McCain and Obama on same side in war on cancer

By Deborah Charles

NORFOLK, Virginia (Reuters) - If there is one war John McCain and Barack Obama agree on, it's the one against cancer.

Thirty-seven years after President Richard Nixon launched the "war on cancer," the two U.S. presidential candidates agree on a need to fight the disease that kills more than 560,000 Americans each year.

The close personal ties each candidate has to the disease ensures that cancer advocates will find support in the White House regardless who wins the November 4 election.

McCain, the 72-year-old Republican presidential nominee, survived multiple skin cancers. Democratic nominee Barack Obama, 47, lost his grandfather to prostate cancer and watched his young mother die from ovarian cancer.

With 1.5 million Americans expected to be diagnosed with cancer this year, McCain and Obama both say it is time to add some fire to the battle against cancer.

Though their plans differ in the details, both White House hopefuls want to increase research funding, streamline government organizations dealing with cancer and improve access to screening and clinical trials.

"We are pleased to see that both candidates acknowledge the importance of stepping up the fight against cancer, a disease that claims more than a half million lives and costs us more than $219 billion in medical costs and lost productivity each year," said Hala Moddelmog, president of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the global leader of the breast cancer movement.

"Funding for cancer research has been flat or declining for six years, which means fewer research grants are awarded, programs are scaled back, and fewer patients are being enrolled in clinical trials," she said.