Welcome to the final issue of the NCI Cancer Bulletin for 2006. This issue is very special, not just because it's the conclusion of the Bulletin's third year, but because it's dedicated to an important event: the 35th anniversary of the enactment of the National Cancer Act of 1971 (NCA).

On such a momentous occasion, I felt it appropriate to highlight two former members of Congress who have been instrumental in making it possible for NCI to be the worldwide leader in cancer research, a position from which we have been able to accelerate the pace of scientific progress.  Read more  

December 23, 2006, marks the 35th anniversary of the passage of the NCA, a landmark statute that committed the United States' will and resources toward reducing the burden of cancer, and entrusted the leadership of that effort to NCI.

The NCA was passed despite federal spending constraints, in a year when NCI's budget was less than $200 million. NCI Director Dr. Carl G. Baker had addressed a special Senate panel, chaired by Senator Ralph Yarborough (D-Tex.), earlier that year. The concerns he expressed, as well as the bold vision he laid out for the panel, were eventually encompassed in the NCA. This Act established a greater Executive Branch relationship with the National Cancer Program, converting the position of NCI director to a Presidential appointment and mandating that the NCI director administer the National Cancer Program with the advice of a President-appointed National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB). In addition, the NCA authorized NCI to submit its annual budget request (the "bypass budget") directly to the President.  Read more  

The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads the national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.