One Voice Against Cancer (OVAC), a broad coalition of cancer-related organizations representing millions of Americans, held a special event in Washington, D.C. on June 16-17, 2010. The event included one day of advocate training and one day of visits with Congressional representatives.

The purpose of the visits was two-fold. First, OVAC is raising awareness for the need for more cancer research. Secondly, OVAC advocates are asking Congress to at least sustain the current levels of federal support for cancer research through a number of federal programs. Unfortunately, cancer funding for FY2011 is not a sure bet due to mounting pressure from the Administration and Congress to freeze or reduce spending on critical items.

OVAC and Preventing Colorectal Cancer.Org (PCC) are asking that you write your Congressional representative to ask that cancer research funding does not get reduced, or even cut, next year.

Here are some of the programs that OVAC is recommending that should be funded in FY 2011:

• ♦$35.2 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which includes $5.8 billion  for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and $240 million for the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
• ♦$601 million for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
• ♦Funding for the Health Resource and Service Administration (HRSA) which includes:  $267.3million to support Title VIII Nursing Programs and $18.6 million to support the Patient Navigator Program
• ♦$495 million increase for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to further coordinate and integrate cancer research from early stage discovery to the front lines.

Among other resources, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) spearhead important initiatives for national cancer research activities in the United States and abroad.  Many advances over the past decade in the treatment of cancer are directly attributable to NIH and NCI sponsored studies and related research grants.

OVAC advocates recognize that despite the successes and progress in cancer detection and treatment in recent years, the incidence of cancer is projected to nearly double by 2020- particularly among the baby boomer population.  This looming cancer crisis is a call to action.

After spending the day on Capitol Hill with OVAC, it became clear that cancer funding cannot be taken for granted during the next federal budgeting cycle.  For example, one Congressional staffer remarked, "Budgets are choices and choices are values. It's really important that citizens and advocates make their values clear to their representatives and express how they would like to see them appropriate the Senate Labor-HHS-Education FY2011 budget."

Please make sure that you contact your Congressional representative, to let them know how important it is to fund the federal agencies referenced above.  To locate your representatives, www.congress.org offers a helpful resource (go to the bottom of the page to locate the appropriate directory).