U.S. Must Improve Access To Cancer Screening, Treatment, Cyclist Armstrong Writes

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 14 May 2008 - 5:00 PST

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"In some communities, death rates" from cancer are "substantially higher than in others," and the rates are "shamefully high among minorities and the poor because many lack access to lifesaving prevention and treatment measures," Lance Armstrong, a cyclist and testicular cancer survivor, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. "On many levels, we know how to defeat cancer; we just don't do it," according to Armstrong.

He cites increased funds for cancer research, prevention programs and early detection programs; improved access to screening; increased support for patients with the disease; and more focus on healthier lifestyles as "priorities we must pursue." In addition, he cites the need for increased funds for the National Cancer Institute and NIH, as well as an effort to "streamline the laborious process of getting breakthroughs from lab to clinic" through the elimination of "red tape of questionable necessity that discourages innovation in the private sector."

He adds that the private sector "must work to ensure that Americans fighting cancer have access to new treatments and therapies." U.S. residents also should ask their "local, state and national lawmakers what steps they'll take against tobacco, the No. 1 cause of cancer, and how they'll ensure that all of us ... have access to prevention efforts, early screening and effective treatment," according to Armstrong (Armstrong, Wall Street Journal, 5/13).

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