Crapo Ensures Cancer Research Funding

Washington, DC â?? Idaho Senator Mike Crapo has prevented a reduction in funding to cancer research programs that target prostate, ovarian, breast and other forms of cancer. Crapo led a successful fight to restore funding for the Department of Defenseâ??s (DoD) Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Programs after language in the Senateâ??s 2005 DoD Appropriations bill threatened to reduce the amount allocated to the initiatives. The restored funding includes an allocation of $85 million for prostate cancer research. The change comes after Crapo and 52 of his Senate colleagues sent a letter to the House and Senate Conferees who are working on reconciling the House and Senate versions of the bill, requesting that funding for the Programs continue at 2004 levels. The full Senate is expected to vote on the Conference Report this week. Crapo specifically lauded the allocation for prostate cancer research. â??Prostate cancer is the most diagnosed non-skin cancer in America and the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men. These funds will help to ensure that promising treatments move from the scientific bench to the patientâ??s bedside.â??In the bipartisan letter to the Conferees, Crapo discussed the importance of the fight against cancer. â??Millions of Americans with cancer, as well as their friends and family, rely on the hope of continued progress and continued clinical advances against this deadly disease. The DoD Peer-Reviewed Cancer Research Programs fund a wide variety of critical, life saving research on devastating illnesses that challenge hundreds of thousands of new patients and their families each year. They are promising vehicles for forging new ideas and scientific breakthroughs. The programs are essential in presenting new opportunities in cancer screening, detection and treatment.â?? The DoD Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Programs include research efforts for four forms of cancer: leukemia, prostate, ovarian and breast cancers. The programs engage experts from a wide variety of disciplines to collaborate on cancer research. The initiativesâ?? innovative grant structure brings scientists and consumers together to make key policy decisions about cancer research. The DoD Appropriations Bill, as passed by the Senate, lumped all of the individual research programs within the peer review program into a single account and reduced funding for the account. Crapoâ??s letter requested that each of the four programs be individually earmarked as in prior years and that funding not be reduced for the coming year. Crapo was diagnosed with and treated for prostate cancer in January of 2000, and has since become a strong advocate for cancer research and early detection. He recently served as a starter for â??Main Street Mileâ??A Mile for Menâ??s Health,â?? a charity race designed to fund prostate cancer research. He is in his fourth year of sponsoring the Mike Crapo Health Awareness Booths at local fairs in Idaho where hundreds of early detection tests for prostate cancer have been performed for free or at a reduced cost. ###