Award is highest honor bestowed by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Dearborn, Mich. – Today United States Representative John Dingell was awarded the National Distinguished Advocacy Award, the most prestigious honor bestowed by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), in gratitude for the Representative’s years of relentless commitment to strong public health and cancer policies.
The annual award is given by ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, to select lawmakers who demonstrate solid, consistent leadership in the area of cancer-related public policy advocacy.
“As a lifelong supporter of public health policy, we have always counted on Mr. Dingell for support and leadership,” said said Peter Sheldon, board member of the American Cancer Society, Great Lakes Division, and board member of ACS CAN, which is based in Washington, D.C.
Congressman Dingell had a lead role in crafting national health reform legislation, and he authored the Patient’s Bill of Rights. A tireless advocate for improving access to health care over five decades, he was instrumental in the historic passage of Medicare, Medicaid, and more recently, Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act and the Affordable Care Act.
Rep. Dingell has also been a strong voice in Congress for increased in federal funding for cancer research, beginning with the National Cancer Act in 1971 and has continued to push for increased funding for the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute and the Center for Diseases Control. More recently, the Representative supported the reauthorization of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, as well as voting to increase the federal tobacco tax. Since then the Nation’s war on cancer has brought millions of dollars and jobs to the national economy as well as raising the five-year cancer survivorship rate from less than 50 percent to 68 percent today.
“Some of my colleagues in Washington don’t yet understand the importance of medical research, whether for finding a cure for cancer, treatments for diabetes, discovering new medicines, or studying new diseases,” Dingell commented at the award presentation. “They will say that America can no longer afford to invest in medical research to find cures for cancer or treatments for diabetes. They will say that health care reform is too costly to make a difference in our health care system. They’re wrong. I believe that the investments we make today will lead to significant gains in the fight against cancer and other diseases, while improving the health of all Americans. We must have the fortitude to finish what we’ve started.”
ACS CAN is the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate organization of the American Cancer Society, dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage lawmakers, candidates and government officials to support laws and policies that will make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.
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