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| Lawmakers to consider $3 billion push for cure |
| The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 1/21/2007 |
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AUSTIN - Faced with a relative decline in federal research funds, Texas lawmakers are drawing up plans to spend billions of dollars to find a cure for cancer, officials said Saturday.
Promoted in part by leading Texas research institutions, current and former state officials and seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor who lives in Austin, the project would cost about $3 billion and would ultimately require voter approval, officials familiar with the discussions said Saturday.
"Nothing is set in stone," said Robert Black, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry who confirmed that some of the major players will meet in Austin on Monday to discuss the project.
"We are working on an initiative that will help us both to retain and recruit research talent as well as to make our institutions here leaders in cancer research," Black said. "The governor is very serious about it."
Although medical research and development has been largely the federal government's domain, that funding has gone flat, and states have increasingly pushed their own initiatives.
Federal restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research have also contributed to the increased state role. In 2004, California voters approved spending $3 billion over 10 years on embryonic stem-cell research, which many Republican politicians -- and their conservative constituents -- consider immoral.
Efforts to expand cancer research funding in Texas, where Republicans control every statewide office and both houses of the Legislature, haven't included discussions about embryonic stem-cell research, said state Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland.
Keffer said the goal is to mount a "full-frontal attack on the disease."
He said he would be "honored" to sponsor legislation that would create a $3 billion research pool. But financial details are far from complete, he said.
Keffer said discussions center on generating the funds by issuing general obligation bonds, a move that requires voter approval.
Keffer said proponents of the project are planning to meet Monday at the Four Seasons hotel in Austin. Among the expected participants are Armstrong and former state Comptroller John Sharp, who has been a leading organizer of the project behind the scenes. Sharp, a Democrat, crossed the partisan aisle last year and teamed with Perry, once a bitter rival, to promote a fix to the state's business tax.
Officials also said state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, is backing the initiative. She could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Calls to the office of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, were not returned.
Armstrong, who survived testicular cancer, has advocated a more robust government effort to find a cure for cancer.
The United States for years led the world in basic research but, as a percentage of gross domestic product, has fallen behind Finland, Japan, South Korea and Sweden, according to Stateline.org, published by the nonprofit Pew Research Center.
On Wednesday, Armstrong said it is "not acceptable that the budget shrinks" for research into the nation's leading causes of death. He said it is particularly noteworthy that only 1 percent of research money is used to "focus on the thing that kills ... metastasis." Metastasis is the process by which cancer spreads.
While many researchers say overall scientific dollars have declined, the White House points to figures showing that since 2001, cancer-research funding has increased by 26 percent at the National Institutes of Health and by 24 percent at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Lance Armstrong and Cathy Bonner at the legislative kick-off to pass the
cancer research initiatives.
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