[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 170 (Tuesday, October 31, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H11570-H11571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           INCREASED MONEY FOR BREAST CANCER RESEARCH NEEDED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, I believe this evening is a very 
important evening, and I thank the gentlewoman from New York for her 
leadership on this issue and for organizing this special order to save 
lives.
  I rise tonight to speak about an issue of vital importance to all of 
the women of this Nation, and this issue happens to be breast cancer. 
As a woman and a mother, I feel there are few issues as important as 
the breast cancer epidemic facing our Nation.
  As you may know, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer 
in American women today. I recall just a few weeks ago joining in with 
the Susan G. Coleman Foundation in Houston, TX, where some 8,000 women, 
many of them survivors, gathered to fight against the epidemic of 
breast cancer, and to encourage more research in that area.
  But the most pointed and the most striking part of it was to see 
mothers and daughters being able to fraternize and fellowship because 
of what had occurred in terms of breast cancer detection, to see the 
survivors, and to see that they were willing to continue the fight.
  Currently there are 1.8 million women in this country who have been 
diagnosed with breast cancer, and 1 million more who have yet to be 
diagnosed. This year, 182,000 women and 1,000 men will discover they 
have breast cancer, and 46,000 will die from the disease. Breast cancer 
costs this country more than $6 billion each year in medical expenses 
and lost productivity.
  But these statistics cannot possibly capture the heartbreak of this 
disease which impacts not only the women who are diagnosed, but their 
husbands, children, and families, and that is what we are talking about 
today, keeping families together by eliminating this dreaded disease.
  We have made some progress in the past few years by bringing the 
issue to the Nation's attention. Events such as Breast Cancer Awareness 
Month are crucial to sustaining this attention. There, however, is more 
to be done. We in Congress must work with the Department of Health and 
Human Services to implement the national action plan on breast cancer. 
The plan provides a framework and a plan for activities in three major 
areas: The delivery of health care, the conduct of research, and the 
enactment of policy.

  It has six major priorities that I think are key to the direction 
this Congress should take: Identifying strategies to disseminate 
information about breast cancer and breast health to scientists, 
consumers, and practitioners using the state-of-the-art technologies 
available on the information 

[[Page H11571]]

