EDITORIAL: Some cancers need more funding

Now that it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, replete with NFL players colorfully accessorized in pink, it's important to be aware of something often overlooked: Many other cancers get short shrift.

The federal National Cancer Institute estimates how many years of life are lost to each of the major categories of cancer. It also discloses how much it spends on research into each of these categories. Combining this data (all from 2006) reveals how much some cancers are neglected relative to others. Breast cancer, for example, got $755 per year of life lost. But men shouldn't feel slighted, since prostate cancer got $1,115. Stomach cancer, on the other hand, got just $65. Lung cancer, which is the most common kind, got $102.

The reasons for these gaping disparities aren't sinister. NCI funding is based on the judgment of respected outside scientists enlisted to review research proposals the government receives. And according to NCI, high-quality grant requests for stomach and some other poorly funded cancers are scarce. In addition, some cancers are so reliably fatal that they leave few survivors to engage in fundraising and advocacy.

NCI funds a lot of cancer research, after all, but fundraising pays for some too - which is why so many football players are wearing pink this month. A tip of the hat to breast-cancer activists on this success. Maybe, someday, someone will find a way to make the cause of stomach cancer fashionable too. hN