Funding follows public prejudice

cancer in this country because we know the primary cause is tobacco. The problem has almost moved from it being a research problem to being a public health problem.' One of the problems facing researchers is that lung cancer patients are more ill by the time they are diagnosed than many other patients. But there has been substantial progress in fighting the disease, at least in men from the higher social classes, since scientists first established the link with tobacco smoke. However, deaths among women are still rising. In contrast breast cancer gets a relatively high proportion of funding compared with its actual incidence. Although numbers of patients with the disease are rising, survival rates are also improving. Leukaemia, an area where Britain is a world leader in research, also enjoys high levels of financial support. Cancer of the blood is easier to study and its high incidence among children helps to create a high emotional attachment to members of the public. Rich pickings: New studies across 15 major UK cancer funding bodies reveal that money often follows the diseases highest in public profile. Whereas lung cancer receives just a small amount of cash, leukaemia, which affects children more than many other cancers, received a high level of funding.