Vice President Joe Biden, in a Rose Garden address announcing his decision to not run for president, called for a national commitment to end cancer—expressing that, were he to run and be elected, it would be a goal of his presidency.
“If I could be anything, I would have wanted to have been the president that ended cancer, because it’s possible,” Biden said Oct. 21. He said that his window of opportunity to mount a winning campaign had closed. “While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent,” he said.
His son, Beau Biden, the attorney general of Delaware, had been diagnosed with brain cancer and died in May of this year, at age 46.
“I believe that we need a moon shot in this country to cure cancer. It’s personal. But I know we can do this,” the vice president said.
“The president and I have already been working hard on increasing funding for research and development, because there are so many breakthroughs just on the horizon in science and medicine, the things that are just about to happen. And we can make them real with an absolute national commitment to end cancer, as we know it today.
“And I’m going to spend the next 15 months in this office pushing as hard as I can to accomplish this, because I know there are Democrats and Republicans on the Hill who share our passion, our passion to silence this deadly disease.”
Margaret Foti, chief executive officer of the American Association for Cancer Research, said in a statement: “We extend our deepest sympathy to Vice President Biden and his family for the loss of his son Beau to cancer, and thank the vice president for his unequivocal support of cancer research during his announcement yesterday at the White House.
“The vice president is absolutely correct: We are at a turning point in cancer research, with many new advances in recent years and incredible breakthroughs on the horizon.
“However, while tremendous progress has been made against this insidious disease, our nation’s ability to ensure future progress for cancer patients will require more research and more funding for the federal agencies that are vital for fueling progress against cancer, in particular the NIH, NCI, and FDA.
“Investments in these federal agencies will also help mitigate the immense economic cost of cancer. In the United States alone, it is estimated that the direct medical costs of cancer care in 2010 were nearly $125 billion, and that these costs will likely rise to $156 billion in 2020.”
