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Tell Congress:
$1 Billion in Research
 Funding


Tell Congress:  Pancreatic Cancer Patients
and Their Families Need Help Now!


Increased funding for research for pancreatic cancer is needed now.  The federal government is the largest source of these funds and it is the entity which can help cure this disease. 

Only with your help and advocacy can we convince Congress to direct $1 billion a year into much needed research to develop early detection methods and improved treatments.  Download our Fact Sheet on Federal Funding Issues.  


 Fund A Cure. Now.


November is
Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month



The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies oversees and makes recommendation on how much money the National Cancer Institute will receive from the federal government and they can influence how the NCI spends its appropriations.

Please take a moment and contact each of these U.S. Senators to let them know that the families of pancreatic cancer patients deserve more than only $73 million dollars to be spent on pancreatic cancer research each year.  Demand that $1 billion a year be put towards funding a cure for this deadly disease.  Links to each of the senators are below as well as the best fax number to send them a letter and the email address of their press secretary.

U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Members
   
      Democratic Subcommittee Members:
  •  Senator Tom Harkin (Chairman) (IA)  Fax (202)224-9369  Email:  brian_ahlberg@harkin.senate.gov
    		•
  •  Senator Daniel Inouye (HI)  Fax (202) 224-6747  Email:  mike_yuen@inouye.senate.gov
    		•
  •  Senator Herb Kohl (WI)  Fax (202) 224-9787  Email:  lynn_becker@kohl.senate.gov
  •  Senator Patty Murray (WA)  Fax (202) 224-0238  Email:  mike_spahn@murray.senate.gov
  •  Senator Mary Landrieu (LA)  Fax (202) 224-9735  Email:  adam_sharp@landrieu.senate.gov
  •  Senator Richard Durbin (IL)  Fax (202) 228-0400  Email:  joe_shoemaker@durbin.senate.gov
  •  Senator Jack Reed (RI)  Fax (202) 224-4680  Email:  chip_unruh@reed.senate.gov
  •  Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ)  Fax (202) 228-4054  Email:  dan_katz@lautenberg.senate.gov
              Senator Arlen Specter (PA)  Fax (202) 228-1229 Email:  scott_hoeflich@specter.senate.gov
     
    		•
          Republican Subcommittee Members:
  •  Sen. Thad Cochran (Ranking Repub.) (MS)  Fax (202) 224-9450  jenny_manley@cochran.senate.gov
  •  Senator Judd Gregg (NH)  Fax (202) 224-4952  Email:  alyssa_shooshan@gregg.senate.gov
    •       Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)  Fax  (202) 224-0776  Email:  marc_short@hutchison.senate.gov
  •  Senator Richard Shelby (AL)  Fax (202) 224-3416  Email:  alan_hanson@shelby.senate.gov
  •  Senator Lamar Alexander (TN) Fax (202) 228-3398   david_morgenstern@alexander.senate.gov



    • Famous faces of
    those with
    Pancreatic Cancer:
    past and present.

     


    The Senators should be thanked for increasing overall funding to the National Cancer Institute to $4.96 billion for fiscal year 2009, but that only represents 0.8% of the entire $626.5 billion budget for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education.  The subcommittee also noted in their budget narrative how NCI should dedicate more than only 2% of funding to pancreatic cancer each year; however, they did not make a formal recommendation of how much NCI should allocate.

    Let them know that we need at least $1 billion a year to try to find better detection and treatment methods for the most lethal cancer known to man, a cancer that kills more than 75% of those diagnosed with it in less than 1 year and has a 5 year survival rate of only 5%.

    While $1 billion a year sounds like a huge investment that the government could not possibly afford note these other expenditures that this subcommittee has approved for 2009:

    - $1.07 billion towards health care for US miners suffering from black lung disease which only affects 31,000 U.S. citizens each year (less than the 37,000 afflicted by pancreatic cancer).

    - $2.17 billion towards the Ryan White AIDS programs.  Currently pancreatic cancer kills twice the number of US residents each year than AIDS (33,000 v. 17,000) and the 5 year survival rate for AIDS is now 95% in the US as compared to only 5% for pancreatic cancer.

    - $1.21 billion for HIV health care and support programs.  These are additional appropriations over that for the Ryan White AIDS programs.

    - $1.00 billion for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Disease and Tuberculosis prevention programs.

    - $1.75 billion for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases which does not use any of this money to investigate and research pancreatic cancer.

    $73 million a year will not suffice and is one of the reasons this under funded disease has continued to be so deadly.

    To contact your local Member of Congress and U.S. Senators go here to get their contact information (search for my Congressman and Senators) and send them a fax as well.  Make sure to download our Fact Sheet on Federal Funding Issues.   
       

     

                                                    

    Why $1 Billion?

    Fund A Cure - Cure Pancreatic Cancer Now - Email Us