Letter to the Editor: Major barriers
BY Sheppard F. Miers Jr., Tulsa
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Cancer research experts are
speaking out about the political
stalemate in Congress and pending
federal budget cuts on science.
Dr. Harold Varmus, Nobel Prizewinning
cancer researcher and
National Cancer Institute director,
spoke to the National Press Club
Sept. 25. He said that despite progress,
there are still major barriers to
defeating cancer. That is because
cancer is now known to be a set of
differing and complex cellular diseases.
Finding cures, through NCI
grants to top researchers, is just as
complex. Genetics discovery can be
converted to targeted clinical treatments
of cancer by reliable and increased
federal funding of research.
An American Association for
Cancer Research physicians and
scientists panel published a comprehensive
2012 cancer progress
report calling cancer research investment
a national priority. Oncologist
Siddhartha Mukherjee, M. D.,
Pulitzer Prize-winning author on
cancer, said in a Newsweek article
how the premature death of Apple
Inc. founder Steve Jobs from an incurable
cancer showed our need for
increased cancer research funding.
One in four other Americans is now
expected to die of cancer.
The best minds on cancer say
Congress has to spend more, not less
on science to stop cancer deaths.
The Stephenson Cancer Center at
the University of Oklahoma is now
a premier research and clinical institution.
Federal grants help its talented
scientists lead in the search
for life saving discoveries. Please
contact congressional officeholders
and candidates. Tell them to
approve major federal government
funding increases for the National
Cancer Institute.
Editor’s note: Miers is Director of the
Charlene Miers Foundation for Cancer
Research.
Letters to the editor are encouraged. Send letters to letters@tulsaworld.com.
