[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 117 (Wednesday, September 27, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H8270-H8272]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H8270]]
 SUPPORTING EFFORTS TO INCREASE CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS, TREATMENT, 
                              AND RESEARCH

  Mr. BURR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution (H.Res. 576) supporting efforts to increase 
childhood cancer awareness, treatment, and research.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 576

       Whereas an estimated 12,400 children will be diagnosed with 
     cancer in the year 2000;
       Whereas cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in 
     children under age 15;
       Whereas an estimated 2,300 children will die from cancer in 
     the year 2000;
       Whereas the incidence of cancer among children in the 
     United States is rising by about one percent each year;
       Whereas 1 in every 330 Americans develops cancer before age 
     20;
       Whereas approximately 8 percent of deaths of those between 
     1 and 19 years old are caused by cancer;
       Whereas a number of opportunities for childhood cancer 
     research remain unfunded or underfunded;
       Whereas limited resources for childhood cancer research 
     hinder the recruitment of investigators and physicians to 
     pediatric oncology;
       Whereas peer-reviewed clinical trials are the standard of 
     care for pediatrics and have improved cancer survival rates 
     among children; and
       Whereas a recent study indicates that, based on parental 
     reports, 89 percent of children with cancer experienced 
     substantial suffering in the last month of life: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of 
     Representatives that Congress should support--
       (1) public and private sector efforts to promote awareness 
     about the incidence of cancer among children, the signs and 
     symptoms of cancer in children, and treatment options;
       (2) increased public and private investment in childhood 
     cancer research to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment, 
     and long-term survival;
       (3) policies that provide incentives to encourage medical 
     trainees and investigators to enter the field of pediatric 
     oncology;
       (4) policies that provide incentives to encourage the 
     development of drugs and biologics designed to treat 
     pediatric cancers;
       (5) policies that encourage participation in clinical 
     trials; and
       (6) medical education curricula designed to improve pain 
     management for cancer patients.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Burr) and the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. 
DeGette) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Burr).
  Mr. BURR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 576 concerning 
childhood cancers.
  Sadly, most of us have had a personal experience with cancer. We have 
seen it attack a family member or a friend, a coworker, or we have been 
diagnosed ourselves. But even more sadly, cancer takes the lives of 
some 2,300 American boys and girls every year. Imagine a school of 100 
classrooms empty because of childhood cancer.
  We stand with our colleagues, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce) 
and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hall), who have both lost children to 
cancer, in resolving to ensure that opportunities for childhood cancer 
research are funded, that we attract the best and the brightest 
scientists to pediatric oncology, and that as many children as possible 
participate in and benefit from the discoveries made through clinical 
trials. We will work together so that no other parent has to feel the 
loss of a child due to cancer.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 576, supporting efforts to increase 
childhood cancer awareness, treatment and research, introduced by the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce), is a sobering reminder of the rising 
incidents of pediatric cancer.
  We cannot overemphasize the importance of protecting America's 
children. They are our Nation's future and its most precious resource. 
Hence, they deserve the same breadth of our Nation's biomedical 
resources as we devote to fighting cancer in adults, namely, cutting-
edge research, targeted treatments, and medical education initiatives 
based on their unique needs and physiology.

