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Biotech / Medical : Theragenics (TGX) on the up and up -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bill hopkins who wrote (875)	6/22/1998 4:30:00 AM
From: Robert Henry	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1055

04:13 PM ET 06/20/98 Clinton earmarks money for prostate cancer fight (Adds American Urological Association comment in grafs 10-13) By Adam Entous WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton Saturday stepped up the fight against prostate cancer, announcing $59 million for new research and calling on Congress to boost National Institutes of Health funding to improve screening and treatment. In his Father's Day radio address, Clinton said the grants would be awarded by the Defense Department to promising researchers making important contributions to the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. Clinton also renewed his call on Congress to pass anti-tobacco legislation. ''This Father's Day, as we celebrate how much our fathers mean to their children, we should also renew our commitment as fathers, as parents and as Americans, to our families, by insisting that Congress join together in passing comprehensive tobacco legislation to protect our children, to give us the funds for cancer research, and give us the chance to save more fathers and to strengthen our nation,'' Clinton said. This year, nearly 200,000 men are expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, accounting for 30 percent of cancer in men, and nearly 40,000 men are projected to die from the disease, about the same number of women who will die of breast cancer. Clinton said prostate cancer researchers were making progress and funding at NIH had already been increased. Clinton said 450 research projects at the National Cancer Institute were underway to study environmental, dietary and other influences on the disease. ''We are closing in on this silent killer,'' Clinton said. ''But as far as we've come, we know many questions about prostate cancer remain unanswered.'' ''These grants will fund innovative studies to determine the causes of prostate cancer, to develop new methods of prevention and detection, and most of all, to discover ground breaking new treatments that will save lives,'' the president said. Clinton called on Congress to support his budget proposals, which include a 65 percent increase in cancer research at NIH over the next five years. The American Urological Association lauded Clinton for the additional funding and for highlighting the disease. ''This calls attention in a very dramatic way, in a very positive way to prostate cancer as a national health-critical problem,'' said Dr. Gerald Sufrin, who heads the group's research committee. The push for more research funding comes as the country's aging male population increases its risk for getting the disease and also at a time of great promise in advancing the fight against prostate cancer, Sufrin said. ''It's not unreasonable to assume that there will be a cure in our lifetime,'' he added. Clinton also used his radio address to criticize Republicans in Congress for scuttling landmark anti-smoking legislation. ''Three days ago, a Republican minority in the Senate, bowed to enormous pressure by the tobacco industry, and voted to kill this legislation. They voted against protecting our children from tobacco, against our families, and they voted against increased cancer research, and against saving lives,'' Clinton said. ''The American people shouldn't stand for it, and I'll keep fighting to reverse it.'' ^REUTERS@