Pennmur's Blog

This article I found is from 2003 = Does anyone know if there has been any positive changes since then?

Posted by Ampersand | February 6th, 2003

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2003/02/06/m
ore-donahue-breast-cancer-vs-prostate-cancer/

On Donahue, Mike Angelucci of the National Coalition of Free Men argued that "male judges and male politicians" discriminate against men. One of his supporting examples struck me, because I've heard this meme passed around anti-feminist discussions so often:

"That's why our government spends four times more on breast cancer research than prostate cancer research, even though they kill the same number every year."

It's true that breast cancer research gets more government funding than prostate cancer research - although not "four times more." Breast cancer research receives about twice as much funding - $900 million annually for breast cancer compared to $438 million annually for prostate cancer, according to the National Prostate Cancer Coalition.

The greater spending on breast cancer is at least partly due to decades of activism and pressure on Congress from women's groups. Since men's groups haven't organized as well or as long, I don't think "breast cancer vs. prostate cancer" is really a good way to measure government's alleged preference for women (when the government does something only because of outside pressure, that's hardly an example of government bias). But even ignoring that, breast cancer research should get more funding, not because of sex, but because of differences in the diseases.

Mr. Angelucci claims breast cancer and prostate cancer "kill the same number every year." In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, 40,200 people die of breast cancer annually, compared to 28,900 people - a substantial difference. (Put another way, 130 people die of breast cancer for each 100 people who die of prostate cancer). It's not the mortality rate alone that makes breast cancer scarier, however: it's also that breast cancer typically strikes at much younger ages.