[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 50 (Tuesday, May 2, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S3918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DECLARING LUNG CANCER A PUBLIC HEALTH PRIORITY

  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP 
Committee be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now 
proceed to S. Res. 408.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 408) expressing the sense of the 
     Senate that the President should declare lung cancer a public 
     health priority.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to 
reconsider be laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 408) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 408

       Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President 
     should declare lung cancer a public health priority and 
     should implement a comprehensive interagency program that 
     will reduce lung cancer mortality by at least 50 percent by 
     2015.
       Whereas lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death 
     for both men and women, accounting for 28 percent of all 
     cancer deaths;
       Whereas lung cancer kills more people annually than breast 
     cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, 
     melanoma, and kidney cancer combined;
       Whereas, since the National Cancer Act of 1971 (Public Law 
     92-218; 85 Stat. 778), coordinated and comprehensive research 
     has elevated the 5-year survival rates for breast cancer to 
     87 percent, for prostate cancer to 99 percent, and colon 
     cancer to 64 percent;
       Whereas the survival rate for lung cancer is still only 15 
     percent and a similar coordinated and comprehensive research 
     effort is required to achieve increases in lung cancer 
     survivability rates;
       Whereas 60 percent of lung cancer is now diagnosed in 
     nonsmokers and former smokers;
       Whereas \2/3\ of nonsmokers diagnosed with lung cancer are 
     women;
       Whereas certain minority populations, such as black males, 
     have disproportionately high rates of lung cancer incidence 
     and mortality, notwithstanding their lower smoking rate;
       Whereas members of the Baby Boomer generation are entering 
     their sixties, the most common age for the development of 
     cancer;
       Whereas tobacco addiction and exposure to other lung cancer 
     carcinogens such as Agent Orange and other herbicides and 
     battlefield emissions are serious problems among military 
     personnel and war veterans;
       Whereas the August 2001 Report of the Lung Cancer Progress 
     Review Group of the National Cancer Institute stated that 
     funding for lung cancer research was ``far below the levels 
     characterized for other common malignancies and far out of 
     proportion to its massive health impact'';
       Whereas the Report of the Lung Cancer Progress Review Group 
     identified as its ``highest priority'' the creation of 
     integrated, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research 
     consortia organized around the problem of lung cancer rather 
     than around specific research disciplines; and
       Whereas the United States must enhance its response to the 
     issues raised in the Report of the Lung Cancer Progress 
     Review Group: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 
     President should--
       (1) declare lung cancer a public health priority and 
     immediately lead a coordinated effort to reduce the mortality 
     rate of lung cancer by 50 percent by 2015;
       (2) direct the Secretary of the Department of Health and 
     Human Services to increase funding for lung cancer research 
     and other lung cancer-related programs within a coordinated 
     strategy and defined goals, including--
       (A) translational research and specialized lung cancer 
     research centers;
       (B) expansion of existing multi-institutional, population-
     based screening programs incorporating state of the art image 
     processing, centralized review, clinical management, and 
     tobacco cessation protocols;
       (C) research on disparities in lung cancer incidence and 
     mortality rates;
       (D) graduate medical education programs in thoracic 
     medicine and cardiothoracic surgery;
       (E) new programs within the Food and Drug Administration to 
     expedite the development of chemoprevention and targeted 
     therapies for lung cancer;
       (F) annual reviews by the Agency for Healthcare Research 
     and Quality of lung cancer screening and treatment protocols;
       (G) the appointment of a lung cancer director within the 
     Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with authority to 
     improve lung cancer surveillance and screening programs; and
       (H) lung cancer screening demonstration programs under the 
     direction of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services;
       (3) direct the Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with 
     the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to develop a broad-based 
     lung cancer screening and disease management program among 
     members of the Armed Forces and veterans, and to develop 
     technologically advanced diagnostic programs for the early 
     detection of lung cancer;
       (4) appoint the Lung Cancer Scientific and Medical Advisory 
     Committee comprised of medical, scientific, pharmaceutical, 
     and patient advocacy representatives to work with the 
     National Lung Cancer Public Health Policy Board and to report 
     to the President and Congress on the progress and the 
     obstacles in achieving the goal described in paragraph 1; and
       (5) convene a National Lung Cancer Public Health Policy 
     Board comprised of multiagency and multidepartment 
     representatives and at least 3 members of the Lung Cancer 
     Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee, that will oversee 
     and coordinate all efforts to accomplish the mission of 
     reducing lung cancer mortality rate by 50 percent by 2015.

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