DeCroce Introduces NJ Pediatric Cancer Research Fund Bill

Legislation establishing the “New Jersey Pediatric Cancer Research Fund,” which would allow taxpayers to opt into contributing via their income tax return, was introduced by District 26 Asw. BettyLou DeCroce Tuesday. 

The lawmaker said funds collected, should the law win passage, will support cancer research projects approved by the New Jersey State Commission on Cancer Research.

“One of a parent’s most traumatic experiences is learning their child has cancer,” said DeCroce, who represents sections of Morris, Essex and Passaic counties. “The causes of pediatric cancer still perplex the medical community, but we know the heartache it causes. Medical breakthroughs to treat this disease start with research.”

CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to funding children's cancer research, notes that pover the past 25 years, only two new drugs have been developed specifically to fight children's cancer. Experts say that more children succumb to cancer than those who die from asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and pediatric AIDS combined. On average, one out of four elementary schools has a child with cancer. The average high school has two students who are a current or former cancer patient. 

“As we have seen when catastrophe strikes, New Jersey’s citizens are most generous and compassionate,” DeCroce said. “Through a voluntary check-off on a tax return, we can focus funding that is committed to researching causes and treatments for an affliction that affects children and brings anxiety and pain to their loved ones.”

DeCroce’s bill, A-4491, was created to honor West Milford youth Aaron Newton, a survivor of neuroblastoma cancer. Newton and his parents are advocates for increasing awareness regarding childhood cancer.