News Release
11/02/2009
W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General
AG Advocates for Funding of Cancer Research and Treatment Center
Citing what would be the organization’s “signature achievement,” Attorney General Drew Edmondson today called on the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust’s board of directors to fund the operation of a cancer research and treatment center at the University of Oklahoma.
In a letter to the trust’s board, Edmondson called for a $100 million, 20-year commitment to the OU Cancer Institute.
A decade ago, the attorney general advocated for the creation of a constitutionally-protected trust to manage the proceeds from the more than $200 billion tobacco Master Settlement Agreement that he helped negotiate. At Edmondson’s urging, a tobacco trust was established to manage tobacco settlement funds and ensure that the funds are spent fighting tobacco addiction and treating and combating tobacco-related diseases.
“Funding a cancer research and treatment center easily falls within the board’s mandate,” Edmondson said. “Cutting-edge cancer research, looking both at what causes cancer and exploring possible cures, is the next logical step for the tobacco trust.”
In addition to calling for a minimum annual commitment of $5 million over a 20-year period, Edmondson’s letter praised the trust’s success in lessening the incidence of youth smoking, reducing overall smoking rates and improving Oklahoma’s health.
“The trust’s first objective must be to stop potential new smokers, especially children, from ever lighting that first cigarette,” Edmondson said. “Second is helping current smokers kick the addiction.
“Now I call on the trust to complete the circle and provide funding for a state-of-the-art cancer research and treatment center,” Edmondson said. “For far too long Oklahomans have left their homes, families and support networks behind in search of treatment options elsewhere.”
According to the attorney general, the OU Cancer Institute estimates that Oklahomans spend about $1.5 billion each year seeking cancer treatment outside the state.
“It’s an economic reality that building a research and treatment facility here at home will create jobs, grow the economy and bring research funding to our state,” Edmondson said. “But these concerns are secondary to the impact a world-class facility will have on Oklahoma patients.
“Jobs and money are important, but saving lives is the imperative.”