[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 132 (Tuesday, September 28, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H7181-H7183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          SUPPORTING NATIONAL PROSTATE CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 1485) expressing support for designation of 
September 2010 as ``National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month''.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1485

       Whereas countless families in the United States live with 
     prostate cancer;
       Whereas 1 in 6 men in the United States will be diagnosed 
     with prostate cancer in his lifetime;
       Whereas prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-
     skin cancer and the second most common cause of cancer-
     related deaths among men in the United States;
       Whereas in 2010, 217,730 men in the United States will be 
     diagnosed with prostate cancer and 32,050 men in the United 
     States will die of prostate cancer;
       Whereas 30 percent of new diagnoses of prostate cancer 
     occur in men under the age of 65;
       Whereas a man in the United States turns 50 years old 
     approximately every 14 seconds, increasing his odds of 
     developing cancer, including prostate cancer;
       Whereas African-American males suffer a prostate cancer 
     incidence rate up to 65 percent higher than White males and 
     double the prostate cancer mortality rates of White males;
       Whereas obesity is a significant predictor of the severity 
     of prostate cancer and the probability that the disease will 
     lead to death, and high cholesterol levels are strongly 
     associated with advanced prostate cancer;
       Whereas if a man in the United States has 1 family member 
     diagnosed with prostate cancer, he has a 1 in 3 chance of 
     being diagnosed with prostate cancer, if he has 2 family 
     members with such diagnoses, he has an 83 percent risk, and 
     if he has 3 family members with such diagnoses, he then has a 
     97 percent risk of prostate cancer;
       Whereas screening by both a digital rectal examination and 
     a prostate-specific antigen blood test can detect the disease 
     in its early stages, increasing the chances of surviving more 
     than 5 years to nearly 100 percent, while only 33 percent of 
     men survive more than 5 years if diagnosed during the late 
     stages of the disease;
       Whereas there are no noticeable symptoms of prostate cancer 
     while it is still in the early stages, making screening 
     critical;
       Whereas ongoing research promises further improvements in 
     prostate cancer prevention, early detection, and treatments;
       Whereas educating people in the United States, including 
     health care providers, about prostate cancer and early 
     detection strategies is crucial to saving the lives of men 
     and preserving and protecting families; and
       Whereas September 2010 would be an appropriate month to 
     designate as ``National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month'': 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) supports the designation of ``National Prostate Cancer 
     Awareness Month'';
       (2) declares that steps should be taken--
       (A) to raise awareness about the importance of screening 
     methods for, and treatment of, prostate cancer;
       (B) to support research so that the screening and treatment 
     of prostate cancer may be improved, and so that the causes 
     of, and a cure for, prostate cancer may be discovered; and
       (C) to continue to consider ways for improving access to, 
     and the quality of, health

[[Page H7182]]

     care services for detecting and treating prostate cancer; and
       (3) calls on the people of the United States, interested 
     groups, and affected persons--
       (A) to promote awareness of prostate cancer;
       (B) to take an active role in the fight to end the 
     devastating effects of prostate cancer on individuals, their 
     families, and the economy; and
       (C) to observe National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month 
     with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Pallone) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.


                             General Leave

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. PALLONE. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 1485 expresses support for the designation of 
September 2010 as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
  I would like to thank Representative Neugebauer for his leadership on 
this issue, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer).
  Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the author of H. Res. 
1485, to express support for the designation of September as Prostate 
Cancer Awareness Month by the House of Representatives.
  I didn't know much about prostate cancer, other than occasionally one 
of my friends would turn up with that diagnosis; and about every year 
when I went to my health care provider, I went through the normal 
process of having a digital exam and also taking my PSA, and was pretty 
religious about doing that, always with the good news of a negative 
result.
  Well, that all changed in August of last year when I went for my test 
and it was decided that additional testing needed to be done. So tests 
were done, and it was determined that I did in fact have prostate 
cancer. Once you get cancer, then you get a lot more interested in that 
subject, and I wanted to share with the folks this evening a little bit 
about this prostate cancer.
  Just in 2010 alone, 217,730 men will be diagnosed with prostate 
cancer, and 32,000 men in the United States will die from prostate 
cancer. Thirty percent of the new diagnoses of prostate cancer will 
occur in men under the age of 65. Prostate cancer takes one life every 
18 minutes. In the next 24 hours, prostate cancer will claim the lives 
of 83 American men.
  If a close relative has prostate cancer, a man's risk of the disease 
more than doubles. With two relatives, his risk increases five times. 
With three close relatives, the risk is about 97 percent.
  African American males suffer prostate cancer at a rate of 65 percent 
higher than white males and double the prostate cancer mortality rates 
of their white counterparts.
  Obesity is a significant predictor of the severity of prostate cancer 
and the probability that the disease will lead to death. In fact, high 
cholesterol levels are strongly associated with advanced prostate 
cancer.
  If a man in the United States has one family member diagnosed with 
prostate cancer, he has a 1 in 3 chance of being diagnosed with 
prostate cancer.
  What we have learned is that this is a deadly disease, and it affects 
men. The good news is that once I learned some of those facts, 
obviously that got my attention. But the good news is that almost 100 
percent of the men diagnosed with prostate cancer will stay alive for 
at least 5 years; about 90 percent of the prostate cancer cases are 
found while the cancer is still either local or regional, and nearly 
100 percent of these men will be alive 5 years after being diagnosed.

