The President's decision to accept the HEW appropriation bill hammered out by House-Senate conferees has sent NIH morale soaring and has guaranteed increased cancer research efforts for another year.
The increasing incidence of pancreatic cancer, expected to cause 20,000 deaths a year by 1975, making it the fourth-leading cancer killer, has elevated this cancer site into the major league. James A. Peters, director of NCI's Division of Cancer Cause & Prevention, conveyed this information to the National Cancer Advisory Board.
The National Cancer Advisory Board, declining to seek specific legislation to establish maximum tar and nicotine levels in cigarettes, has called on the federal government to take steps for reducing the health hazards from smoking cigarettes.
Basic research should have at least 20% of the budget at the Frederick Cancer Research Center and should be directed by a person "of outstanding caliber and stature ... whose personality, philosophy, and attitudes will set the tone of the whole program and whose inspiration and leadership will create an esprit de corps that is essential to success."
Guidelines to be used in determining when patient care costs will be paid by funds allocated from NCI's Cancer Control Program have been adopted and are now in force.
