III 109th CONGRESS 2d Session S. RES. 617 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES November 16, 2006 Mr. Chambliss submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary RESOLUTION Designating November 2006 as National Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

Whereas lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of both men and women, accounting for nearly 1 in every 3 cancer deaths in the United States; Whereas lung cancer claims the lives of more people each year than breast, prostate, colon, liver, and kidney cancers combined; Whereas the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute estimates that, in 2006, 174,470 new lung cancer cases will be diagnosed and 162,460 individuals will die of lung cancer in the United States; Whereas both incidence and mortality rates for lung cancer are significantly higher in black males than in the general population of the United States; Whereas smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths in the United States; Whereas the best way to decrease the number of diagnoses and deaths per year from lung cancer is to encourage people in the United States to quit smoking; Whereas a former smoker's risk of lung cancer does not decrease significantly until 20 years after the individual quit smoking; Whereas the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program has demonstrated in a 14-year study with 31,567 participants that computer tomography scans can detect lung cancer in Stage I when the cancer can be more easily treated and cured, giving individuals who are diagnosed early a 10-year survival rate of 88 percent; Whereas there is a need to increase public awareness of statistics, risk factors, and the importance of early diagnosis; Whereas individuals with cancers that are routinely diagnosed at early stages through screening, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer, have high survival rates of 88 percent and 99 percent, respectively; Whereas the 5-year survival rate for lung cancer in the United States is still only 15 percent, a rate virtually unchanged since the enactment of the National Cancer Act of 1971; and Whereas designating November 2006 as National Lung Cancer Awareness Month, as proposed by the Lung Cancer Alliance and the Lung Cancer Alliance of Georgia, will increase public awareness about lung cancer and the need for lung cancer research and early detection: Now, therefore, be it

That the Senate— (1)designates November 2006 as National Lung Cancer Awareness Month; and (2)reaffirms the Senate's commitment to— (A)advancing lung cancer research and early detection, and particularly the Lung Cancer Alliance of Georgia's goal of significantly increasing the 5-year survival rate of individuals diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States to 50 percent within 10 years; and (B)working with all Federal agencies involved in cancer research to develop a coordinated roadmap for accomplishing that goal.