in 2005. This legislation recognizes the challenges posed by chronic disease and also looks to harness the power of prevention. It seeks to reorient our health care system away from one focused on disease treatment and management to one that is based upon the promotion of healthy lifestyles and the prevention of chronic disease. Promoting healthy behaviors such as eating nutritious foods, being physically active, avoiding tobacco use, and ensuring access to mental heath services can prevent or control the devastating effects of many chronic diseases.
I have long believed that it is the role of Congress in this process to open doors, not throw up road blocks to medical research. That is why I joined with Senator Specter and others as Senate sponsors of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which would lift President Bush’s arbitrary restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research. In 2006, 63 Senators voted for this bipartisan legislation, just short of the number needed to override President Bush’s first-ever veto. We have reintroduced the bill in the new 110th Congress, and I am confident that, this time, we will have enough votes to override a veto should the President again choose to stand in the way.
We have made tremendous progress in preventing, treating, and curing cancer. Though, continued advancement depends on maintaining and increasing funding for the National Cancer Institute. If we do not move forward more aggressively in this fight against cancer, we are, in fact, retreating.
Cancer survivor Lance Armstrong was in Iowa last summer to testify before my Senate field hearing in Iowa City on cancer research. Lance noted that the war on cancer is not a partisan issue. However, he said that, in future elections, we need to know where every candidate stands on cancer research. We need to know if they favor major new investments that will actually win the war on cancer.
President Bush got it right four years ago when he said: “In order to win the war on cancer, we must fund the war on cancer.” It is time for all of us to make good on that commitment.
