[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
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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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