Commitment to a world without cancer

The author is a layperson, health educator, and political oncologist who is, in addition to her work at the cancer center at UCLA, a long-time volunteer with the American Cancer Society. She has served the National Cancer Institute as a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board and is currently a member of its Board of Scientific Counselors, Division of Cancer Control. In these various roles she was part of the lay leadership that influenced and cooperated with the Nixon administration in its efforts to pass the National Cancer Act of 1971. She has participated continually in the implementation of the National Cancer Program and Act since 1971. This essay reviews the history of our nation's support of cancer research, commencing with the founding of the American Cancer Society. It considers the factors that led to the passage of the National Cancer Act in 1971. It then comments on the interaction between universities, the National Cancer Institute, and the Cancer Act, which has produced the "cancer business" that has come of age since the Cancer Act was passed. This commentary does not review the advances made in research and clinical practice as a result of the passage of the National Cancer Act of 1971. Others, better qualified, will do that in this journal and in other publications as well. These views are concerned with the process, the systems, and ancillary activities that have developed as a consequence of the national will to conquer cancer. They are meant to highlight several portions of the whole. The "seeds" of cancer consciousness sown early by the American Cancer Society and those so firmly planted in research and in the creation of a national network of researchers, patient care institutions, and information systems by the National Cancer Institute and the National Cancer Program Plan and Act of 1971 have reaped a harvest of independent programs and even businesses that have given substance to the hopes of those seeking to achieve a world without cancer.