Statement by the President on Announcing U.S. Participation in the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
THIS ACTION taken jointly by five governments constitutes a most welcome and significant contribution toward the solution of one of the world's oldest and most serious health problems. I am especially pleased that we are doing this during International Cooperation Year. The battle against cancer was one of my foremost thoughts when I proclaimed 1965 International Cooperation Year in the United States last fall. I said then that I hoped my cancer committee could come up with some good results. This is a valuable step in the right direction.
Note: The statement was made public as part of a White House release announcing that the U.S. Government had that day notified the World Health Organization of its acceptance of the statutes establishing an International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The release stated that action to establish the agency was taken at the initiative of France and was the result of 18 months of negotiations by delegates of France, West Germany, Italy, Great Britain, the United States, and the Director General of the World Health Organization.
The release further stated that the agency would concentrate on epidemiological research, the training of research workers, and support of research in national laboratories. The research facilities would be made available to all nations which could make effective use of them, the release concluded, and the results of the research would be for the benefit of all.
Proclamation 3620 "International Cooperation Year" is dated October 2, 1964 (3 CFR, 1964 Supp., P. 76). For the President's remarks upon signing the proclamation, see 1963-64 volume, this series, book II, Item 616.
On March 7, 1964, the President announced the establishment and membership of the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke (see 1963-64 volume, this series, book I, Item 211 [6]).
The statement was released at Austin, Tex.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on Announcing U.S. Participation in the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241623