On Jul. 23, 1974, the National Cancer Act Amendments of 1974 (P.L. 93-352) were signed by the President Gerald Ford to improve the National Cancer Program (NCP) and to authorize appropriations for the next three fiscal years.

P.L. 93-352 also included provisions for disseminating information on nutrition as related to the therapy or causation of cancer, for trials of cytology test programs for the diagnosis of uterine cancer, and for peer review of grant applications and contract projects. It also established a President’s Biomedical Research Panel.

Reporting in 1975, the NCP had moved forward under its various mandates in the past year in activities aimed at forging a national focus for the ultimate conquest of cancer. The activities have been de­signed to work toward that goal by ini­tiating immediately development and application of the means to reduce cancer incidence, morbidity, and mor­tality among the population of the United States. 

Progress has been made, first, in the research mandate, which provides for scientific efforts ranging from basic re­search on cancer biology to applied re­search on all aspects of the manage­ment of cancer. 

Second, progress has been made in the cancer control, or demonstration and communication, mandate, which provides for bridging the gap between knowledge produced through research and its general application in people. 

Third, progress has been made in coordination of NCP activities. Ad­vances were made in establishing and expanding the interrelationships between the programs of the National Cancer Institute and other relevant federal and non-federal programs re­quired for the most expeditious use of the national resources for cancer. 

Such interrelationships are fostered through a variety of programs, such as cancer centers, organ-site task forces, cancer control program, international activities, and the extramural pro­gram, which supports grants, con­tracts, and interagency agreement.