                              {time}  1245

  Children are not simply ``little adults.'' The recommendations in 
this resolution are critical to decreasing the burden of childhood 
cancers and should guide public policy.
  With that said, I am also pleased to remind the Members of this 
Chamber that the bill we just passed, H.R. 4365, the Children's Health 
Act of 2000, contains an expanded provision from its original title on 
skeletal cancers in childhood to authorize the Secretary of HHS to 
devote research resources to learning more about all childhood cancers 
and improving treatment outcomes. Indeed, these are all steps in the 
right direction and a clear message to all children and the families 
whose lives have been forever altered by this disease.
  I am pleased to support the gentlewoman from Ohio's resolution. I 
look forward to working with her over the years to increase funding for 
research into childhood cancer and all pediatric diseases in this 
Congress. In addition, I would like to highlight one of the provisions 
from this resolution that Congress should support:
  ``Public and private sector efforts to promote awareness about the 
incidence of cancer among children, the signs and symptoms of cancer in 
children, and treatment options.''
  As such, I think that it is important to point out that 11 million 
children in this country still remain uninsured despite passage of the 
Children's Health Improvement Act. Uninsured children often do not get 
the same prevention, diagnosis or treatment needed to save their lives. 
Consequently, we should take action in this Congress to address the 
barriers that exist to health insurance coverage that continue to harm 
the health of children. We should take action to streamline enrollment 
of kids into Medicaid and CHIP. We should improve outreach efforts to 
get eligible children enrolled. We should expand coverage to pregnant 
women which would reduce infant mortality, another leading cause of 
mortality in children.
  We should also do everything to encourage States to spend all the 
money that we have provided them to get children into CHIP. It is a 
terrible shame that 40 States have failed to spend $1.9 billion. For 
example, the State of Texas is scheduled to return over 70 percent of 
its CHIP allocations. That is unfortunate. I encourage Members to 
consider passage of the Improved Maternal and Children's Health 
Coverage Act this year. My own State of Colorado also stands to lose 
money because it has not covered all of the children in Colorado. If we 
have health insurance for children, parents will be able to take the 
children to their physicians at the first hints, at the first physical 
symptoms of cancer, and if that happens, then we should be able to 
diagnose and treat that cancer at an earlier stage and to save many 
thousands of lives every year.
  Again, I commend my colleague for raising this issue. I urge its 
passage.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BURR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may 
consume to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce).
  Ms. PRYCE of Ohio. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, as the sponsor of H. Res. 576, the Childhood Cancer 
Awareness, Research and Treatment Act, I rise today in strong support 
of efforts to increase awareness of this disease, one which is stealing 
the very life from our children.
  I would also like to thank the lead Democratic sponsor, my 
distinguished colleague and good friend, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Hall), for all the support he and his wife Janet have provided. Sadly, 
they also know all too well the importance of this fight to raise 
awareness. I also want to thank my colleague the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Forbes) for his early leadership on this initiative.
  A year ago, my daughter Caroline, just 9 years old, succumbed to an 
ailment we too often view as only an adult disease, that is, cancer. 
This is, however, a tragically flawed assumption, as the devastation of 
cancer knows no age limits. Cancer is the leading cause of death by 
disease in all children, killing more children than any other disease, 
more than diabetes, cystic fibrosis, asthma, congenital defects and 
AIDS combined.

[[Page H8271]]

