This week in California, we began a new and potentially historic effort to end cancer.
On Monday in Los Angeles, with the support of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, leading cancer researchers and organizations dedicated to finding a cure, we kicked off our California Cancer Research Act campaign.
The California Cancer Research Act will make California stronger by saving lives, stopping kids from smoking, and investing more money than any other state in the country to find solutions for cancer. The initiative, which would raise $780 million annually through a $1 per pack tax on cigarettes, would provide an ongoing source of funds to allow California's leading medical researchers to pursue new ways to detect, treat, prevent and cure cancer and other tobacco-related illnesses.
The money raised from tobacco sales would be administered by scientists, researchers and universities -- not by politicians.
We are honored to be co-chairing this campaign on behalf of all of the incredible people dedicated to ending cancer. The American Cancer Society. The American Lung Association. The American Heart Association. Stand Up to Cancer. We can go on and on.
We hate cancer. We have both been personally touched by the disease, as has everyone else in America, either directly or indirectly. It is estimated that more than 500,000 Americans will die of cancer this year. More than 1,500 people a day. Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide and the second highest cause of death in the U.S., accounting for nearly one of every four lives lost.
The successful passage of the California Cancer Research Act would help reduce these numbers -- and make California stronger along the way. A report by Tobacco Free Kids estimates that this initiative will
We are excited to see that California is already mobilizing to make history in the fight against cancer.
Institutions including schools in the UC system, Stanford, City of Hope and world-renowned Cedars-Sinai would benefit from millions of dollars in annual funding for cancer research -- and that is what is motivating people to get involved in supporting this measure.
We all know that as California goes, so goes the rest of the nation and that is what makes this initiative so important. If the people of California are successful in setting a new record for cancer research funding, it will only be a matter of time before the entire country makes fighting cancer a top priority.
Then I suggest you both see the documentary, "Gasland."
Especially Lance, since he's a Texas boy.
As long as the oil and gas corporations are allowed to pollute our air and water with POISONS that are proven and known carcinogens, you will be fighting corporations that we only can guess at the power of..
I know it was instrumental to me quitting smoking.
testing on animals has just produced torment. i cant support any program that hasn't evolved to computer models. animal testing is torture.
People might say that things like this will cause the poor to give up cigarrettes, but that's easier said than done. Cigarettes are often the only thing that keeps these people going through their tough days. You might not understand it, but this is just one of those things--like coffee and booze--that allow people to function adequately to do those things society imposes on us. It's kind of like the things that world-class athletes have to do to get through their occupations...and they are demonized for them too.
So now, the person in California is probably saying to himself (if he's a 2 carton a week smoker) "$20-$25 extra dollars a week, $100-$150 a month, where is it going to come from?"
My guess is he'll start skipping lunches (if he hasn't already) or breakfasts. Perhaps he'll dump the gym membership or some other health related activity. Perhaps he'll not fill the medications he has to take or skip going to the doctor altogether.
Some good might come from all this, but a lot of pain too. It's too bad that if any good does come out of this, the ones who break their backs raising the funds--the smokers--won't get any thanks, appreciation, or accomodation. You all are in the majority, and all the smokers are going to submit to whatever you all decide.
What we need to to is stop the precursor. Plastics, chemicals, and air pollution.
The really scary thing is that vegetation is even more sensitive to air pollution than people. Rising levels of background tropospheric ozone are toxic to plants, and cause enormous reductions in annual crop yields and quality.
Worse still, trees that are exposed to ozone season after season are dying at a rapidly accelerating rate. It is as though we have subjected them to decades of smoking and now they all have cancer!
Plants are the base of the food chain - and the source of much of the oxygen we need to breathe. We have to stop emitting dirty fuel emissions and switch to clean energy before famine results.
photos of damage to foliage form ozone, and links to scientific research at http://www.witsendnj.blogspot.com/
MIT and philanthropist unite diverse specialists in common quest
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2011/03/04/pulling_together_in_cancer_fight/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed6
This campaign seems a bit lopsided (at least as presented here) which gives the impression that stopping smoking will end cancer.
However, I applaud efforts to keep kids from starting smoking ... so it's a good thing.
However, I agree that any comprehensive instruction against the dangers of smoking from their contributons to cancer, or as a gateway drug etc is a good thing. Parents need to take an active role, which includes setting a good example by not smoking themselves.
California has been a leader in cancer research including several winners of the Nobel prize for medicine.
That being said, it would do both of your well to read two books before you start this campaign.
The first book is "World Without Cancer" by G. Edward Griffin which gives important background on cancer being used by the elites as a method of population control in the United States.
That book will also point you to the anti-cancer Vitamin B-17 which is deliberately held out of mainstream society.
The other books are by German Doctor Johanna Budwig, now deceased. He remarkable career saw her name nominated for a Nobel Prize a record 6 times for her work in simply using diet to recover the health of advanced cancer patients that other doctors had given up on. But since Nobel appointments are controlled by the elites that are well protected by the Corporate Media, which they also control, Dr. Budwig was never awarded the Nobel Prize from which she could relate her cancer diet recovery program from a world podium.
Her two books were (1) Flax Oil as true aid against Arthritis, Heart Infarction, Cancer and other Diseases and (2) The Oil Protein Diet Cookbook.
Then there is that 30,000 Hunza Tribe living isolated 1/2 up a Himalayan Mountain that use natural Vitamin B-17and have no cancer.