[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 191 (Tuesday, December 13, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8549-S8551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 347--RECOGNIZING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL 
  CANCER ACT OF 1971 AND THE MORE THAN 12,000,000 SURVIVORS OF CANCER 
 ALIVE TODAY BECAUSE OF THE COMMITMENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CANCER 
 RESEARCH AND ADVANCES IN CANCER PREVENTION, DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND 
                               TREATMENT

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio (for himself, Mr. Moran, Mr. Kerry, Mrs. Feinstein, 
Mr. Cardin, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Levin, Mr. Tester, Mr. 
Casey, Mr. Inouye, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Harkin, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Begich, 
Mr. Sanders, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Franken, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Durbin, Mr. 
Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. 
Coons, Mr. Menendez, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Mrs. 
Boxer, Mr. Reed of Rhode Island, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Klobuchar, 
Mr. Kohl, Mr. Brown of Massachusetts, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Blunt, Mr. 
Cochran, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Heller, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Burr, 
and Mr. Kirk) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:

                              S. Res. 347

       Whereas 40 years ago, with the passage of the National 
     Cancer Act of 1971 (Public Law 92-218; 85 Stat. 778), the 
     leaders of the United States came together to set the country 
     on a concerted course to conquer cancer through research;
       Whereas the passage of the National Cancer Act of 1971 led 
     to the establishment of the National Cancer Program, which 
     significantly expanded the authorities and responsibilities 
     of the National Cancer Institute, a component of the National 
     Institutes of Health;
       Whereas the term ``cancer'' refers to more than 200 
     diseases that collectively represent the leading cause of 
     death for people in the United States under the age of 85, 
     and the second leading cause of death for people in the 
     United States overall;
       Whereas cancer touches everyone, either through a direct, 
     personal diagnosis or indirectly through the diagnosis of a 
     family member or friend;
       Whereas, in 2011, cancer remains one of the most pressing 
     public health concerns in the United States, with more than 
     1,500,000 people in the United States expected to be 
     diagnosed with cancer each year;
       Whereas the National Institutes of Health estimated the 
     overall cost of cancer to be greater than $260,000,000,000 in 
     2010 alone;
       Whereas approximately 1 out of every 3 women and 1 out of 
     every 2 men will develop cancer in their lifetimes, and more 
     than 570,000 people in the United States will die from cancer 
     this year, which is more than 1 person every minute and 
     nearly 1 out of every 4 deaths;
       Whereas the commitment of the United States to cancer 
     research and biomedical science has enabled more than 
     12,000,000 people in the United States to survive cancer, 15 
     percent of whom were diagnosed 20 or more years ago, and has 
     resulted in extraordinary progress being made against cancer, 
     including--

[[Page S8550]]

       (1) an increase in the average 5-year survival rate for all 
     cancers combined to 68 percent for adults and 80 percent for 
     children and adolescents, up from 50 percent and 52 percent, 
     respectively, in 1971;
       (2) average 5-year survival rates for breast and prostate 
     cancers exceeding 90 percent;
       (3) a decline in mortality due to colorectal cancer and 
     prostate cancer; and
       (4) from 1990 to 2007, a decline in the death rate from all 
     cancers combined of 22 percent for men and 14 percent for 
     women, resulting in nearly 900,000 fewer deaths during that 
     period;

