Cancer screening programs may soon serve more.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS - Brief article

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Until there is a cure for cancer, early detection and treatment remain the best options. Although many women take regular cancer screenings for granted, uninsured and low-income women rely on scarce public screening and treatment programs.

States will have the option of tapping into some of the $650 million appropriated for prevention and wellness issues in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund the 68 state and tribal screening programs that are part of the federal National Breast and Cervical Early Detection Program. The act grants states funds to provide "evidence-based, clinical and community-based prevention and wellness" programs that address the growing chronic disease epidemic.

States support their screening programs from a variety of sources, including specific budget lines, specific lottery ticket sales, income tax check-off programs and cancer awareness vanity license plate registration fees.

Some cancer screening...