  So what is the importance of National Prostate Cancer Awareness 
Month? Well, it is important to recognize that this is a real hazard 
for men. But, most importantly, and the good news is, if caught early 
and treated early, the survival chances are extremely good.
  So that is the reason that I decided to bring this resolution before 
this House and to help bring awareness to the American people, and 
particularly men, is that it is important to make sure you get screened 
and to make that a part of your annual physical. And, if you are 
unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, that the 
earlier you detect it, the better your chances of survival and eventual 
cure are.
  So I am about to celebrate the day after tomorrow, on September 30, 
of being 1 year cancer free. The reason I am able to do that and the 
reason I am able to stand before this body tonight is because we have 
got important research going on on how to treat this cancer. There is 
important research going on on hopefully some day being able to prevent 
prostate cancer. But until then, it is important that men get screened 
and get their tests done so that they too can stand and say, You know 
what? I survived prostate cancer.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of this bill and urge all men get 
tested.
  Mr. PALLONE. I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank our colleague from 
Texas for sharing his story with us.
  Just to reiterate. Physical exams and blood tests are a primary means 
of diagnosing the disease, and all men should discuss this matter with 
their physicians to determine the best course for them, particularly 
men who are most at risk.
  Again, I want to thank Representative Neugebauer from Texas for his 
work on the resolution, which calls for an increase in awareness of the 
screening methods and treatments of prostate cancer and continued 
research into the causes and potential cures.
  Mr. Speaker, as a cosponsor of this resolution, I urge Members to 
support H. Res. 1485.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. 
Res. 1485, a resolution expressing the support of the House of 
Representatives for the designation of September 2010, as ``National 
Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.'' I would like to thank the Chairman 
and Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee for bringing 
this important resolution to the Floor. I would also like to thank 
Representative Randy Neugebauer for his tireless efforts to raise 
awareness of this terrible disease.
  The prostate is a topic that makes all men uncomfortable, present 
company included. And because of this fact, the disease has become a 
silent epidemic. According to the latest statistics, 1 in 6 men will be 
diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime (218,000 men will be 
diagnosed with prostate cancer this year alone); this rivals the rate 
of breast cancer in women which is approximately 1 in 8.
  That is why we must promote and support Prostate Cancer Awareness 
Month, to bring this issue into the light, and get men to begin having 
conversations about their prostate health. It is important for men to 
take advantage of prostate cancer screening exams in order to detect 
the disease at the earliest opportunity, when it is still curable.
  However, getting more men to pay attention to this issue is only half 
the battle because a recent study funded by the National Cancer 
Institute demonstrated that the most common available methods of 
detecting prostate cancer, the PSA blood test and Digital Rectal Exam, 
DRE, the only preinvasive indicators available for the detection of 
prostate cancer, are not particularly adept at detecting prostate 
cancer. The study showed that many PSA blood tests that screen for 
prostate cancer result in false-negative reassurances and numerous 
false-positive alarms (15 percent of men with normal PSA levels still 
have prostate cancer). Even when PSA levels are abnormal, 88 percent of 
men end up not having prostate cancer that would require surgery but 
undergo unnecessary biopsies. As a result more than 1,000,000 U.S. men 
have prostate biopsies annually--costing our health care system 
approximately $1.44 billion--many of which could be eliminated if we 
had advanced diagnostic imaging tools.

  When one look at the battle against breast cancer, a disease that 
again affects about 1 in 8 women, we see that it was a combination of 
increased awareness along with the development of more sophisticated 
diagnostic and imaging tools that help improve early detection and 
survival rates. The same strategy can work for prostate cancer.
  For example, preliminary data from a European study demonstrated that 
when prostate

[[Page H7183]]

cancer biopsies were guided by high-precision, experimental MRI, they 
accurately detected 59% of clinically significant prostate cancer 
missed by at least two consecutive blind biopsies. Unfortunately, 
today, neither the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services nor the 
Department of Defense devotes substantial resources to prostate cancer 
imaging research. I have been told that the National Institutes of 
Health spent only $10 million on prostate cancer detection research 
last year out of a total prostate cancer research budget of $350 
million. In short, there is no concerted Federal effort to bring the 
equivalent of mammography to prostate cancer detection. Representative 
Cummings and I have introduced legislation, the PRIME Act (H.R. 1485) 
to correct this problem. The PRIME Act would, among other things, 
require the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to: (1) carry out a 
program to expand and intensify research to develop advanced imaging 
technologies for prostate cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment 
comparable to mammogram technology. I encourage my colleagues to co-
sponsor this critically importance legislation.
  There is still much work to be done if we want to gain the upper hand 
against a disease that has negatively impacted so many men and their 
families. Prostate Cancer Awareness Month is a time for us to discuss 
and confront this epidemic, regardless of how uncomfortable it makes us 
feel. Despite the fact that men don't like to address these sorts of 
issues openly, we must acknowledge that the numbers speak for 
themselves. 32,000 men will die in 2010, 1.5 million men will have 
invasive and inaccurate biopsies performed, and 70,000 men will have 
treatment failures while trying to seek help for their condition. These 
statistics stand as stark reminders of the importance of this month and 
the dialogue that it will hopefully encourage.
  It is my hope that through increased awareness and discussion about 
prostate cancer, we can begin to chip away at this silent killer. We 
owe it to ourselves, our fathers, grandfathers, brothers, sons, 
husbands, and friends to make this effort. I urge my colleagues to 
support H. Res. 1458.
  Mr. BURGESS. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1485.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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