[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 48 (Thursday, April 25, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H1670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                NATIONAL MINORITY CANCER AWARENESS WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 15th annual National 
Minority Cancer Awareness Week, to highlight and bring attention to the 
cancer care needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged and medically 
underserved communities.
  I come to the floor today to recognize the American Cancer Society, 
the Intercultural Cancer Council, and the National Center for Minority 
Health and Disparities at the National Institutes of Health for their 
continued work to increase the awareness of cancer and reduce health 
disparities among minorities.
  While there has been a decline in cancer mortality since 1991, cancer 
still is the second leading cause of death in the United States, 
accounting for more than 555,500 deaths each year. That is more than 
1,500 deaths a day. But what is most disheartening and most disturbing 
is that minority and medically underserved populations continue to bear 
a startling disproportionate share of the Nation's cancer burden.
  According to the American Cancer Society, African American men and 
women have a cancer death rate of about 33 percent higher than whites. 
Among women younger than 50 years of age, African Americans are more 
likely to develop breast cancer than whites. Prostate cancer will claim 
the lives of more than twice as many African American men as men of 
other racial and ethnic groups. African Americans are at a 
significantly higher risk of death from intrauterine and bladder 
cancers. Hispanic women have nearly twice the rates of cervical cancer 
than non-Hispanic white women. Hispanics are less likely than other 
minorities to have a regular source of health care, visited a physician 
in the past year, and received a routine physical examination. Native 
American women with breast cancer have the lowest 5-year survival rate 
of any United States racial/ethnic group. And native Hawaiian women 
have the highest incidence and mortality rates of endometrial cancers 
of all United States women.
  There is something equally as important as statistics, and that is 
the question, why our cancer rates are disproportionately high among 
minorities. According to a study published in the Journal of the 
American Medical Association on April 23 of this year, higher cancer 
rates in minorities seem to stem from difference in treatment, not 
biological or genetic differences.
  I say to my colleagues, to be truly effective in eradicating all 
types of cancer, the Federal health agenda must address low-income 
minorities and medically underserved populations. I think Congress can 
be instrumental in helping to accomplish this goal in this country. In 
fact, at my request during the 106th Congress, the Committee on 
Government Reform held a hearing that afforded us the opportunity to 
engage in a more exhaustive investigation of the disparities in cancer 
treatments of minorities. This hearing was a positive first step in 
addressing the issue of disparities and cancer treatment of minorities 
in the United States.
  In keeping with this point, Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago the 
Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, chaired by the 
gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen), met to discuss 
a report which had been requested by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Jackson) and others, from the Institute of Medicine and that report was 
titled ``Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities 
in Health Care.''
  This report concluded that Americans of color tend to receive lower-
quality health care than do whites; and these disparities contribute to 
high death rates of African Americans from cancer, heart disease, 
diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and other life-endangering conditions.
  The American Cancer Society, health care providers, community 
organizations, and State and local agencies and many other participants 
agree that we need to do more; that there needs to be more cooperation 
between the Department of Health and Human Services, local and State 
health agencies, medical schools, businesses, et cetera, to address the 
disparities in minorities health care treatment but especially for 
life-endangering illnesses like cancer. Let us recognize the National 
Minority Cancer Week as an opportunity to increase awareness in the 
knowledge of cancer detection treatment and risk through, among other 
things, target outreach programs to minorities and other underserved 
communities.

                          ____________________