[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 111 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1568]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRESSMAN JACK QUINN, MC, ADVOCATING FUNDING FOR PROSTATE CANCER

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                            HON. JACK QUINN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 30, 1997

  Mr. QUINN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss a matter of life and 
death that most of us seldom hear anything about. Prostate cancer, 
which accounts for nearly one-fourth of all newly diagnosed cancer 
cases each year, is a disease that gets ignored in the national debate 
on health care. Unfortunately, the same stigma that used to be 
associated with breast cancer is still associated with prostate cancer. 
Men are afraid to discuss the disease with their families and with 
their doctors, and are often even afraid to acknowledge the disease in 
their own minds.
  For this reason, prostate cancer has never received the attention it 
demands. Although over 41,000 men in this country die from prostate 
cancer each year, prostate cancer research receives only 3.6 percent of 
the Federal dollars allocated for cancer research. Just because many 
men are reluctant to call attention to this disease does not mean that 
they should be condemned to die. The United States currently spends 
less than $8 in research for every patient with prostate cancer. This 
Nation has an obligation to dedicate the same resources to prostate 
cancer research that it dedicates to other, more well-known diseases.
  Looking the other way will not make the problem disappear. Between 
1973 and 1993, the incidence of prostate cancer increased by 175.9 
percent. As the baby boom generation turns 50 years old, the incidence 
of prostate cancer is projected to increase even further. Unless the 
Federal Government makes the commitment now to devote the necessary 
resources to battling this disease, the toll on Americans will continue 
to grow.
  Too many men have died because they made the mistake of ignoring the 
devastating effect of prostate cancer. Please join me in preventing the 
Federal Government from making the same mistake.

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