Petition for increased federal lung cancer funding

Increasing federal funding for lung cancer research is essential if we are going to beat this disease. We will send your signed petition to President Barack Obama, the two senators from your state and your congressional representative.

Dear Mr. President, Senators and Representatives:

It is a little known and much ignored fact that LUNG CANCER kills more men and women in the United States annually than any other cancer, yet research for this disease is woefully underfunded. More than 160,000 Americans will die this year from lung cancer – more than will die from breast, colon and prostate cancers combined.

We are asking for your help to increase federal funding for lung cancer research, which will lead to better detection, better treatments and longer survival. Today, lung cancer research is only funded at the federal level by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This is in contrast to many other common cancers which receive funding from several different federal funding agencies. Lung cancer receives considerably less research funding (about $280MM) from NCI than either breast ($570MM) or prostate ($310MM) cancer. If you translate that into research dollars per death from cancer, NCI estimates that in 2005 it spent $1,708 per life lost to lung cancer; $13,947 per death to breast cancer; and $10,214 per prostate cancer death.

I am joining with the National Lung Cancer Partnership in this petition. The Partnership is a non-profit organization of leading researchers, physicians, nurses, lung cancer survivors and advocates dedicated to DECREASING DEATHS DUE TO LUNG CANCER, AND HELPING PATIENTS LIVE LONGER AND BETTER, THROUGH RESEARCH, AWARENESS AND ADVOCACY.

We believe a greater investment of research dollars is critical and ask for your support and action.

Signed,

National Lung Cancer Partnership and the People of America whose lives have been changed forever by LUNG CANCER