I’ve been thinking about what I want for Christmas and the answer is… nothing.  I have everything I could ever want or need — good health, good fortune, and a loving family.  When all is said and done, nothing else really matters. I thank God everyday for my life and many blessings.

Not everyone is as fortunate as I am.  My heart goes out to my friends who are battling cancer this Christmas season and to the families of those who are mourning the loss of a loved one. Christmas for them is a particularly hard time of year.  Please know I am thinking of you and praying for you this Christmas!  Join me in remembering these people and their caregivers in your Christmas prayers.

I’ve made a Christmas wish list of the regulation and legislation that might start us down the path of bringing the 40 year War on Cancer to a “swift and successful conclusion”. This is my version of a “surge strategy” to a the seemingly endless War on Cancer.

My list are things we could do as a nation if we were really serious about winning the War on Cancer. I don’t have any illusions that there is the political will yet to do what I suggest, but these are the kinds of things that need to happen if we are to truly make progress:

Regulate Nicotine: Everyone knows tobacco plays a causative role in cancer in general, not just lung cancer.  Tobacco and (and alcohol and drug abuse) are the scourges of our society. The primary reason tobacco is so addictive is nicotine, which remains an unregulated substance in cigarettes.

The sale of nicotine and it’s use in ANY product should be strictly regulated by the FDA. Nicotine content in cigarette brands has increased by 10 percent since the tobacco settlement in 1998, according to a study by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and reported in the Boston Globe.

Tobacco companies should be mandated to reduce the nicotine content in their products over time the same way car manufacturers are mandated to reduce emissions. Candy flavored nicotine products marketed as nicotine substitutes but designed to attract and addict children should be absolutely banned.

End Tobacco Subsidies: On one hand we fund cancer research and on the other hand we subsidize tobacco farmers. Since Congress passed a 1998 federal law forcing cigarette manufacturers to pay billions for treating tobacco-related illnesses, it continues to subsidize tobacco growers to produce the crop responsible for millions of deaths and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of health problems. From 1995 to 2000 federal tobacco subsidies amounted to more than $1.1 billion.  That is more than was spent on lung cancer research in the last five years!   We need to end tobacco subsidies now.

Earmark  Excise Taxes for Cancer Research: The federal government rakes in over $8.5 billion a year in excise taxes from the sale of tobacco products. I would like to see those funds earmarked for cancer research, and specifically for cancer screening and early detection, which will save lives.

State governments also reap $15 billion in excise taxes from the sale of cigarettes, some of which is used for anti-smoking campaigns. Shouldn’t state tobacco excise taxes be used to treat nicotine addiction and fund our cancer research centers rather than filling pot holes?

Legislate Research Priorities: Congress needs to give direction to federal research funding priorities to reflect public health risks rather than to the group who shouts the loudest. It’s simply not right that lung cancer, which kills 160,000 Americans a year receives $205 million in NIH funding while HIV/AIDs research, which kills 17,000 people a year in the U.S., receives $3.1 billion. For an eye opening look at federal research funding disparities, go to http://report.nih.gov/rcdc/categories/Default.aspx

My wish list goes on and on, but most of all I want to wish all my friends and readers good health, a Merry Christmas and the happiest of new years!