Bill Would Increase NCI Research on Blood Cancers

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex) is supporting a bill thatwould authorize the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to increase research on bloodcancers, particularly leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. The SenateHealth, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved the bill (S. 1094/H.R.2629) after making some changes on November 1. 

At press time, it seems likelythat Congress will pass the bill before its 2001 session ends. One change theSenate committee made was removing its specific $250 million a year researchspending target. The bill now essentially encourages the NCI to spend more.However, figures provided by the NCI show it spent $238.8 million on those threecancers in fiscal 2000, the latest year for which figures are available. 

Senatestaffers believe the figure is considerably less because the NCI sometimes"double counts" research projects, ie, puts them into more than onespending category. Blood cancers account for 11% of all cancer deaths, or 60,300persons annually. An estimated 109,500 people in the United States will bediagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma in 2001.