[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 21, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S105]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE MAMMOGRAPHY QUALITY STANDARDS ACT

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I strongly support this important 
legislation. Women screened for breast cancer deserve mammograms of the 
highest possible quality. I commend Senator Mikulski and Senator Ensign 
for this bipartisan proposal to strengthen current standards and do 
more to reduce the tragic toll of breast cancer.
  Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among 
women, exceeded only by lung cancer. It strikes more than 200,000 
Americans a year. Over 39,000 will die from breast cancer this year.
  Early screening is essential. More than 90 percent of breast cancers 
are now detected at an early stage of the disease, when treatment can 
be most effective. Because of early detection through regular 
mammograms, the death rate from breast cancer fell by 20 percent 
between 1990 and 2000, even though the overall incidence increased 
slightly.
  All women deserve access to mammograms of the highest quality. It's a 
tragedy when tumors are missed and lives lost because a screening was 
conducted poorly or interpreted inadequately. The legislation that 
Senator Mikulski and Senator Ensign have proposed will improve the 
quality of mammograms and help reduce the unacceptable toll of breast 
cancer and I urge my colleagues to approve it. It is fitting that this 
important bill is one of the first actions taken by the Senate in this 
new session. It deserves to become law as soon as possible.

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