Advocates Urge Restoring Funding To $150M For Defense Department Breast Cancer Research Program

Advocates at a National Breast Cancer Coalition forum on Monday said that annual funding should be increased to $150 million for a Department of Defense program that involves researchers and patient advocates in breast cancer research spending decisions, CQ HealthBeat reports. The program, which was launched in 1992, received $150 million annually from fiscal year 2002 to FY 2005, and it received $127.5 million in both FY 2006 and FY 2007, according to the National Breast Cancer Coalition. A letter being circulated by Reps. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Tom Davis (R-Va.), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and James McGovern (D-Mass.) says that the program has led to new methods of extracting breast cancer cells at early stages, the development of the breast cancer drug Herceptin, and research on the interaction of genetic and environmental factors in causing the disease. The letter, which is being given to appropriators, says that "we do not yet know how to prevent the disease" and that there is not a cure or an "accurate, reliable early detection method" (CQ HealthBeat, 3/5).

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