[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 130 (Thursday, November 16, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S11103]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  NATIONAL LUNG CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

  The resolution (S. Res. 620) designating November 2006 as ``National 
Lung Cancer Awareness Month'' was considered and agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution (S. Res. 620), with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 620

       Whereas lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of both 
     men and women, accounting for nearly 1 in every 3 cancer 
     deaths in the United States;
       Whereas lung cancer claims the lives of more people each 
     year than breast, prostate, colon, liver, and kidney cancers 
     combined;
       Whereas the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 
     (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute estimates 
     that, in 2006, 174,470 new lung cancer cases will be 
     diagnosed and 162,460 individuals will die of lung cancer in 
     the United States;
       Whereas both incidence and mortality rates for lung cancer 
     are significantly higher in black males than in the general 
     population of the United States;
       Whereas smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths in 
     the United States;
       Whereas the best way to decrease the number of diagnoses 
     and deaths per year from lung cancer is to encourage people 
     in the United States to quit smoking;
       Whereas a former smoker's risk of lung cancer does not 
     decrease significantly until 20 years after the individual 
     quit smoking;
       Whereas the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program 
     has demonstrated in a 14-year study with 31,567 participants 
     that computer tomography scans can detect lung cancer in 
     Stage I when the cancer can be more easily treated and cured, 
     giving individuals who are diagnosed early a 10-year survival 
     rate of 88 percent;
       Whereas there is a need to increase public awareness of 
     statistics, risk factors, and the importance of early 
     diagnosis;
       Whereas individuals with cancers that are routinely 
     diagnosed at early stages through screening, such as breast 
     cancer and prostate cancer, have high survival rates of 88 
     percent and 99 percent, respectively;
       Whereas the 5-year survival rate for lung cancer in the 
     United States is still only 15 percent, a rate virtually 
     unchanged since the enactment of the National Cancer Act of 
     1971; and
       Whereas designating November 2006 as ``National Lung Cancer 
     Awareness Month'', as proposed by the Lung Cancer Alliance 
     and the Lung Cancer Alliance of Georgia, will increase public 
     awareness about lung cancer and the need for lung cancer 
     research and early detection: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) designates November 2006 as ``National Lung Cancer 
     Awareness Month''; and
       (2) reaffirms the Senate's commitment to--
       (A) advancing lung cancer research and early detection, and 
     particularly the Lung Cancer Alliance of Georgia's goal of 
     significantly increasing the 5-year survival rate of 
     individuals diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States 
     to 50 percent within 10 years; and
       (B) working with all Federal agencies involved in cancer 
     research to develop a coordinated roadmap for accomplishing 
     that goal.

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