\n President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that the White House says will use artificial intelligence to transform the way scientists fight childhood cancer.\n <\/p>\n
\n However, the move comes amid cuts to hundreds of millions of dollars in science research grants and proposed cuts to the budget of the nation\u2019s primary agency for cancer research and training \u2013 moves that experts say could mean dramatic losses in cancer treatments.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to defeat childhood cancer once and for all,\u201d Trump said Tuesday in the Oval Office, accompanied by children who have had cancer. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled to sign a very historic executive order to massively accelerate pediatric cancer research and harness the extraordinary potential of artificial intelligence to fight this terrible disease.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n During the announcement, Trump turned to the children standing to the left of his desk and told them, \u201cYou\u2019re all going to be better very soon.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Cancer rates among children in the US have been increasing since the 1970s, studies show.<\/a> The cancer mortality rate for children has fallen more than 50% since 1975, but it is still the leading cause<\/a> of disease-related death in kids. Pediatric cancer research has been historically underfunded, the Children\u2019s Cancer Foundation says, making up less than 10% of the federal cancer research budget.\n <\/p>\n \n The new executive order doubles the US National Institutes of Health\u2019s investment in a childhood cancer data initiative<\/a>, launched during Trump\u2019s first term, with an additional $50 million.\n <\/p>\n \n The initiative gathers data from every child, adolescent and young adult diagnosed with cancer in the US, regardless of where in the nation they receive care, in an effort to help scientists better understand the nature of childhood cancers. Part of the new investment will go toward grants for scientists working on projects that apply AI to childhood cancer research.\n <\/p>\n \n The White House said the executive order guarantees that AI will be integrated into US Department of Health and Human Services systems for sharing health information among health care systems, organizations and patients.\n <\/p>\n \n The executive order also directs the Make America Healthy Again Commission within HHS to work with the White House\u2019s Office of Science and Technology Policy to harness AI to improve childhood cancer clinical trials, sharpen diagnoses and fine-tune treatments so they won\u2019t have to be so hard on a child\u2019s body.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe treatments these little kids undergo involve therapies like chemo and radiation that put them through hell,\u201d NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said earlier Tuesday. \u201cEven though 85% will be cured, the therapies themselves can cause health problems if these kids age into adulthood. Nearly 60% of childhood cancer survivors experience severe life-threatening complications in adulthood.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Bhattacharya noted that the United States\u2019 investment in research has vastly improved outcomes for children with cancer. But the Trump administration has also cut hundreds of scientists from the federal payroll and canceled several hundreds of millions of dollars in science grants,<\/a> including those that fund pediatric cancer research.\n <\/p>\n