As you know, it is a presidential election year. The record number of voters who have participated in this year's presidential primaries and caucuses indicate that Americans want to make their voices heard. For those of us who have fought, day after day, year after year, to eradicate breast cancer, this renewed interest in public policy is exciting. Breast cancer is not only a medical or scientific issue: it is a political issue. There are few remaining primary contests and the general election is fast approaching.
Breast cancer advocates can continue to press candidates on issues of importance to the National Breast Cancer Coalition: access to quality health care for all; federal funding for breast cancer research; and what each candidate would do as President to eradicate breast cancer. We must let our elected officials and candidates for office know that we will pay attention to their plans (or lack of plans) to eradicate breast cancer and that will help decide our votes.
For this reason, the NBCC asked all candidates running for president to tell us what they would do to eradicate breast cancer, and posted the responses on www.BreastCancerCaucus.org. Here is an example of a video response from a candidate. Visit the site for additional responses.
As you probably know more than 240,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. NBCC is trying to get that many people to sign this voter pledge: "In the 2008 primary, caucus and general elections, I pledge to vote to eradicate breast cancer."
I urge you to join us and take the pledge. Once you've taken the pledge, forward it to your friends. And, if you're planning to be part of a community activity - a health fair, a 10K race, or a community picnic - take a copy of the pledge along, and get all the voters there to sign too. Being part of the political process is one of the most important things we can do as advocates committed to ending breast cancer.
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