Every new case of cancer in New Hampshire is documented in the state’s cancer registry – a repository for information that has supported research and influenced policy for four decades.
But the program that funds state cancer registries could be eliminated if Congress agrees to push through cuts described in President Trump’s discretionary funding recommendations for Fiscal Year 2026 released last month.
In New Hampshire, where the bulk of the funding for cancer data gathering comes from the federal government, physicians and advocates say if the cuts proceed the registry could cease to exist – and with it, the state’s ability to track where people are getting cancer, the kinds of cancer they’re getting, and how advanced that cancer is.
“It's not simply another data source. It's really our ability to understand and care for one of the leading causes of death in the United States,” said Andrew Loehrer, an associate professor of surgery at the Dartmouth Cancer Center.
In 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, more than 9,000 people were diagnosed with cancer in New Hampshire, according to the registry data. Like several New England states, New Hampshire has a higher rate of cancer than much of the U.S.
Loehrer said he and his colleagues use data from the registry to identify trends – for example, the increasing incidence of rectal cancer in young adults. And, he said, he has used it to analyze how much policy decisions are affecting cancer rates. After New Hampshire expanded Medicaid, for example, people who lived in rural parts of the state began getting diagnosed at earlier stages of cancer.
“If we were to take away the cancer registries,” he said, “we'd be essentially fanning smoke out of a room without knowing where the fires are coming from or how many fires there are.”
Funding sources
When it comes to funding, “the situation right now is dire,” said Lori Swain, the executive director of the National Cancer Registrars Association. “It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”
In 2017, President Trump proposed reducing funding for cancer registries, but ultimately that was overturned, Swain said.
“This time, there’s an elimination of the backbone of cancer surveillance in this country through the CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries,” she said. “I don’t know if there’s recovery from that.”
The two main funding sources for cancer registries across the country come from the National Institutes of Health’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program and from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Program of Cancer Registries.
New Hampshire received a five-year grant of $600,000 from the National Program of Cancer Registries in 2022. The state’s Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.
President Trump’s recommendations for discretionary funding included cutting the office that houses the CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries, along with other CDC programs, like the National Center for Environmental Health and the Global Health Center.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not respond to a request for comment.
“If we were to take away the cancer registries, we'd be essentially fanning smoke out of a room without knowing where the fires are coming from or how many fires there are.”Andrew Loehrer, associate professor of surgery at the Dartmouth Cancer Center
In its budget document, the Trump Administration says it’s refocusing efforts at the CDC on emerging and infectious disease surveillance, outbreak investigations, preparedness and response, and maintaining public health infrastructure. It says eliminations of the office that houses cancer registry funding, along with other CDC programs, are included because they are “duplicative, DEI, or simply unnecessary.”
The National Institute of Health and the National Cancer Institute, which house the SEER program, are also facing possible cuts.
The Department of Health and Human Services 2026 budget proposal says national and state health surveillance is “critical to proactively address public health challenges,” and includes $328 million to support surveillance activities within Public Health and Scientific Services – a line item within the CDC.
The Department’s budget document also says reducing exposure to environmental toxins, which are associated with cancer, is a priority.
For Swain, the implications of losing cancer registries are far-reaching. It would mean going back to a time when we understood very little about cancer as a country, she said. And it would make it more difficult to understand how industrial emissions and the environment are affecting humans.
“An indicator often for environmental problems is cancer incidence,” she said. “It’ll be quite impactful if there’s no data to document anything.”
In New Hampshire, the state’s cancer registry has been used to determine that there is a higher-than-usual rate of kidney cancer in Merrimack, where water supplies have been polluted with PFAS chemicals. Registry data also prompted state officials to look into high childhood cancer rates and whether they have environmental causes.
Mike Rollo, with New Hampshire's American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network chapter, said much of the cancer research and advocacy world is being affected by various federal funding cuts – from uncertainty about funding among researchers to Medicaid cuts.
Cutting funding for cancer registries, he said, feels most confusing. He sees it as a small expense for a big impact.
Rollo says the cancer registry is the foundation for what we know about cancer among Granite Staters – and the basis for much of his own organization’s work. Removing it, he said, would jeopardize recent progress in addressing cancer.
“We’ve made such great strides in transforming many cancers to more chronic conditions, where people can maintain and live much longer and fulfilled lives,” he said. “It’s really disheartening to see that this administration would want to put all of that at risk.”
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