[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 3 (Monday, January 22, 2007)]
[Pages 45-48]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Discussion on Advances in Cancer Prevention in Bethesda, 
Maryland

January 17, 2007

    The President. Thanks, Michael. I appreciate you joining us. I love 
coming to the NIH; it is an amazing place. It is an amazing place 
because it is full of decent, caring, smart people, all aiming to save 
lives. And I truly believe the NIH is one of America's greatest assets, 
and it needs to be nourished.
    And I'm real pleased to be working with Elias and the good folks who 
work here to make sure that there's ample resources to fund these 
incredible projects that are taking place. And we'll talk about some of 
them today. The purpose of the meeting is to let the American people 
understand what kind of work takes place here and some of the practical 
applications of the discoveries that are being made. Obviously, we're 
all very concerned about cancer--and, John, thank you for joining us.
    First, I'm pleased that we're funding cancer research. We're up 
about 25 or 26 percent since 2001. It's a commitment that I made when I 
first came to Washington; it's a commitment we're keeping. And the 
reason why it makes sense to spend taxpayers' money on cancer research 
is that we can make some good progress and have. Interestingly enough, 
this is the second consecutive year there was a drop in the number of 
cancer deaths in the United States, and the drop

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this year was the steepest ever recorded. And the reason I bring that 
statistic up is that progress is being made. In other words, there are 
tangible results as a result of the research that takes place around the 
country, and a lot of it focused here at the NIH.
    I had a fantastic experience today with some smart docs talking 
about how they can use genetic research, which Francis will talk about, 
to create cures for a lot of diseases. We particularly focused on kidney 
cancer today. And I strongly believe that it makes sense for us to 
progress and take advantage of the research that the Human Genome 
Project has yielded.
    However, I really want to make it clear to the Congress that I hope 
they pass legislation that makes genetic discrimination illegal. In 
other words, if a person is willing to share his or her genetic 
information, it is important that that information not be exploited in 
improper ways--and Congress can pass good legislation to prevent that 
from happening. In other words, we want medical research to go forward 
without an individual fearing of personal discrimination.
    Finally, I'm real pleased about the announcement made earlier on the 
HPV virus--vaccine. I don't know if our citizens know, but 70 percent of 
all cervical cancer comes from HPV virus. And as a result of good work 
here, and other places, a vaccine has been developed that the Government 
will dispense to those who qualify, all aiming to continue to build on 
the progress being made in dealing with cancer.
    And so, I'm very pleased with the job your folks are doing here, and 
I'm so grateful for you all to join us. I'm looking forward to hearing 
what you have to say. You'll be happy to hear my long-windedness is 
about to end. [Laughter] But thanks for coming.
    Michael.
    Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O. Leavitt. Doctor, 
we need to get some background on what's happening here at NIH.

[At this point, Elias A. Zerhouni, Director, National Institutes of 
Health, made brief remarks.]

    The President. That's good. I wish that people could walk the halls 
here at the NIH and meet the scientists and employees of this fantastic 
organization. It is amazing. You talk about young and smart and bright 
and excited--with all due respect, docs--[laughter]--you've got a lot of 
really bright people here, which is another subject for another time. 
But we better make sure we get the right education working to make sure 
that our scientists are given the tools and encourage young kids to 
become scientists in the first place, so that these halls remain full of 
people. Because as Doc said--he said, ``If we're not doing it, somebody 
is going to,'' and we want it done here in America. We want--I mean, we 
want to welcome scientists here too.
    And the other thing that struck me was that people from around the 
country--the globe that are here working. So, anyway, you're doing a 
good job. We're spending about $28.6 billion here at the NIH, which was 
doubled from 15 years ago, I think it was, or something like that 
anyway.
    Thank you. Michael.
    Secretary Leavitt. John, why don't you talk a little bit about, 
particularly about the Cancer Genome Atlas. I think that's a fascinating 
development as it relates to HPV and other things that are happening in 
cancer.
    The President. Yes, John, first, before you do it--if you don't 
mind--National Cancer Institute. Tell people what it is, how it works, 
if you don't mind.
    John E. Niederhuber. The National Cancer Institute, Mr. President, 
was one of the first institutes founded on the NIH campus specifically 
directed at a disease, celebrating its 75th anniversary. It's an 
institute that has tremendous breadth, and I often like to tell my 
friend the Secretary and his colleagues that while we study cancer, 
cancer really is a model, a disease model that has impacted almost every 
other disease in one way or another. The things that we have learned by 
studying this model--our ability to track the best scientists to work on 
cancer--I think has had tremendous impacts across the breadth of 
disease. So we're very proud.
    The President. And you've been working with cancer for how long?
    Dr. Niederhuber. Do I have to tell? [Laughter]

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    The President. Your hair looks--[laughter].
    Dr. Niederhuber. Well, I've been in the business over 30 years.
    The President.  Have you? Fantastic.

