Edmondson urges cancer center funding
Published: 11/03/09 - 6:51pm Written by Dick PryorOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Attorney General Drew Edmondson wants the state tobacco trust's board of directors to help fund a cancer research and treatment center at the University of Oklahoma. Edmondson called for a $100 million, 20-year commitment to the OU Cancer Institute in a letter to the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.
The attorney general proposed creation of the constitutionally-protected trust 10 years ago to manage funds from the more than $200 billion tobacco settlement agreement that he helped negotiate. Edmondson says funding a cancer research and treatment center easily falls within the board's mandate. He says the OU Cancer
Institute estimates that Oklahomans spend about $1.5 billion each year seeking cancer treatment outside the state. Edmondson is a Democratic candidate for governor.


