How Much Money is Spent on Cancer Research?

In 2007 it is estimated that 7.6 million people died due to various forms of cancer and the projections show that 13% of all deaths are due to this disease. When you talk about cancer it is a group of diseases that grow uncontrollably and are often known to spread throughout the body. Furthermore this affliction shows no discrimination going after all races of people at nearly every age regardless of their lifestyle. It has been called nature's killing machine by some scientists over the years.

With such a worldwide impact it's no wonder that so many people are looking into a cure and asking how much money is spent on cancer research? Well there really isn't an exact answer due to the fact that several companies have different funding and others give private donations. But here are some of the facts that we do know from the medical world. Since 1946 it is said that the American Cancer Society has invested over $2 billion in research trying to find a cure. Several sources claim that between $10-12 million a year is spent by the ACS in the state of California alone. The NCI is another institute said to spend around $5-6 million a year researching and trying to develop treatment for those effected by this disease.

I will say this to those asking how much money is spent on cancer research. Check out those numbers above and then go look at how much money is spent each year on sports in the United States. The state of California spends $10-12 million a year searching for a cure. Then you have Manny Ramirez who told the LA Dodgers that $22.5 million a year wasn't enough money to play baseball for their team. When you have probably hundreds of athletes making more money that what entire states have to invest into medical funding then that truly shows how sick things have become in this country.

So the next time somebody asks you how much money is spent on cancer research there are several really good answers. I guess somebody could always quote the numbers mentioned in the second paragraph of this article. But then again you could always say well just a little bit less than what the highest paid professional athletes make it wouldn't be far from the truth.

There are those out there that buy into the conspiracy theory that some people don't want to find a better easier and ultimately cheaper cure. It sounds extremely silly but when you see exactly how much money is spent on cancer research it makes you second guess at times. I guess in the future everyone just has to keep their fingers crossed and hope for the best because the odds are that 1 out of every 2 men and 1 out of every 3 women reading this article will end up cancer at some point in their lifetime.

Source(s) - http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5953035/how-much-money-is-spent-on-cancer-research-a-year , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_research#Funding