superhighway; merging all of our talents and all of our strengths to 
help eliminate, as I said, this dreaded disease; establishing 
biological resource banks and comprehensive patient data registries to 
ensure a national resource of information for multiple areas of breast 
cancer research; ensuring consumer input at all levels in the 
development of public health and service delivery programs; research 
studies and educational efforts; involving advocacy groups and women 
with breast cancer in setting research priorities and patient 
education.
  That was done by the Sisters Network in my district, where one such 
morning they walked an inner-city neighborhood and began knocking on 
doors to explain to that community about early detection, and wound up 
at a church on Sunday morning speaking to the women there about the 
need for early detection. That is the kind of private help and 
partnership that should be going on with the Federal Government on this 
issue.
  Expanding the scope and breadth of biomedical and behavioral research 
activities related to the etiology of breast cancer; making clinical 
trials more widely available to women who are at risk for breast 
cancer; decreasing barriers to participation through consumer-clinician 
dialog; reduction of economic barriers and other strategies; 
implementing a comprehensive plan to address the needs of individuals 
carrying breast cancer susceptibility genes; and recommending 
educational intervention for consumers, health care providers and at-
risk patient groups.
  Sadly, the death rate for breast cancer has not been reduced in more 
than 50 years. One out of four women with breast cancer dies within the 
first 5 years. Forty percent die within 10 years of diagnosis.
  Furthermore, the incidence of breast cancer among American women is 
rising each year. For women ages 30 to 34, the incidence rate tripled 
between 1973 and 1987. The rate quadrupled for women ages 35 to 39 
during the same period.
  This Congress has stood well for solving problems. It is important 
for us to realize here is a problem to be solved. I am particularly 
concerned about studies which have found that African-American women 
are twice as likely as white women to have their breast cancer 
diagnosed at a later stage, after it has already spread to the lymph 
nodes. A recent study by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research 
found that African-American women were significantly more likely than 
white women to have never had a mammogram, or to have had no mammogram 
in a 3-year period before development of the symptoms or diagnosis. 
Mammography was protective against later stage diagnosis in white 
women, but not in black women. It is clear that more research and 
testing needs to be done in this area.
  We need to help all women, and particularly our inner-city women, but 
the most important thing is we need to help families, and breast cancer 
destroys families.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for this opportunity. It is so very 
important for our children, our daughters, our sisters, mothers, and 
granddaughters, detection, treatment, and prevention. Let us help 
eliminate this devastating disease.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to speak about an issue of vital 
importance to the women of this Nation. This issue is breast cancer. As 
a woman and a mother, I feel that there are few issues as important as 
the breast cancer epidemic facing our Nation.
  As you may know, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer 
in American women today. Currently, there are 1.8 million women in this 
country who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and 1 million more 
who have yet to be diagnosed. This year, 182,000 women and 1,000 men 
will discover that they have breast cancer, and 46,000 will die from 
the disease. Breast cancer costs this country more than $6 billion each 
year in medical expenses and lost productivity.
  But these statistics cannot possibly capture the heartbreak of this 
disease which impacts not only the women who are diagnosed, but their 
husbands, children, and families.
  We have made progress in the past few years by bringing this issue to 
the Nation's attention. Events such as this month's Breast Cancer 
Awareness Month, are crucial to sustaining this attention. There is, 
however, more to be done.
  We, in Congress must work with the Department of Health and Human 
Services to implement the national action plan on breast cancer 
[NAPBC]. The plan provides a framework and a plan for activities in 
three major areas: the delivery of health care, the conduct of 
research, and the enactment of policy. Its six major priorities 
include:
  Identifying strategies to disseminate information about breast cancer 
and breast health to scientists, consumers, and practitioners using the 
state-of-the-art technologies available on the information 
superhighway.
  Establishing biological resource banks and comprehensive patient data 
registries to ensure a national resource of information for multiple 
areas of breast cancer research.
  Ensuring consumer input at all levels in the development of public 
health and service delivery programs, research studies, and educational 
efforts. Involving advocacy groups and women with breast cancer in 
setting research priorities and in patient education.
  Expanding the scope and breadth of biomedical and behavioral research 
activities related to the etiology of breast cancer.
  Making clinical trials more widely available to women with breast 
cancer and women who are at risk for breast cancer. Decreasing barriers 
to participation through consumer-clinician dialog, reduction of 
economic barriers, and other strategies.
  Implementing a comprehensive plan to address the needs of individuals 
carrying breast cancer susceptibility genes and recommending 
educational interventions for consumers, health care providers, and at-
risk patient groups.
  Sadly, the death rate from breast cancer has not been reduced in more 
than 50 years. One out of four women with breast cancer dies within the 
first 5 years; 40 percent die within 10 years of diagnosis. 
Furthermore, the incidence of breast cancer among American women is 
rising each year. For women ages 30 to 34, the incidence rate tripled 
between 1973 and 1987; the rate quadrupled for women ages 35 to 39 
during the same period.

  I am particularly concerned about studies which have found that 
African-American women are twice as likely as white women to have their 
breast cancer diagnosed at a later stage, after it has already spread 
to the lymph nodes. A recent study by the Agency for Health Care Policy 
and Research found that African-American women were significantly more 
likely than white women to have never had a mammogram or to have had no 
mammogram in the 3-year period before development of symptoms or 
diagnosis. Mammography was protective against later stage diagnosis in 
white women but not in black women. It is clear that more research and 
testing needs to be done in this area. We also need to increase 
education and outreach efforts to reach those women who are not getting 
mammograms and physical exams.
  We cannot allow these negative trends in women's health to continue. 
We owe it to our daughters, sisters, mothers, and grandmothers to do 
more. Money for research must be increased and must focus on the 
detection, treatment, and prevention of this devastating disease.

                          ____________________