The Truth about Lung Cancer Research Funding: The Government Is Not Focused on Lung Cancer

While the government spends a large amount of money on cancer research, it has invested relatively little specifically on lung cancer, and the survival rates show it. Quitting smoking is not going to cure lung cancer; research dollars will.

Estimated FY 2011 Federal Research Dollars
Per Cancer Death


Survival Rates 2012

Five-Year Survival Rates ...
Little Progress for Lung Cancer

Research Dollars 2012

(Estimated federal spending from the combined FY2011 research dollars of the National Cancer Institute, Department of Defense, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Estimated cancer deaths from the American Cancer Society: Cancer Facts and Figures 2011. 5-year survival rates by year of diagnosis from the SEER Cancer Statistics Review 1975-2009, posted in 2012.)

Tobacco settlement money is not going toward lung cancer research

Through 2025, the Master Settlement Agreement and agreements with individual states will pay $246 billion to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories. In 1999, the National Governors Association declared its commitment "to spending a significant portion of the tobacco settlement funds on smoking cessation programs, health care, education, and programs benefiting children." A review of the most recent Government Accountability Office report on states' allocation of their payments reveals that virtually none of this money is being spent on lung cancer research.