When we consider the “cancer economy,” we must understand where the money comes from and where it goes.  The biggest provider of funds for cancer research is the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a government funded agency.  Its budget proposal for 2010 was $5.1 billion.  This budget has increased more than 50% in the last decade.  The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a non-government fund raising institution that receives most of its money through donations from major fund raising projects.  The ACS took in $1.8 billion in public support, grants, gains, and investments in 2008.  These two flagship institutions manage most of the billions of dollars that are collected and funneled into the hundreds of research programs and medical institutions each year.  Whether from taxes paid or donations volunteered, each and every one of us shares in providing both institutions well over $6 billion annually year after year.  Of course, there are many other national and local charities, such as the Komen Foundation, that raise the total price of the war on cancer far above that amount.

President Nixon’s State of the Union speech on January 22, 1971 included one of his principal goals–to eradicate cancer.  He declared:

” I will ask for an appropriation of an extra $100 million to launch an intensive campaign to find a cure for cancer, and I will ask later for whatever additional funds can effectively be used.  The time has come in America when the same kind of concentrated effort that split the atom and took man to the moon should be turned toward conquering this dread disease.  Let us make a total national commitment to achieve this goal.  America has long been the wealthiest nation in the world.  Now it is time we became the healthiest nation in the world.”