[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 71 (Friday, June 9, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H4126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    AMERICA SHOULD INVEST MORE RESOURCES IN CURING PEDIATRIC CANCER

  (Ms. PRYCE of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PRYCE of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the progress that has been made in 
childhood cancer is a modern medical miracle. Unlike most miracles, I 
think this one can be explained. It is widely recognized that the 
progress in cancer survival rates among children is the result of 
successful clinical trials, where work from our Nation's laboratories 
is translated into clinical application.
  For children, the standard of care today is to be treated in a 
clinical trial, and more than 70 percent of children with cancer 
participate. That compares to only about 3 percent of adults and only 
1.5 percent of Medicare patients.
  In addition, children are normally treated in centers of excellence 
by a pediatric oncology specialist and a team of multidisciplinary 
health care providers, and the rapid dissemination of better treatments 
through a consortium of major teaching hospitals where new therapies 
can be tested has benefited the children in these trials.
  In many ways, care for children with cancer is the model by which 
adult cancer can hopefully become better.

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