[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 14 (Monday, April 7, 1997)]
[Pages 440-441]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6980--Cancer Control Month, 1997

April 1, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    In observing Cancer Control Month, we reaffirm our national 
commitment to fighting this deadly disease. Since the signing of the 
National Cancer Act in 1971, we as a Nation have made significant 
strides in combating many forms of cancer. In November 1996, the 
National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced that the cancer death rate in 
the United States fell by nearly 3 percent between 1991 and 1995, the 
first sustained decline since national record-keeping began in the 
1930s. The declines in lung, colorectal, and prostate cancer deaths in 
men, and breast and gynecologic cancer deaths in women, reflect the 
progress we have made in prevention, early detection, and treatment. 
However, we recognize how much work must still be done to control and 
eliminate this disease.
    Perhaps one of the most promising achievements of cancer research 
this past year is in our increased understanding of cancer genetics. We 
have learned that cancer is a disease of altered genes and altered gene 
function. Researchers are making great progress in identifying genes 
whose dysfunction leads to cancer. Our research into the relationship 
between genetics and cancer also is helping us to better understand the 
basis for many other diseases and will strengthen our ability to 
intervene against them. If we are to continue this remarkable progress, 
we must keep scientific research as a fundamental priority.
    Research has already taught us that smoking directly causes lung 
cancer and markedly increases a person's risk of developing cancers of 
the pancreas, esophagus, uterus, cervix, mouth, throat, and bladder. We 
know that many of the deaths from these cancers are preventable. Over 
the last several years, positive trends have emerged: Business, 
industry, and all levels of government have established smoke-free 
policies, and per-capita cigarette consumption has declined by 37 
percent over the past two decades.
    Reasons for deep concern remain, however. More than 3,000 teenagers 
become regular smokers each day in the United States. We must do all we 
can to help our children understand the consequences of smoking, and we 
must set a good example ourselves by not smoking. Last year, in an 
important step forward, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed 
restrictions on the advertising, marketing, and sales of cigarettes to 
minors. In February of this year, I was proud to announce that the first 
part of those rules went into effect.
    We are also learning more about the relationship between diet and 
cancer risk, and we are gaining insight into the role of dietary 
supplements in reducing certain types of cancer. We know that by 
improving our diet--reducing fat and increasing the amount of fiber--we 
reduce our risk of cancer. The NCI, in collaboration with the food 
industry, sponsors the national 5-A-Day Program, which encourages 
Americans to eat five servings of fruit and vegetables each day.
    We are taking other important steps, as well. Federal agencies are 
working together to ensure that potentially active drugs move quickly 
from discovery to clinical use. To reduce the number of cancer deaths 
and new cases, and to help cancer patients survive longer and live 
better lives, several Federal agencies are working with State and local 
health departments to develop and implement national plans for breast 
and cervical cancer screening and to promote cancer prevention. I was 
pleased to announce last week that my Administration is launching a 
major public education campaign to make sure that every woman and every 
health care professional in America is aware of the NCI's new 
recommendations that women between the ages of 40 and 49 should get a 
mammography examination for breast cancer every one or two years. The 
Medicare budget that I just submitted to the Congress will cover the 
expense of these annual exams, and we are urging State Medicaid 
directors to cover annual mammograms as well, with the assurance that 
the Federal Government will pay its matching share if they do so.

[[Page 441]]

    As we commemorate this special month, I ask health care 
professionals, private industry, community groups, insurance companies, 
and all other interested organizations and individual citizens to unite 
to publicly reaffirm our Nation's continuing commitment to controlling 
cancer. In 1938, the Congress of the United States passed a joint 
resolution requesting the President to issue an annual proclamation 
declaring April as ``Cancer Control Month.''
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim April 1997, as Cancer Control 
Month. I invite the Governors of the 50 States and the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, and the appropriate 
officials of all other areas under the American flag to issue similar 
proclamations.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of 
April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., April 2, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April 
3.