I am distressed when anything stifles any pursuit of raising funds to fight cancer. More resources are always needed for treatment, research, education, and preventive measures. Granted, I have been critical in my writings regarding the priorities of Komen, National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, and other funding agencies, but I have consistently maintained that all anti-cancer efforts deserve to be supported. Unfortunately, when these agencies grow into huge institutions, decisions on how they spend their millions become of interest to the media and politicians who pounce on any misstep.  Such is the present predicament with Komen as thousands of former supporters jump ship.

My last post commented on the Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood issue. Politics will continue to dominate the allocation of funds from cancer charities. Komen has provided over a billion dollars to cancer research and prevention since its inception. I applaud that. With annual revenues approaching a half billion now, it is the third largest contributor to the war on cancer. The government’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) grants over $5 billion each year, and the American Cancer Society (ACS) spends about $1billion every year respectively on research and patient care. Sadly, only about 1% of the total research projects funded annually goes for anything other than the endless search for better drugs, better radiation, and better surgery. This is how we have been fighting cancer for over a half century with 99% of every tax and donation dollar each of us provides. Yet, that remaining 1% going to research complementary therapies has proven relatively more effective that anything conventional medicine is doing.