US cancer researchers attack federal budget cuts

"However, the NCI director did not hold out much hope in the upcoming presidential elections, saying the slate of available candidates was "a disappointment." ....and yes I can agree with this statement...nothing personal against any candidate or their staff....but as long as we continue to elect "figure heads" who are not involved in the front line efforts, it doesn't appear to get there..perhaps the answer is to get more technologically savvy people in office...it's like any other job anywhere today, you need the skills beyond being a "figure head" to command the respect of the general public and coherently understand where the world is not only today with research and technology, but also where it is going...and furthermore the pace...some folks in office don't even use email...enough said right there...so if the comprehensive level is not there, then old methodologies of simply cutting funds to save money bounce right back, as there is plenty of software technologies that will show folks how to count beans and save a dollar, but when it comes to projecting how healthcare, research and technology all come together for our future, we are definitely as a loss without have the "informed and active Congress person" at the helm...so we continue to suffer at the hand of out of date methodologies...and suffer we do...as expressed in this article....private funding more than ever is now helping research moreso than the government...and thank goodness it is there...otherwise the US will lose the status of of being a real leader in Biomedical Research...BD

Consistent reductions in US federal budget allocations for cancer research that have been implemented since 2003 threaten to undermine recent gains in the fight against the disease, scientists said.
"Today the situation has changed quite dramatically," Davidson pointed out. "Advances in science and technologies can reduce the burden of cancer."The warning came from about 30,000 prominent US cancer researchers gathered in Chicago this weekend for the 44th annual conference of the American Society of Oncology (ASCO).

"I want to reinforce that today cancer research faces a very, very significant funding crisis," said Friday Doctor Nancy Davidson, a professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University and current chairwoman of the society. Scientists said most recent discoveries in genetic research needed to be translated into treatments for patients.