Mainers March in D.C. for More Cancer-Related Funding
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2002–Maine’s congressional delegation responded favorably to the message delivered by 16 Mainers who arrived at the Capitol on Thursday for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life: Celebration on the Hill: help intensify national support for cancer spending and research.
The group from Maine, equipped with gifts of foam lobster claw headbands and Relay For Life Bus toy replicas, joined thousands of volunteers at the grassroots event geared toward supporting legislation to promote increased cancer research and more money for treatment as well as uniting those whose lives have been touched by the disease.
The volunteers are pressing Congress to boost spending for the National Cancer Institute and for cancer-related programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are also working toward doubling the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and providing resources for the newly formed National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
The purple t-shirted volunteers, known as relay community ambassadors, represented all 50 states. Each state decorated its own tent with banners honoring cancer survivors and victims, quilts and special touches unique to the state.
Democratic Rep. John E. Baldacci, who also has participated in Relay For Life events in Old Town and Farmington, met with volunteers at the Maine tent to show his support for the fight against cancer.
“The research is so vitally important,” Baldacci said in a phone interview Thursday. “We need to make sure that we continue to put the resources there and beef up the clinical trials, and to get more help in our area would be just tremendous.”
One of Democratic Rep. Tom Allen’s major concerns is the cost of prescription medicine, particularly chemotherapy and cancer drugs.
“He supports efforts to include screening and other preventive methods through Medicare, as well as increased funding for the NIH,” said a spokesman for Allen, who was on a plane back to Maine and unavailable for comment.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins met briefly on Capitol Hill with volunteers, posing for photographs and thanking them for their dedication. Collins has co-sponsored several bills for cancer research, including the National Cancer Act of 2002 together with California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
“It is important to take legislative action in support of increased funding for federal cancer research and research application, prevention initiatives, expanded access to care and early detection program,” Collins said in a statement Thursday.
Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, a proponent of health and cancer research, met with the Maine Relay for Life Ambassadors at the Capitol.
“We know that early detection and prevention can pay tremendous dividends in fighting cancer. By taking steps like passing the National Cancer Act, we can target our resources and screening to preventative measures that can provide the biggest bang for the federal buck,” she said in a statement issued Thursday.
Snowe was honored Thursday by the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists and the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance for her work on cancer-related issues.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
