From the Director's Desk
California Voters to Decide Future of California Breast Cancer Research Program
On November 7, Californians will have many important decisions to make, one of which will determine the future of the CBCRP. Since the passage of the Breast Cancer Act of 1993, which created the Program, the CBCRP has been funded primarily from a 45 percent share of a two cents per pack cigarette tax (in other words, 0.9 cents per pack). This funding has made California a leader in the effort to eliminate breast cancer by creating the largest state-funded breast cancer research program in the country.
The good news is that cigarette consumption in the state has declined gradually since 1993, giving California the lowest smoking rate in the US. The bad news is that this reduction in cigarette consumption has reduced the funds available for breast cancer research by 37.5 percent, while inflation has reduced our research buying power by an additional 31 percent. This has forced the program to make difficult choices—to reduce the number of projects funded each year and to eliminate some of our larger award types.
On November 7, Californians will have the opportunity to vote on a measure that would triple the budget for breast cancer research in California. Nearly 80 percent of adult smokers become addicted to tobacco before age 18. There are clear links between smoking and several health problems, including breast cancer. Second-hand smoke is a known breast cancer risk factor, and teenaged smokers run a greater risk of developing breast cancer before they enter menopause (Band P. et al., The Lancet 360: 1044- 1049).
Proposition 86 will generate over $2 billion annually to fund disease
research, treatment, and prevention by increasing the cigarette sales
tax by $2.60 per pack. While most of the
money will go to treatment programs
and prevention services, the California
Breast Cancer Research Program
will receive one percent of the
new tax funds, or roughly $29 million
for research efforts into the cause,
detection, treatment, and prevention
of breast cancer. 
Over half of the money raised will go to treatment programs, including emergency medical treatment, nursing workforce education, tobacco cessation services, and an exchange program that trades medical student debt for service in needy areas. Most of the remaining new funds will be applied to disease prevention services, including health insurance for children, tobacco control programs, breast and cervical cancer early detection, heart disease and stroke prevention, obesity prevention, colorectal cancer programs, and asthma prevention programs.
Five percent of the new tax funds, roughly $105 million, will be applied to research. The research funds will be divided between five organizations, including the Tobacco-Related Diseases Research Program, the California Breast Cancer Research Program, and the California Cancer Registry. The funds will create a new Lung Cancer and Lung Disease Research Program and will resurrect a Cancer Research Program through the Department of Health.
The CBCRP allocates 95 percent of its revenue to funding research and education efforts. Since 1994, we have funded over $174 million in 725 research grants to 89 institutions across the state. We have established an international reputation for the highest quality research standards, and we have championed the inclusion of advocates in all phases of the funding process. We have funded the training of 184 postdoctoral fellows and supported the creation of 83 collaborative research teams. We encourage novel approaches and new ideas, and we actively help community members develop the skills to participate in breast cancer research that directly affects their communities.
The decline in our funding has restricted our researchers to smaller studies. With increased funding, the CBCRP can continue to fund important discoveries in the laboratory while also investing in new areas, such as bringing these discoveries into the clinic where they actually help women, and coordinating state-wide efforts to discover environmental influences on breast cancer and why some groups of women get more breast cancer, or die more often from breast cancer, than others.
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Marion H. E. Kavanaugh-Lynch, M.D., M.P.H.,
Director of the CBCRP
