Staff | United Press International

PHILADELPHIA -- A Philadelphia breast cancer researcher said proposed cuts in federal funding could jeopardize research and lives, CBS Evening news reported.

"We're at jeopardy of losing a whole generation of scientists, of cancer researchers, and that's undoubtedly going to have an effect 10 years down the line," Dr. Ben Ho Park of Johns Hopkins' Kimmel Cancer Center told CBS.

Park said his lab budget has been cut by almost 30 percent.

"Right now it's a shame because we're really poised with our knowledge base of cancer to make really great inroads into this disease, as far as therapy and treatment."

CBS reported that President George Bush wants to cut funding for the National Cancer Institute for the second year in a row. The latest cut would be $40 million.

"We are pulling the rug out from the world's best infrastructure for cancer research and for all biomedical research. It doesn't make any sense to me," Dr. Shelton Earp of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina told CBS.