    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [June 20, 1998]
    [Page 1002]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1002]]

    The President's Radio Address
    June 20, 1998

        Good morning. Tomorrow is Father's Day, the day we pay tribute to
    the irreplaceable role fathers play throughout our children's lives.
    There is no greater responsibility and no greater reward than raising a
    child. And for me, no job, not even the Presidency, has been more
    important.
        I want to talk to you today about what we're doing to protect our
    fathers, our grandfathers, and all men from one of the greatest health
    threats they face, prostate cancer. This year nearly 200,000 people will
    be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and 40,000 will die from it. In fact,
    every year, as many men die from prostate cancer as women die from
    breast cancer.
        For far too long, too little was known about prostate cancer. Too
    little was said about it out of embarrassment and fear. Because of this,
    too little was done about it as precious research dollars were spent on
    other problems.
        For 5 years now, we've worked hard to increase public awareness
    about prostate cancer and to find a cure. Since I first took office, we
    have increased funding for prostate cancer research at the National
    Institutes of Health by 100 percent. This year alone we're funding more
    than 450 critically important research projects on prostate cancer,
    ranging from prevention to detection to treatment. Last year scientists
    at the Human Genome Project and Johns Hopkins University located the
    first gene known to predispose men to prostate cancer. Prostate cancer
    is the first disease being studied by the Cancer Genome Anatomy Project,
    a very exciting new program we recently launched at the National Cancer
    Institute. We are closing in on this silent killer.
        But as far as we've come, we know many questions about prostate
    cancer remain unanswered. We do not fully understand the role of
    environmental and dietary factors in prostate cancer. We do not fully
    understand why the disease progresses at such varying rates in different
    men. We do not yet know why prostate cancer disproportionately affects
    African-American men. And we do not yet know how to eliminate the risks
    of treatment for prostate cancer that discourage too many men from
    seeing their doctors.
        The only way we will ever answer these questions and the only way we
    will ever beat prostate cancer is by continuing to invest in research.
    Today I am pleased to announce that the Department of Defense is
    awarding $60 million in grants to some of the most promising research
    projects in the country. These grants will fund innovative new studies
    to determine the causes of prostate cancer, to develop new methods of
    prevention and detection, and most of all, to discover groundbreaking
    new treatments that will save lives.
        These grants are an important step in our fight against prostate
    cancer. But we must press on. This year, as part of the historic
    legislation to protect our children from tobacco, I proposed to make the
    largest commitment in history to funding cutting-edge cancer research, a
    two-thirds increase to the National Cancer Institute. My proposal would
    also allow people on Medicare to participate in cancer clinical trials.
    This is especially important for prostate cancer, which overwhelmingly
    affects men over 65. The more older men are able to participate in these
    trials, the more we will learn about the disease and the faster we'll be
    able to find a cure.
        But 3 days ago a Republican minority in the Senate bowed to enormous
    pressure by the tobacco industry and voted to kill this legislation.
    They voted against protecting our children from tobacco, against our
    families, and they voted against increased cancer research and against
    saving lives. The American people shouldn't stand for it, and I'll keep
    fighting to reverse it.
        This Father's Day, as we celebrate how much our fathers mean to
    their children, we should also renew our commitment as fathers, as
    parents, and as Americans to our families by insisting that Congress
    join together in passing comprehensive tobacco legislation to protect
    our children, to give us the funds for cancer research, and give us the
    chance to save more fathers and to strengthen our Nation.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the
    White House.