(Stead Family Children's Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa - KIWA Staff Photo)Iowa (RI) — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson says she supports increasing federal funding for cancer research and has proposed a new federal tax on imported tobacco products, with the revenue dedicated to pediatric cancer research.
Hinson is the latest Iowa candidate to meet with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. During the meeting, she said she is concerned about the link between smoking and lung cancer and supports federal funding for programs that discourage tobacco use and help smokers quit.
Hinson also says federal cancer research funding should be directed toward scientific research rather than administrative expenses.
Hinson said cancer has affected her own family, noting that her grandmother and two aunts died from the disease.
Josh Turek, the Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, met with members of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network last month. Turek said his grandmother died of cancer, his father has been treated for two types of cancer, and his sister was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
Turek says he would support increased funding for cancer research as well as Medicaid, the government-funded health insurance program that many cancer patients rely on.
