ARTICLE - Cancer Funding in Texas

nudgie
nudgie Member Posts: 1,478 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Texas Plans $3B Cancer Study Investment
By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
January 23, 2007 1:38 AM EST
AUSTIN, Texas - Aiming to become a global leader in cancer research, Texas plans to invest $3 billion over the next decade in a bid to eradicate the disease, which kills more than a half-million Americans every year.

Gov. Rick Perry joined cancer survivor Lance Armstrong and about a dozen representatives of cancer research institutes at a luncheon Monday to discuss the effort, spawned by the death in September of former Gov. Ann Richards.

"The disease is just too devastating; it affects every single one of us," said Armstrong, who battled testicular cancer before winning the Tour de France seven consecutive years. "We need to make sure that sometime in our lives we put an end to it."

Texas is home to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation, two of the nation's premier cancer-research groups.

The project will combine their efforts with research conducted by private companies, state universities, medical schools and the elite University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The fund will also draw high-tech companies and good-paying jobs to the state, Perry said.

"I can't think of anything that I think is more worthwhile, anything that will make Texas more the epicenter of an extraordinary focus worldwide in this effort," Perry said. "This is a powerful moment in Texas history."

The fund is the brainchild of Cathy Bonner, a longtime Austin insider and friend of Richards, a Democrat who died at age 73 of esophageal cancer. She said the fund will support multiyear projects in promising areas that aren't getting enough attention, such as the deadly spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body.

"What we're really talking about is something that can change the world," she said.

Two high-profile Republican state lawmakers have agreed to sponsor legislation creating the fund, but they have yet to determine how it would be structured and where the money would come from. One option would involve borrowing against bonds to produce $300 million a year for research.

Dr. John Mendelsohn, president of the Anderson Cancer Center, said the funding would accelerate research into preventing cancer, detecting it early and treating it in a less toxic way.

Eventually those findings probably could be applied to other diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease or schizophrenia, he said.

Cancer research has traditionally been funded by the federal government. The National Cancer Institute spent about $4.7 billion on research in the 2006 fiscal year in its own labs and through grants and agreements with universities, hospitals, research foundations and private businesses.

In recent years, however, a few states have moved toward more aggressively funding their own initiatives. In 2004, California voters approved a plan to spend about $300 million a year for the next decade on stem cell research.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Comments

  • CAMaura
    CAMaura Member Posts: 719 Member
    Thank you for the reprint. Interesting!
  • jams67
    jams67 Member Posts: 925 Member
    GO TEXAS!!!!!
    FIGHT!!!
  • JADot
    JADot Member Posts: 709 Member
    Go TX!!!! (but wait, I am an Aggie :)

    Now, let's put the $3 billion over a decade in perspective on the national scale - from Seattle Times:

    "Currently, the Defense Department says it is spending about $4.5 billion a month on the conflict in Iraq, or about $100,000 per minute.

    Current spending in Afghanistan is about $800 million a month, or about $18,000 per minute."

    You can read the whole article at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002780385_spending03.html.

    Ask what you can do for your contry - write your congress people and get your voice heard.

    Ying
  • Betsydoglover
    Betsydoglover Member Posts: 1,248 Member
    Hook 'em Horns! Ying, this does pale compared to military spending (and that upsets me) but it is still a good initiative - the more the better (even if the motivation may be mostly bringing work to Texas, that's fine with me!)


    Betsy (who lived in Houston for 13 years, but doesn't - I'm sorry - actually care about football!)
  • kerry
    kerry Member Posts: 1,313 Member
    Hook 'em Horns - Go Texas!!!

    Kerry

    p.s. Ying, I didn't tell anyone you were an Aggie!! lol
  • Betsydoglover
    Betsydoglover Member Posts: 1,248 Member
    kerry said:

    Hook 'em Horns - Go Texas!!!

    Kerry

    p.s. Ying, I didn't tell anyone you were an Aggie!! lol

    I moved to Houston in June 1975.

