CBS Uses Kennedy Diagnosis to Critique Government Cancer Funding
It didn’t take long for the “CBS Evening News” to blast the government for funding cuts after the announcement that Sen. Ted Kennedy of
“Evening News” began its series, “The War on Cancer: Where We Stand,” May 20 and took the federal government to task.
“The news today that Sen. Ted Kennedy has cancer reminds us again how this disease can change our lives in an instant,” “Evening News” anchor Katie Couric said. “Nearly one in two men and more than one in three women in this country will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. And yet since 2004, federal funding for research into the four most common kinds of cancer – lung, colon, breast and prostate – has been cut by more than $100 million.”
However, overall cancer funding has actually increased according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) 2007 Fact Book. The NCI is part of the National Institutes for Health.
“The NCI budget has increased by $200.3 million – or 4.4% – since FY 2003.
However, Couric interviewed one cancer researcher that connected economic problems and the
“I think we’re at very high risk for losing some of our best and brightest young people,” Dr. David Nanus, co-chief oncologist at the
Couric compared the status of funding in the
“[S]till others are heading overseas where governments and companies in Asia and
According to Couric, Odom has “has a staff of three and has secured financial backing to the tune of more than $1.2 million a year.”
“The difference is that Cancer Research
But even with all that funding, the cancer incidence rate in the
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