       Whereas the driving force behind this progress has been 
     support for the National Cancer Institute and its parent 
     agency, the National Institutes of Health, which funds the 
     work of more than 325,000 researchers and research personnel 
     at more than 3,000 universities, medical schools, medical 
     centers, teaching hospitals, small businesses, and research 
     institutions in every State;
       Whereas the commitment of the United States to cancer 
     research has yielded substantial returns in both research 
     advances and lives saved, and it is estimated that every 1 
     percent decline in cancer mortality saves the economy of the 
     United States $500,000,000,000 annually;
       Whereas advancements in understanding the causes and 
     mechanisms of cancer and improvements in the detection, 
     diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer have led to 
     cures for many types of cancers and have converted other 
     types of cancers into manageable chronic conditions;
       Whereas continued support for clinical trials to evaluate 
     the efficacy and therapeutic benefit of promising treatments 
     for cancer is essential for translating new knowledge and 
     discoveries into tangible benefits for patients, especially 
     because all standard cancer therapies began as clinical 
     trials;
       Whereas, despite the significant progress that has been 
     made in treating many cancers, there remain those cancers for 
     which the mortality rate is extraordinarily high, including 
     pancreatic, liver, lung, multiple myeloma, ovarian, 
     esophageal, stomach, and brain cancers, which have a 5-year 
     survival rate of less than 50 percent;
       Whereas research advances concerning uncommon cancers, 
     which pose unique treatment challenges, provide an 
     opportunity for understanding the general properties of human 
     cancers and curing uncommon cancers as well as more common 
     cancers;
       Whereas crucial developments have been achieved in cancer 
     research that could provide breakthroughs necessary to 
     address the increasing incidence of, and reduce deaths caused 
     by, many forms of cancer;
       Whereas research into the effect of certain forms of cancer 
     on different population groups offers a significant 
     opportunity to lessen the burden of the disease, because many 
     population groups across the country suffer 
     disproportionately from certain forms of cancer; and
       Whereas a sustained commitment to the research of the 
     National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer 
     Institute is necessary to improve the entire spectrum of 
     patient care, from cancer prevention, early detection, and 
     diagnosis, to treatment and long-term survivorship, and to 
     prevent research advances from being stalled or delayed: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the 40th anniversary of the National Cancer 
     Act of 1971 (Public Law 92-218; 85 Stat. 778); and
       (2) celebrates and reaffirms the commitment embodied in the 
     National Cancer Act of 1971, specifically, that support for 
     cancer research continues to be a national priority to 
     address the scope of this pressing public health concern.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I rise to submit a bipartisan 
resolution recognizing the 40th anniversary of the National Cancer Act 
of 1971--supported by 33 Democrats and 11 Republicans.
  A special thank-you to Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Kansas 
Senator Jerry Moran for their leadership on this issue.
  It is unfortunate but likely true that we each know someone who has 
been affected by cancer. We know a survivor. We remember a victim. We 
know cancer affects not just the patient but the parents, the family, 
the friends, and the loved ones.
  This year more than 1.5 million Americans are expected to be 
diagnosed with cancer. One out of every three women, one out of every 
two men will develop some form of cancer in their lifetimes.
  More than half a million Americans die from cancer year after year 
after year, in any 1 year. More than one person every minute and nearly 
one out of every four deaths is from cancer.
  We also know that behind the statistics there are thousands of people 
representing thousands of friends, families, and loved ones, with 
ribbons, donations, and races for the cure.
  These are the stories that motivate us to fight harder and to fight 
with one voice. It is also a story of a nation's commitment to cancer 
research. There is interest in dealing with environmental causes. There 
is great interest in dealing with cures and prevention and all that we 
should as a nation and usually do know what to do.
  Forty years ago, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts, as chairman 
of the Health Subcommittee, forged a bipartisan consensus and public 
demand to bolster investments in cancer research.
  He held hearings. He worked with leading public health advocates and 
economists who understood the need for bipartisanship on such an urgent 
national need. His work, along with Jacob Javits, a Republican Senator 
from New York, led to the framework of the National Cancer Act.
  When it was clear President Nixon would only sign the act into law if 
Kennedy's name were not on it, Kennedy backed off.
  The goal was to put cancer research into a new era of discovery, and 
that is what the National Cancer Act did. It established a national 
cancer program, which expanded the authority and the responsibilities 
of the National Cancer Institute, and its parent agency, the National 
Institutes of Health. The National Cancer Institute is, by far, the 
biggest of the two dozen or so National Institutes of Health.
  Today, 12 million cancer survivors are alive because of the advances 
in the way we prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat cancer. Because of 
the investments by the NCI, the National Cancer Institute, and the 
National Institutes of Health, critical cancer research is being 
conducted in hospitals and foundations and communities and in all kinds 
of centers everywhere and in our universities.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a list of more than 100 
cancer research institutions, physicians, and researchers who have 
endorsed this resolution be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

