President Donald Trump appeared to take credit for a low cancer rate under his presidency Thursday.
In a tweet, Trump proclaimed the lowest rate.
Trump’s tweet came one day after the American Cancer Society announced the cancer death rate in the U.S. dropped 2.2 percent from 2016 to 2017, the largest single-year drop ever recorded. Trump didn’t take office until the end of January in 2017.
The overall cancer death rate fell 26 percent from 1991 to 2015, according to the National Cancer Institute.
“As the overall cancer death rate has declined, the number of cancer survivors has increased. These trends show that progress is being made against the disease, but much work remains,” the Institute said. “Although rates of smoking, a major cause of cancer, have declined, the U.S. population is aging, and cancer rates increase with age. Obesity, another risk factor for cancer, is also increasing.”
Under Trump’s leadership, however, the administration proposed a $6 billion cut to the National Institute of Health and a $1 billion cut to the National Cancer Institute. It prompted the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to issue a statement warning that they and other researches are making huge steps in curing major cancers.
“These cuts risk derailing decades of advances in the diagnosis, understanding and treatment of deadly blood cancers. LLS is calling upon members of Congress to reject these proposed cuts,” the statement explained.
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