Policy Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Policy Change - Essay Example To attack this disease in the coming decades will require a government policy that elevates the importance of cancer research, adequately funds the program, and makes funding available to the most promising research. Cancer research has been typically funded by organizations such as the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) or university medical centers. The NCI is the principle governmental agency that is responsible for the nations cancer research policies. It has seen its budget reduced in 2006 and 2007 when it received $4.75 billion dollars from the US Congress ("Cancer Research Funding"). The agency is charged with determining which types of cancer are researched and where to give their scarce resources. The research needs to be split among the important aspects of prevention, treatment, and cure. Dividing up the funding is often impacted by political and social pressures. Advocates for breast cancer research fought for years to get adequate funding in the face of national gender bias. If a cancer only afflicts a certain race or ethnicity, it may require extreme lobbying to get the attention it deserves. Social pressures often place the responsibili ty for prevention and the contracting of the disease on the individual, such as when lung cancer is caused by smoking (Clarke and Everest 2598). Researchers often compete for private donations based on these social pressures or political expediency. An important aspect of a national policy would be to force politicians to consider science, while removing doctors from the role of politician (Hoff and Bretthaur). To accomplish this all cancer research should be brought under the umbrella of a central organization. To make this policy change would require the overwhelming support of the public. To get this accomplished it would need to be elevated to the level of a national debate. The current presidential candidates could introduce