[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 3, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1031-S1032]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 432--A BILL SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF THE 
                         YEAR OF THE LUNG 2010

  Mrs. LINCOLN (for herself and Mr. Crapo) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions:

                              S. Res. 432

       Whereas millions of people around the world struggle each 
     year for life and breath due to lung diseases, including 
     tuberculosis, asthma, pneumonia, influenza, lung cancer and 
     chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary 
     fibrosis, and more than 8,100,000 die each year;
       Whereas lung diseases afflict people in every country and 
     every socioeconomic group, but take the heaviest toll on the 
     poor, children, the elderly, and the weak;
       Whereas lung disease is a serious public health problem in 
     the United States that affects adults and children of every 
     age and race;
       Whereas lower respiratory diseases are the fourth leading 
     cause of death in the United States;
       Whereas the economic cost of lung diseases is expected to 
     be $177,000,000,000 in 2009, including $114,000,000,000 in 
     direct health expenditures and $64,000,000,000 in indirect 
     morbidity and mortality costs;
       Whereas nearly half of the world's population lives in or 
     near areas with poor air quality, which significantly 
     increases the incidence of lung diseases such as asthma and 
     COPD, and more than 2,000,000 people die prematurely due to 
     indoor and outdoor air pollution;
       Whereas tuberculosis, an airborne infection that attacks 
     the lungs and other major organs, is a leading global 
     infectious disease;
       Whereas no new drugs have been developed for tuberculosis 
     in more than 5 decades and the only vaccine is nearly a 
     century old, yet there were 9,400,000 new cases in 2008, and 
     this curable disease kills 1,800,000 each year;
       Whereas an estimated 12,000,000 adults in the United 
     States, are diagnosed with COPD, and another 12,000,000 have 
     the disease but don't know it;
       Whereas COPD kills an estimated 126,000 people in the 
     United States each year, is currently the fourth leading 
     cause of death in the Nation, is the only one of the 4 major 
     causes that is still increasing in prevalence, and is 
     expected to rise to become the third leading cause of death 
     in the United States;
       Whereas lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the 
     United States and the most common cause of cancer deaths;
       Whereas the leading cause of lung cancer is long-term 
     exposure to tobacco smoke;
       Whereas about 23,400,000 people in the United States have 
     asthma, a prevalence which has risen by over 150 percent 
     since 1980;
       Whereas asthma is the most common chronic disorder found in 
     children, with 7,000,000 affected;
       Whereas flu and pneumonia together are the eighth leading 
     cause of death in the United States;
       Whereas about 190,000 people in the United States are 
     affected by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) each 
     year, a critical illness that results in sudden respiratory 
     system failure, which is fatal in up to 30 percent of cases;
       Whereas about 75,000 people in the United States die as a 
     result of acute lung injury, a disease that can be triggered 
     by infection, drowning, traumatic accident, burn injuries, 
     blood transfusions, and inhalation of toxic substances, which 
     kills approximately the same number of people each year as 
     die from breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer 
     combined;
       Whereas of the 10 leading causes of infant mortality in the 
     United States, 4 are lung diseases or have a lung disease 
     component;
       Whereas pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a relentlessly 
     progressive, ultimately fatal disease with a median survival 
     rate of 2.8 years that has no life-saving therapy or cure;
       Whereas more than 120,000 people are living with PF in the 
     United States, 48,000 are diagnosed with it each year, and as 
     many as 40,000 die annually, the same as die from breast 
     cancer;
       Whereas the cause of sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease 
     that occurs most often in the lungs and has its highest 
     incidence among young people aged 20 to 29, is unknown;
       Whereas 15 years ago, people with pulmonary hypertension 
     lived on average less than 3 years after diagnosis;
       Whereas new treatments have improved survival rates and 
     quality of life for those living with this condition, but it 
     remains a severe and often fatal illness;
       Whereas Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare lung disease 
     that affects women exclusively and is also associated with 
     tuberous sclerosis, has no treatment protocol or cure and is 
     often misdiagnosed as asthma or emphysema;
       Whereas Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, a genetic metabolic 
     disorder which causes albinism, visual impairment, and 
     serious bleeding due to platelet dysfunction, has no cure and 
     no standard of treatment;
       Whereas children's interstitial lung disease, a group of 
     rare lung diseases, has many different forms, including 
     surfactant protein deficiency, chronic bronchiolitis, and 
     connective tissue lung disease, and is thus difficult to 
     diagnose and treat;
       Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
     estimates that 50,000,000 to 70,000,000 adults in the United 
     States suffer from disorders of sleep and wakefulness;
       Whereas insufficient sleep is associated with a number of 
     chronic diseases and conditions, including diabetes, 
     cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression;
       Whereas the average cost of treating severe COPD is 5 times 
     higher than treating mild COPD;

[[Page S1032]]

       Whereas the appropriate medication and disease management 
     of asthma can reduce health care costs, including 
     hospitalization, emergency room visits, and physician visits, 
     by half;
       Whereas the flu vaccine can prevent 60 percent of 
     hospitalizations and 80 percent of deaths from flu-related 
     complications among the elderly;
       Whereas advances in medical research have significantly 
     improved the capacity to fight lung disease by providing 
     greater knowledge about its causes, innovative diagnostic 
     tools to detect the disease, and new and improved treatments 
     that help people survive and recover from this disease;
       Whereas there is no cure for major lung diseases including 
     asthma, COPD, and lung cancer;
       Whereas chronic lung diseases are a leading cause of death 
     and yet the quality of palliative and end-of-life care for 
     patients with chronic lung disease is significantly worse 
     than patients with other terminal illnesses;
       Whereas the National Institutes of Health, through its many 
     institutes and centers, through basic, clinical, and 
     translational research, plays a pivotal role in advancing the 
     prevention, detection, treatment, and cure of lung disease;
       Whereas the Department of Veterans Affairs is actively 
     engaged in research in respiratory diseases that impact the 
     Nation's veterans;
       Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency establishes air 
     quality standard and enforcement programs to ensure the 
     quality of the air we breathe;
       Whereas the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 
     provides essential health insurance benefits for millions of 
     patients with respiratory disorders;
       Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
     through its many centers and programs, provides valuable 
     prevention and surveillance programs on diseases of the lung;
       Whereas an international collaboration of medical 
     professional and scientific societies is working to enhance 
     the general public's understanding of respiratory diseases, 
     their causes, prevention, treatment, and impact respiratory 
     disease play in human health; and
       Whereas the initiative, The Year of the Lung, seeks to 
     raise awareness about lung health among the public, initiate 
     action in communities worldwide, and advocate for resources 
     to combat lung disease including resources for research and 
     research training programs worldwide: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate supports the goals and ideals of 
     the Year of the Lung.

                          ____________________