[Dr. Niederhuber, Director, National Cancer Institute, made brief 
remarks, concluding as follows.]

    Dr. Niederhuber. It's a very exciting time in my long career--which 
you were kind enough to point out to me, sir. [Laughter]
    The President. Well, I wanted the taxpayers to understand, the 
citizens to understand we've got a man of expertise here--[laughter]--
setting you up for success.
    Dr. Niederhuber. I've never experienced a time when science has been 
so exciting and been moving at such a rapid pace. This is just an 
unbelievable opportunity. I'm very honored to be here.
    The President. Thanks for serving.
    Dr. Niederhuber. I'm honored to be here, sir.
    The President. A man who went through all the initials. [Laughter]
    Secretary Leavitt. Elias mentioned the fact that the whole goal here 
is to become far more personalized. I want Francis to talk for a moment, 
but as I pass it to him, I want to relate a story that I think ties this 
together.
    About 5 years ago, I participated in a conversation with a man in a 
small group, and they were talking about the potential for genetics. And 
he wasn't a scientist; he wasn't a doctor. But he listened to it, and he 
said, ``There's something to this genetics business.'' He said, ``I'm 70 
years old. Last month, I was diagnosed with macular degeneration. When 
my father was 70 years old, he was diagnosed with macular degeneration--
when my grandfather was 70 years old.'' He said, ``If there's anything I 
can do so that my grandson doesn't have to go through what I am and my 
father and my grandfather have, I want to do it.''
    This genetic discrimination legislation you talked about is so 
important to this--moving this forward, because it means that if people 
like that step up and help and make information about them and their 
health history available, not only will it benefit them, but it will 
benefit generations in the future. And it would be an unfortunate thing 
if anyone were then to be discriminated because of their willingness to 
contribute to science that way. Dr. Collins has been heroic in his 
advocacy, not just for this legislation but also the genetic HapMap. And 
I'd like----
    The President. The genetic what? [Laughter]
    Secretary Leavitt. He'll explain that to you later.

[Francis S. Collins, Director, National Human Genome Research Institute, 
made brief remarks.]

    The President. Well, thank you for being on the leading edge of 
change for the good of mankind.
    Secretary Leavitt. Becky, you've been through this in a very 
personal way. I think the President would be--we all would be 
interested----
    The President. Where are you from?
    Rebecca ``Becky'' Fisher. I'm from Oakton, Virginia. I drove here--
--
    The President. Which is?
    Ms. Fisher. Outside of Vienna. Last stop on the Orange Line. 
[Laughter]

[Ms. Fisher, librarian, Center for the Study of Intelligence, made brief 
remarks.]

    Secretary Leavitt. That's compelling.
    The President. Yes, that's strong. Thank you.
    Secretary Leavitt. Not every cancer is one that we can identify at 
hereditary. And, John, you might want to talk a little bit about the 
cancers that are not hereditary and what we're doing to make progress on 
those as well.

[Dr. Niederhuber made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

    Dr. Niederhuber. And that gives me an opportunity, if I might, Mr. 
Secretary, to introduce our other guest today, Dr. Grace Butler. I'm 
going to say a few words about Grace, Mr. President, because she is a 
big helper to the NCI. She's a----
    The President. She's also a Texan.
    Dr. Niederhuber. Also a Texan, you're right. She's professor 
emeritus at the University of Houston. She's had over 30 years of 
teaching and administrative experience in

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higher education. More importantly, for today's session, Grace is a 
stage-three colorectal cancer survivor. And as a result of that 
experience--much like Becky has committed much of her post-education 
years to working with us to fight this disease and--she's founded a non-
profit organization called ``Hope Through Grace.''

    Grace, I think you have some comments you'd like to make today.

    Grace L. Butler. I do. Thank you, John. I thank you so much, Mr. 
President----

    The President. Thank you, Doctor.

[Ms. Butler, president and founder, Hope Through Grace, Inc., made brief 
remarks, concluding as follows.]

    Ms. Butler. And I thank you, Mr. President, for your presence, for 
your listening, and for your understanding and your empathy.

    The President. Thank you for answering a call.
    Michael.

    Secretary Leavitt. Mr. President, I think we could summarize today 
by saying that the future of medicine is personalized to prevent and to 
preempt. We've heard today about progress that's being made, the 
elimination of discrimination--of genetic discrimination. There's a very 
important--it's a vital step in reaching that vision. We've seen good 
examples of the progress, and we thank you for the time you've taken. 
You may wish to sum up.

    The President. Well, thanks for coming. I'm excited, and I 
appreciate the work being done here in Washington, the work being done 
at the grassroots level. I thank you for your articulate presentation, 
both of you all. And this Government needs to support what's happening 
in order to save lives, and we will.

    Thanks.

Note: The President spoke at 11:11 a.m. at the National Institutes of 
Health.