Ten percent of the world's cancer cases are recorded in the United States. However, ninety percent of the world's investment in cancer research originates here. Prostate cancer death and occurrence rates among African-Americans are higher than other racial or ethnic populations in the United States. One tenth of one percent of the U.S. budget is invested in cancer research. When adjusted for inflation, federal funding for cancer research has increased only slightly better than one percent during the past decade.
American men have a one in two lifetime risk of developing cancer.
For women, the risk is one in three. Cancer risk, including prostate cancer risk, increases after the age of 50. Baby boomers turn 50 at the rate of one every seven seconds. In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared America's war on cancer, promising to end its toll within a decade. Each subsequent administration has reaffirmed this commitment, yet the number of cancer cases and deaths continue to grow.