      National Cancer Act 40th Anniversary Resolution Endorsements

       American Association for Cancer Research; Dana-Farber 
     Cancer Institute; LiveStrong; Duke Cancer Institute; 
     Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center; American Cancer 
     Society Cancer Action Network; Gary D. Hammer, M.D., Ph.D., 
     Millie Schembechler Professor of Adrenal Cancer, University 
     of Michigan, Director--Endocrine Oncology Program, Director--
     Center for Organogenesis; Pancreatic Cancer Action Network; 
     MD Anderson Cancer Center; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer 
     Center; Susan G. Komen for the Cure Advocacy Alliance; 
     University of Kansas Cancer Center; American College of 
     Gastroenterology; Michael A. Choti M.D., M.B.A., Jacob C. 
     Handelsman Professor of Surgery, Chief, Handelsman Division 
     of Surgical Oncology, Johns Hopkins University; The Ohio 
     State University Comprehensive Cancer Center; Mark O. 
     Thornton, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., President, Sarcoma Foundation 
     of America; Tito Fojo, M.D.; U.S. Department of Health and 
     Human Services National Cancer Institute Medical Oncology 
     Clinical Research Unit Center for Clinical Research; 
     Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute; Mayo Clinic Cancer 
     Center; Kavita Patel, M.D., M.S., Former Director of Policy 
     for the White House of Public Engagement and 
     Intergovernmental Affairs, Former Deputy Staff Director for 
     the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee 
     under the leadership of the late United States Senator Edward 
     M. Kennedy; Richard J. Gilbertson, M.D., Ph.D., Director, 
     Comprehensive Cancer Center, St. Jude Children's Research 
     Hospital; Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth; Siteman 
     Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and 
     Barnes-Jewish Hospital; Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute.
       Martin A. Makary, M.D., M.P.H., The Mark Ravitch Chair, 
     General Surgery, Associate Professor of Health Policy, Johns 
     Hopkins University; Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C); Vermont Cancer 
     Center; The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute; Andrew 
     Schorr, Founder, Host, and Author, PatientPower.Info; 
     University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center; Boston 
     University/Boston Medical Center Cancer Center; Columbia 
     University Medical Center; Anna Raven, Founder and President, 
     Over Come ACC; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer 
     Center; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center; University of North 
     Carolina's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center; Betsey de 
     Parry, Patient, Advocate, & Author; Beverly S. Mitchell, 
     M.D., George E. Becker Professor of Medicine, Director, 
     Stanford Cancer Center; UC Davis Designated Cancer Center; 
     Bruce Shriver, Founder and President, Liddy Shriver Sarcoma 
     Foundation; James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University 
     of Rochester Medical Center; Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer 
     Institute at the University of Arkansas for

[[Page S8551]]

     Medical Sciences; UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center; 
     Alan Cupal, Patient, Advocate, and Director, Adrenal Cancer 
     Hope; The National CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia) 
     Society; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center; The Robert H. 
     Lurie Cancer Center of Northwestern University; Association 
     of American Cancer Institutes; Gregory J. Gagnon, M.D., 
     Medical Director, Cyberknife Frederick Memorial Hospital, 
     Regional Cancer Therapy Center, Radiation Oncology; Chao 
     Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UC Irvine.
       Claire Verschraegen, M.D., Director, Hematology Oncology 
     Unit, Director, FAHC Cancer Service Line, Director, Vermont 
     Cancer Center; Society of Gynecologic Oncology; University of 
     Colorado Cancer Center; National Brain Tumor Society; 
     National Patient Advocate Foundation; Women Against Prostate 
     Cancer; Intercultural Cancer Council Caucus; Dario Altieri, 
     M.D., Director, Cancer Center, The Wistar Institute Cancer 
     Center; American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer; 
     CureSearch for Children's Cancer; Fight Colorectal Cancer; 
     Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah; Oncology 
     Nursing Society; Bill Bell, President, Spencer Bell Legacy 
     Project; National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship; Prevent 
     Cancer Foundation; National Comprehensive Cancer Network; The 
     Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; Ovarian Cancer National 
     Alliance; One Voice Against Cancer Coalition; Deadly Cancer 
     Coalition; Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum; 
     Howard Ozer, M.D. PhD., Director, University of Illinois 
     Cancer Center; Cancer Clinics of Excellence; The Adenoid 
     Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation; The International 
     Myeloma Foundation; Manish Agrawal, M.D., Associates in 
     Oncology/Hematology; Chordoma Foundation; Research!America; 
     Frederick Memorial Hospital Regional Cancer Therapy Center; 
     Prevent Cancer Foundation; National Coalition for Cancer 
     Research; Melanoma Research Alliance; National Association of 
     Chronic Disease Directors; The Lymphoma Research Foundation; 
     American Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology; 
     International Cancer Advocacy Network.
       Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Oregon Health and 
     Science University's Knight Cancer Institute; Robert Mannel, 
     M.D., Director, Peggy and Charles Stephenson Cancer Center, 
     University of Oklahoma; The University of Virginia Medical 
     Center; Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center; City of 
     Hope National Medical Center; Oncology Nursing Society; 
     American Institute for Cancer Research; University of Puerto 
     Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center; Roswell Park Cancer 
     Institute; Moffitt Cancer Center; American Society of 
     Clinical Oncology; Lymphoma Foundation of America; University 
     of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center; New York University 
     Cancer Institute; Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute; 
     Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute; Holden 
     Comprehensive Cancer Center; Prostate Cancer Foundation.