    My first day at work, there was a sign posted on the bulletin board about a deep sea fishing trip. It said to meet at some pier in Galveston at 6 AM - then went on to say "for the Aggies in the group, that's the little hand on the 6 and the big hand on the 12". My introduction to Aggie jokes, which coming from New England, I soon realized were pretty much identical to Polish jokes. Polish jokes always bothered me, but in Texas, Aggie jokes were just plain fun!

    If you haven't lived there, you may not appreciate it, but hearing this good old Texas stuff reminds me of a good time in my life and how much fun Texas was.

    Take care, y'all!

    Betsy

    P.S. Houston is where I learned that "y'all" has a possessive plural as in (said by waitress in bar) "Are y'all's drinks ok?"! Yes Mam! We love it!
  • suzannchili
    suzannchili Member Posts: 134 Member
    Yeah Austin, TX and Lance Aremstrong!
  • JADot
    JADot Member Posts: 709 Member
    kerry said:

    Hook 'em Horns - Go Texas!!!

    Kerry

    p.s. Ying, I didn't tell anyone you were an Aggie!! lol

    Hi Kerry,

    I always knew my secrets are safe with you ;)

    Teehee,
    Ying
  • JADot
    JADot Member Posts: 709 Member

    Yeah Austin, TX and Lance Aremstrong!

    Yup, TX gave us Jim Leher, Barbara Jordan, LBJ, Lance Armstrong, Ann Richards, Walter Cronkite, and our Decider-in-Chief.

    :)

    Ying

    PS. S'cuse me, I feel out-numbered by all of ya'll UT fans :)
  • AuthorUnknown
    AuthorUnknown Member Posts: 1,537 Member
    JADot said:

    Yup, TX gave us Jim Leher, Barbara Jordan, LBJ, Lance Armstrong, Ann Richards, Walter Cronkite, and our Decider-in-Chief.

    :)

    Ying

    PS. S'cuse me, I feel out-numbered by all of ya'll UT fans :)

    I'm here for you Ying... I got your back. :-) Just remember who won that game the day after Thanksgiving! Whoop!

    Gig 'Em!

    Dana

    P.S. Love him or hate him, the govenor mentioned working to bring about the funding is an Aggie too! We are everywhere!
  • kerry
    kerry Member Posts: 1,313 Member

    I'm here for you Ying... I got your back. :-) Just remember who won that game the day after Thanksgiving! Whoop!

    Gig 'Em!

    Dana

    P.S. Love him or hate him, the govenor mentioned working to bring about the funding is an Aggie too! We are everywhere!

    Dana,

    You just shut my "longhorn" mouth with that reminder!!! Ha!!! I unfortunately, was there at that game - I also went downtown to watch the Aggies come marching into town. Really an awesome sight!!

    Hook 'em,

    Kerry
  • JADot
    JADot Member Posts: 709 Member

    I'm here for you Ying... I got your back. :-) Just remember who won that game the day after Thanksgiving! Whoop!

    Gig 'Em!

    Dana

    P.S. Love him or hate him, the govenor mentioned working to bring about the funding is an Aggie too! We are everywhere!

    Dana:

    Whew, thanks for the support!!! I was feeling out-numbered there for a while :)

    So the Gov. is an Aggie? Whoohoo, Aggies rule!

    Feeling bigger by the minute :)
    Ying
  • JADot
    JADot Member Posts: 709 Member
    kerry said:

    Dana,

    You just shut my "longhorn" mouth with that reminder!!! Ha!!! I unfortunately, was there at that game - I also went downtown to watch the Aggies come marching into town. Really an awesome sight!!

    Hook 'em,

    Kerry

    Kerry,

    The long-held belief at A&M is that it doesn't matter if Aggies lose all the games in a football season, as long as they beat UT, then it's a good season :)

    And history shows that they've had a few of these good (?) seasons :):)

    Gosh I miss TX!

    Cheers,
    Ying