Cancer News

Mesothelioma (meso) is an asbestos-related cancer that invades the lining of the lungs, abdomen, heart or testicles, causing excruciating pain and death. Government and industry have known about the disease for half a century, and legal disputes over liability have consumed billions of dollars. But the need for research funding to develop treatments has largely been ignored. There is no designated federal funding for meso research. As a result, today's standard treatments usually have only a very limited effect and the average survival is only 4 to 14 months.

Meso kills thousands of Americans each year, it has a long latency (30 years average) and its incidence is rising. For decades, asbestos was used heavily in Navy ships and shipyards, in industrial workplaces, and in the construction of virtually all homes, schools and office buildings. Most at risk are the millions of U.S. workers and servicemen who were exposed almost daily, as well as their wives and children -- exposed when they brought the fibers home each night on their hair, skin and clothes.

Americans continue to be put at risk today. Even short-term, low exposures can cause the disease, and the EPA estimates that asbestos is present in as many as 35 million U.S. homes. It still has not been banned in the U.S. and is used in over 3,000 products. Hundreds of tons were released into New York's air from the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Therefore, MARF is calling on the government to join in a public-private partnership to advance critically-needed meso research. MARF, the nation's largest private source of independent meso research funding, has developed a detailed proposal for a National Mesothelioma Research and Treatment Program (NMRTP). Under the NMRTP, the federal government would invest $30 million per year to help develop recent advances in meso early detection, prevention, and treatment of meso.

Five days ago MARF began circulating a petition calling on Congress to appropriate the funds necessary for the NMRTP. Over 1200 individuals have already signed. MARF hopes to gather 10,000 signatures by March 15 and submit them to the Senate Appropriations Committee, so that the NMRTP proposal can be included in Congress's initial budget submission.

According to MARF, the NMRTP presents an historic opportunity for federal leaders to end the tragedy of mesothelioma. For decades meso was dismissed with the self-defeating rationale that "the disease is incurable, so why try?" But with an investment of over $2 million in meso research during the last five years, MARF has established that meso has the potential to become a curable cancer. Indeed medical experts who specialize in meso now believe that with an appropriate commitment of resources, effective treatments for the tumor, and even methods to detect and prevent it before symptoms erupt, are within reach.

"Just in time," says MARF Communications Director and meso patient Klaus Brauch. Brauch authored an exhaustive MARF report documenting that at least 100,000 firefighters, police officers, rescue workers and New York City residents, workers and school children were exposed to potentially lethal amounts of asbestos following the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11.

"Unless we act now to fully develop the recent breakthroughs in early detection, prevention and treatment, we are virtually guaranteed to have more victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack in the next 10 to 30 years," he says. "I cannot believe that America will stand by as our brave first responders succumb to cancer caused by this horrific act. We have a warning and time to take action but not unlimited time."

Resources are not unlimited either, but even with anticipated cuts in domestic spending, MARF is confident that the resources can be found. The National Cancer Institute, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Defense all significantly fund research in diseases other than meso. Their proposed budgets for 2006 are, respectively, $4.8 billion, $70.8 billion, and $401.7 billion. The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering controversial legislation to create a $140 billion trust fund to "compensate" asbestos disease victims after they get sick. "Surely Congress can find $30 million to prevent the suffering and death in the first place," says MARF Executive Director Christopher Hahn.

"The notion that our hands are tied, and that meso is a horrible death sentence that we cannot do anything about is dangerously apathetic, outdated and misinformed," Hahn continues. "It would be unconscionable for Congress to tell meso victims that it is simply giving up on this disease. Up to one third of these victims served our country in Navy ships and shipyards. 'Surrender' is not in their vocabulary."