[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 9, 2001)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 51295-51296]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-25439]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 195 / Tuesday, October 9, 2001 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 51295]]


                Proclamation 7477 of October 3, 2001

                
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, 2001

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                This October, as we mark the 12th observance of 
                National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we renew our 
                commitment to the struggle against breast cancer and 
                salute the courage of Americans living with this 
                serious disease. The effects of breast cancer have 
                touched many of us, whether through personal diagnosis 
                or the diagnosis of a family member or friend.

                We may know someone who has survived breast cancer due 
                to early detection and improved treatment. 
                Unfortunately, we also know that a cure cannot come 
                soon enough. This year, approximately 192,000 women 
                will be diagnosed with breast cancer. By increasing 
                awareness about the importance of early detection and 
                accelerating the use of recent innovative advances in 
                medical research, we can reduce the incidence of breast 
                cancer in our Nation.

                Until a cure is found, health care professionals agree 
                that regular mammograms are essential to ensuring the 
                early detection of breast cancer. The good news is that 
                the message about early detection is being heard. In 
                1998, almost 70 percent of women age 40 and older had a 
                mammogram in the last two years. And this year, 
                Medicare coverage was expanded to include digital 
                mammograms, offering women another approach for early 
                detection.

                As the primary agency in the United States for cancer 
                research, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) leads the 
                research efforts to find a cure for this disease. Our 
                goal is a future free of breast cancer. We will achieve 
                this goal by developing new treatments and therapies 
                and by better understanding what causes breast cancer. 
                The NCI will spend an estimated $463.8 million on 
                breast cancer research this year. That figure will 
                increase to an estimated $510 million next year; and 
                overall National Institutes of Health (NIH) 
                expenditures on breast cancer research are slated to 
                reach $630 million for Fiscal Year 2002. My 
                Administration supports an increase in spending for the 
                NIH, of which NCI is a part, and has proposed that, by 
                2003, funding for NIH be twice what it was in 1998.

                I urge all Americans at risk for breast cancer to use 
                appropriate screenings that can detect it at its 
                initial stages. Until we find a cure, early detection 
                is our most essential tool in fighting this disease. 
                Recent medical successes allow us to say that the war 
                on breast cancer will succeed.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the 
                United States of America, by the authority vested in me 
                by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do 
                hereby proclaim October 2001, as National Breast Cancer 
                Awareness Month. I call upon government officials, 
                businesses, communities, health care professionals, 
                educators, volunteers, and all the people of the United 
                States to publicly reaffirm our Nation's strong and 
                continuing commitment to controlling and curing breast 
                cancer.

[[Page 51296]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                third day of October, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand one, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and twenty-sixth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)B

[FR Doc. 01-25439
Filed 10-5-01; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P