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. It includes scientists and physicians working 
together on cancer research everywhere from the James in Columbus, to 
Case and UH and the clinic in Cleveland.
  Ohio's universities and medical schools, teaching hospitals, 
Cincinnati Children's Research, small businesses, and other research 
institutions help bring cutting-edge cancer research to urban cities 
and small towns alike.
  For the last 40 years, our Nation's commitment to cancer research has 
seen a tremendous return on investment in the millions of lives and the 
billions of dollars saved.
  We have increased survival rates. We have advanced understanding of 
the diseases and the tools needed to cure them. We have better 
understood the connection between environmental factors and public 
health and diseases. We have realized the importance of prevention. We 
also know challenges remain--from finding more treatments to learning 
more and carrying out prevention better than we have, from dealing with 
environmental factors that we know cause large numbers of cancers and 
reducing costs for patients, to reducing disease burdens for different 
population groups.
  Today's bipartisan cancer resolution on the 40th anniversary of the 
National Cancer Act reaffirms a commitment to address this national 
priority, to make sure cancer is a thing of the past.
  Senator Kennedy said in those days, 40 years ago, when his 
legislation began to move forward:

       There are few better investments in our future than the 
     investment we make in health research.

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, earlier today, I submitted a resolution 
with my colleagues from Ohio and Massachusetts, Senators Brown and 
Kerry, to recognize the 40th anniversary of the signing of the National 
Cancer Act of 1971 and to reaffirm our Nation's strong, bipartisan 
commitment to cancer research and the more than 12 million cancer 
survivors alive today because of that research.
  This commitment to cancer research is supported by 40 Senators from 
both sides of the aisle who cosponsored this resolution. Additionally, 
this resolution is endorsed by more than 105 cancer institutes and 
hospitals, medical schools, and patient groups, including the 
University of Kansas Cancer Center.
  Forty years ago this month, President Nixon signed the National 
Cancer Act into law. The creation of this law marked a turning point in 
our Nation's efforts to prevent and cure cancer and set in motion a 
coordinated and focused approach to cancer research.
  The return on our commitment to cancer research is measured in lives 
saved, a better quality of life for cancer survivors, and an enormous 
economic benefit to our country and world.
  Since the National Cancer Act became law in 1971, the 5-year survival 
rate for all cancers combined has risen consistently--this rate is now 
at 68 percent for adults and 80 percent for children and adolescents, 
up from 50 percent and 52 percent, respectively, in 1971.
  It is estimated that every one percent decline in cancer mortality 
saves the U.S. economy $500 billion annually.
  Our country has made significant progress in combating this 
devastating disease, but more work remains. This year, more than 1.5 
million Americans are expected to be diagnosed with cancer. Of those 
individuals, many will face a very serious, life-changing diagnosis.
  Today, I am proud to help submit a resolution that reaffirms our 
sustained, strong commitment to cancer research that will help improve 
the entire spectrum of care for patients, from prevention to early 
detection and diagnosis, to treatment and long-term survivorship, and 
most importantly--cures.

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