[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 22, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H8988-H8989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Brown] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I join my Democratic colleagues this 
evening in a series of special orders during Breast Cancer Awareness 
Month to discuss what we should do in this Congress and in communities 
across the country to prevent and to cure this dreadful disease of 
breast cancer.
  Recently, at a breast cancer awareness forum at the Elyria, Ohio 
WYCA, a woman recounted the story of holding her ailing mother's hand 
as she was wheeled down a sterile hospital hallway to a surgical room 
where she was to receive a lifesaving mastectomy. Another breast cancer 
survivor shared with us the emotional toll this deadly disease took on 
her and her loved ones.
  This type of meeting to promote awareness and education about this 
deadly disease is not an unfamiliar sight in the industrial communities 
I represent in northeast Ohio. A study conducted by the Ohio Department 
of Health estimates that one in three women in Ohio will develop some 
form of cancer in their lifetimes and one in nine women will develop 
breast cancer.

[[Page H8989]]

 Ohio unfortunately ranks 11th in the Nation in breast cancer deaths 
and 9th in total cancer deaths among women.
  Northeast Ohio has been particularly hard hit by this tragedy. There 
is no magic bullet in our fight against breast cancer. There is no 
vaccine. There is no guaranteed cure. However, early screening, 
detection and treatment of breast cancer offer women the best hope of 
beating breast cancer and leading long, healthy lives.
  In an effort to increase local awareness of the importance of early 
detection and treatment options, I helped found the Northeast Ohio 
Breast and Prostate Cancer Task Force in 1994.

                              {time}  1800

  This dedicated group of volunteers includes cancer survivors, medical 
researchers, and health care professionals such as doctors and nurses.
  The mission of the task force is twofold:
  First, it works to support and supplement ongoing public education 
efforts in breast cancer in northeast Ohio. Last year, the members of 
the task force put together a comprehensive, easily readable pamphlet 
to provide information to women on how to prevent breast cancer and the 
importance of periodic screening. It was packed with information on 
counseling and whom to talk to about treatment options.
  Volunteers distributed these pamphlets to 273 hairdressers and beauty 
salons in northeast Ohio in a local campaign to eradicate breast 
cancer. We worked with the Women's Preventive Health Care Services 
program offered by the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, which provides 
information on early detection of breast and cervical cancer to 
medically underserved women, a group historically vulnerable to these 
killers.
  The task force's second mission is to seek out any environmental 
factors which may cause northeast Ohio's higher than average rates of 
breast cancer.
  To further this mission, my colleague, the gentleman from Michigan 
[Mr. Stupak], and I were able to add language to last year's 
reauthorization of the Safe Drinking Water Act which requires the EPA 
to test whether certain chemicals found in drinking water cause breast 
or other forms of cancer.
  The stories of the women at the Elyria YWCA and the efforts of the 
task force are vital because they represent our most important and 
potent weapon in the battle against breast cancer. Through the tireless 
efforts of breast cancer survivors, the local health care community, 
and ordinary residents and business owners, one small community is 
taking a stand. As their elected officials in Washington, we must do 
more, however, to help win this battle.
  We must support legislation currently before us which would ensure 
that health insurance companies provide coverage for women who undergo 
mastectomies and the reconstructive surgery often required after this 
procedure.
  Furthermore, women must never be forced out of the hospital on the 
same day a mastectomy is performed unless the patient and the doctor, 
not the insurance company, the patient and the doctor agree that it is 
in the patient's best health interest.
  Lastly, we must continue to support increased funding for more 
biomedical research to improve treatment and to find a cure for breast 
cancer in other terminal and chronic diseases.
  Until we are able to find a cure for deadly diseases like breast and 
prostate cancer, early detection and screening represent the best hope 
for the millions of men and women who will be diagnosed with these 
diseases. We should join with the millions of Americans, like the women 
at the Elyria YWCA and members of the task force, who are on the front 
lines spreading this lifesaving message.
  As we listen to stories of hope and sadness by those individuals 
whose lives have been touched by breast cancer, let us work together in 
Washington to ensure that patients have access to affordable, quality 
health care and demonstrate our commitment to winning this battle by 
providing the research dollars necessary for improving treatment and 
finding a cure.

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