[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 739 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 739

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President 
    should declare lung cancer a public health priority and should 
 implement a comprehensive inter-agency program that will reduce lung 
            cancer mortality by at least 50 percent by 2015.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 28, 2006

Mr. Shaw submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President 
    should declare lung cancer a public health priority and should 
 implement a comprehensive inter-agency program that will reduce lung 
            cancer mortality by at least 50 percent by 2015.

Whereas lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women, 
        accounting for 28 percent of all cancer deaths;
Whereas lung cancer kills more people annually than breast cancer, prostate 
        cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, melanoma and kidney cancer combined;
Whereas since the National Cancer Act of 1971, coordinated and comprehensive 
        research has elevated the five year survival rates for breast cancer to 
        87 percent, for prostate cancer to 99 percent, and for colon cancer to 
        64 percent, which are decreases in mortality we should seek to 
        replicate;
Whereas the survival rate for lung cancer is still only 15 percent and will 
        require similar coordinated and comprehensive research to achieve 
        decreases in mortality;
Whereas 60 percent of lung cancer is now diagnosed in nonsmokers and former 
        smokers;
Whereas two-thirds of nonsmokers diagnosed with lung cancer are women;
Whereas certain minority populations, such as black males, have 
        disproportionately high rates of lung cancer incidence and mortality, 
        notwithstanding their lower smoking rate;
Whereas ``baby boomer'' generation Americans are now entering their sixties, the 
        most common age for cancer development;
Whereas tobacco addiction and exposure to other lung cancer carcinogens, such as 
        Agent Orange and other herbicides and battlefield emissions, are serious 
        problems among military personnel and war veterans;
Whereas the National Cancer Institute's Lung Cancer Progress Review Report of 
        2001 stated that funding for lung cancer research was ``far below the 
        levels characterized for other common malignancies and far out of 
        proportion to its massive health impact'';
Whereas the Lung Cancer Progress Review Report identified as its ``highest 
        priority'' the creation of integrated, multidisciplinary, multi-
        institutional research consortia organized around the problem of lung 
        cancer rather than around specific research disciplines; and
Whereas the Federal Government should enhance its response to the issues raised 
        in the Lung Cancer Progress Review Report: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the President should--
            (1) declare lung cancer a public health priority and 
        immediately lead a coordinated effort to reduce the mortality 
        rate of lung cancer by 50 percent by 2015;
            (2) direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 
        increase funding for lung cancer research and other lung cancer 
        related programs within a coordinated strategy and defined 
        goals, including, but not limited to--
                    (A) translational research and specialized lung 
                cancer research centers;
                    (B) expansion of existing multi-institutional, 
                population-based screening programs incorporating 
                state-of-the-art image processing, centralized review, 
                clinical management, and tobacco-cessation protocols;
                    (C) research on disparities in lung cancer 
                incidence and mortality rates;
                    (D) graduate medical education programs in thoracic 
                medicine and cardiothoracic surgery;
                    (E) new programs within the Food and Drug 
                Administration to expedite the development of 
                chemoprevention and targeted therapies for lung cancer;
                    (F) annual reviews by the Agency for Healthcare 
                Research and Quality of lung cancer screening and 
                treatment protocols;
                    (G) the appointment of a lung cancer director 
                within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
                with authority to improve lung cancer surveillance and 
                screening programs; and
                    (H) lung cancer screening demonstration programs 
                under the direction of the Centers for Medicare & 
                Medicaid Services;
            (3) direct the Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with 
        the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to develop a broad-based 
        lung cancer screening and disease management program among 
        military personnel and veterans, and to develop technologically 
        advanced diagnostic programs for the early detection of lung 
        cancer;
            (4) request the cooperation of other agencies of the 
        Federal Government, such as the Department of Energy and the 
        Environmental Protective Agency, with expertise in additional 
        areas that could be utilized to achieve the goal of reducing 
        lung cancer mortality;
            (5) appoint a Lung Cancer Scientific and Medical Advisory 
        Committee composed of medical, scientific, pharmaceutical, and 
        patient advocacy representatives to work with the National Lung 
        Cancer Public Health Policy Board and to report to the 
        President and the Congress on the progress and the obstacles in 
        achieving the mission as described in paragraph (1); and
            (6) convene a National Lung Cancer Public Health Policy 
        Board that is composed of multi-agency and multi-department 
        representatives and at least three members of the Lung Cancer 
        Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee, and that will 
        oversee and coordinate all efforts to accomplish the mission of 
        reducing lung cancer mortality rate by 50 percent by 2015.
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