  Cancer strikes 46 children like Caroline every school day, forcing 
them into a cycle of pain, test tubes, needles, multiple medications 
and debilitating limitations. The median age at diagnosis is 6, placing 
the child's entire lifetime at risk.
  Unfortunately, Caroline was not accurately diagnosed when she first 
complained of pain in her leg just more than 2 years ago. Her doctors, 
while well intentioned and caring, lacked the expertise to correctly 
identify her early symptoms. In fact, she was sent home twice from her 
pediatrician with a casual observation that she must be suffering from 
shin splints and ``growing pains.'' Compounding the nightmare, the 
initial diagnosis of the type of cancer she had was incorrect, causing 
further delays as specific treatments vary for different forms of 
cancer. As a result, our little girl did not receive the necessary 
attention early on in treating her cancer which most likely reduced her 
chances for survival. My husband and I still spend a part of every day 
wondering if Caroline's death could have been prevented if she had been 
able to get treatment sooner. Sadly, we are not alone in this 
melancholy world of ``what if.''
  Caroline's story illustrates an issue we must confront as a Nation, 
how to ensure the best possible treatment of children and teenagers 
with cancer.
  One vitally important step is the recent merger of the four main 
childhood cancer research cooperatives into one, the Children's 
Oncology Group, or COG. It will address the dilemma faced by parents 
like us when one set of doctors recommends a certain type of treatment 
plan while another group aggressively pushes a different treatment 
plan. How are terrified parents supposed to sort that one out?
  This new merger will lead to a single recommended treatment plan for 
each type of childhood cancer, and it will ensure that 90 percent of 
children in North America have access to the best standardized care no 
matter where they live. But we must do more. Childhood cancer has a 
unique set of characteristics and problems, yet research into childhood 
cancer is at one of the bottom rungs of the funding ladder. Our goal 
should be to increase funding to a level commensurate with the public 
health issues and personal challenges that our children face.
  Clinical research remains the brightest hope for stemming the tide of 
childhood cancer. So cutting the bureaucratic red tape that slows 
funding to support some of the most successful cooperative research of 
our time, that of childhood cancer research, is a must. And we must 
ensure that children have early access to cutting-edge cancer-fighting 
drugs, and pediatricians should be trained to look for even the most 
subtle signs of cancer. In addition, we must do more to deal with the 
pain that our children endure as they go through their cancer 
treatments, especially those in the final days of a losing battle with 
the disease.
  As a parent watching my child suffer, I could not comprehend why more 
relief could not be provided in a hospital compared to what was 
available in hospice care. The average medical student receives only 4 
hours of training in palliative care, or pain relief. Four hours. The 
cycle of myth and ignorance surrounding the treatment of pain, even in 
our own medical community, has to change. However, I do not believe 
that discussions about childhood cancer need to be confined to hospital 
corridors or public policy debates. During this month of September, 
people have demonstrated their support for childhood cancer research by 
wearing a gold ribbon to commemorate Childhood Cancer Month. This gold 
ribbon is a symbol for hope, for innovation through continued research, 
for the courage of children in need and for their families. Wearing the 
gold ribbon demonstrates our willingness to hold this issue, and our 
precious children, close to our hearts.
  During Childhood Cancer Month, many of these families, friends, 
doctors and supporters came to Washington to share their personal 
experience and to participate in a variety of events designed to raise 
awareness about the incidence of childhood cancer and the work we have 
to do to find a cure. This is just the beginning of an annual tradition 
that will serve to educate Congress and recruit people to our cause. 
Over 30 witnesses came from across the country to testify on this issue 
which has touched each of them in a profound and too often devastating 
way. I hope these firsthand accounts of courage and frustration will 
spur my colleagues into action.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 576, the Childhood Cancer Awareness, 
Research and Treatment Act, formalizes this fight to raise awareness 
and find a cure by stating that Congress should:
  Support public and private sector efforts to promote awareness about 
the incidence of cancer among children, the signs and symptoms of 
cancer in children, and treatment options.
  Support increased public and private investment in childhood cancer 
research to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term 
survival.
  Support policies that provide incentives to encourage medical 
trainees and investigators to enter the field of pediatric oncology.
  Mr. Speaker, it is hard to enter a field and be prepared to watch 
children suffer and die every day. But we must encourage these brave 
professionals. They are our hope.
  Support policies that provide incentives to encourage the development 
of drugs and biologics designed to treat pediatric cancers.
  Support policies that encourage participation in clinical trials; and 
finally, to support medical education curricula designed to improve 
pain management for cancer patients.
  In passing this resolution today during Childhood Cancer Month, my 
hope is to take an important step forward in our fight to help more 9-
year-olds with cancer reach age 10 and for all children to celebrate 
even more birthdays in the years ahead.
  Once again, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and for 
all his support. I am grateful to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Bliley) and the Committee on Commerce for clearing this resolution so 
that we may consider it today.
  Finally, I would like to thank the Members on both sides of the aisle 
who have cosponsored this resolution. I urge adoption of it.
  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BURR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and 
extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous 
material on the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Walden of Oregon). Is there objection to 
the request of the gentleman from North Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BURR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  In concluding, Mr. Speaker, let me urge my colleagues to support this 
resolution. I think that it is time that we move towards an era that in 
this great country we can create an atmosphere that ensures hope and 
eliminates what-ifs.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 576, 
which calls for increased efforts for childhood cancer awareness, 
treatment and research. I am pleased that we are able to bring this 
bill to the floor in September, during National Childhood Cancer Month.
  H. Res. 576 expresses the sense of Congress supporting public and 
private efforts to promote awareness of signs and symptoms as well as 
treatment options for childhood cancer; increased investments in 
research to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term 
survival; policies to encourage medial professionals to enter the field 
of pediatric oncology; policies to encourage the development of drugs 
and biologics to treat pediatric cancers; policies to encourage 
participation in clinical trials; and medical education curricula to 
improve pain management for cancer patients.
  Cancer does not discriminate based on race, sex, religion, economic 
position or age. This legislation demonstrates the need for more 
awareness of and research in childhood cancer. This commitment will 
help thousands of children each year and allow them the opportunity to 
grow into healthy and productive adults. I applaud my colleague from 
Ohio, Ms. Pryce for her personal strength and commitment to this issue 
and I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I commend my good friend and colleague 
from Ohio, Deborah Pryce, for offering H. Res. 576, a ``Sense of the 
House Resolution'' supporting efforts to increase awareness, treatment, 
and research of childhood cancer.

