The concern shown by the National Football League during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October was admirable. But did you know that the incidence of prostate cancer, which, of course, affects men rather than women, is equal to breast cancer diagnoses? And mortality is approximately equivalent, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Why is it that we hear so little about a killer that affects men, but so much about a killer that affects women? Now is a good time to recognize the inequity in federal research dollars dedicated to these things.

In 2007, breast cancer research received more than twice the NIH funding devoted to prostate cancer. Cancer is a killer, but women are not the only victims. We need to eliminate the gender bias in cancer research — now.

Paul Harke,

Appleton