[[Page H8272]]

  September is Childhood Cancer Month. Unfortunately, the incidence of 
cancer among children in the United States is a growing problem. It is 
estimated that this year 12,400 children will be diagnosed with cancer, 
and 2,300 children will die from this dread disease. In fact, cancer is 
the leading cause of death by disease in children under age 15.
  Our colleagues on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-
Education have recognized the seriousness of the problem of cancer by 
increasing the appropriation for the National Cancer Institute over the 
past five years from $2.761 billion to $3,793 billion for FY 2001. 
Despite this increase, we still hear that opportunities for childhood 
cancer research remain unfunded or underfunded. For this reason, it 
appropriate for us to consider this resolution.
  It is important to increase the resources directed toward childhood 
cancer research. Children are amazingly resilient and can often 
tolerate higher doses of experimental drugs. Therefore, clinical trials 
on children can offer insights on the treatments of all cancers.
  From personal experience, I know of the dedication of the doctors, 
nurses, and other medical personnel who treat children with cancer, and 
of the researchers who have devoted their lives to finding cures. With 
significant advances such as completing the mapping of the human 
genome, I think that we are on the verge of a new understanding of how 
cancer develops and how it can be cured. Childhood cancer is a problem 
that can be conquered.
  Mr. REYNOLDS. Mr. Speaker, ask anyone you know or even someone you 
pass on the street if they know someone who has cancer and nearly every 
single person will respond with a heart-wrenching ``Yes.'' Today I come 
before my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ask for their 
support in helping the littlest cancer warriors--children.
  Anthony Peca is a grandfather from my district who recently lost his 
granddaughter, Catie, to cancer. Catie had neuroblastoma and was denied 
access to a clinical trial. She fought valiantly like only a child can, 
but in the end the cancer overcame her. And now, Anthony Peca and his 
family are left with a hole in their hearts, knowing from experience 
that eight years old is too young to die.
  According to the National Childhood Cancer Foundation, cancer kills 
more children than any other disease. Each year cancer kills more 
children than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, 
and AIDS, combined. In recent years, cancer research has made leaps and 
bounds in progress, yet the incidence of cancer among children in this 
country is rising almost 1 percent per year. The research is simply not 
keeping up. And children are suffering because of it.
  And it's not just the disease itself that exacts such a heavy toll. 
How much do families suffer emotionally and financially? How do we 
rebuild a child's youthful spirit and innocence once it has been 
shattered by the disease inside them? There isn't a medicine strong 
enough to mend the soul of a child.
  That's why this resolution is so important. Thanks to the tireless 
and courageous efforts of Congresswoman Deborah Pryce, Congress has the 
opportunity to address childhood cancer awareness, treatment, and 
research. We have the power to encourage both the public and private 
sectors to conduct research, expand medical education, and open up more 
clinical trials to children. Childhood should be something that you 
grow out of, not something that gets ripped out from underneath you.
  Mrs. FOWLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House 
Resolution 576, which expresses Congress' advocacy for improved efforts 
to battle childhood cancers.
  Every one of us has a friend or family member who has fought or is 
fighting a personal battle with cancer. We have colleagues who show us 
daily the strength that comes from living with cancer and recovering 
from its effects. But nothing touches our hearts more than a child 
stricken with this devastating disease, and no one has shown us courage 
like our colleagues, Deborah Pryce, whose young daughter succumbed to 
cancer only a year ago.
  It is in her memory and for the 46 children who will be diagnosed 
with cancer today and every school day that we must pass this 
resolution. Innovative research and aggressive treatment have improved 
the odds that these children will live longer, happier lives.
  In fact, 70 percent of children diagnosed today will be alive 5 years 
from now. By passing this resolution, and standing firmly behind its 
call, we can give the other 30 percent hope and a future.
  Mr. BURR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of 
my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Burr) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, House Resolution 576.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. BURR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas 
and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________