III 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 87 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President should declare lung 

cancer a public health priority and should implement a comprehensive 

interagency program to reduce the lung cancer mortality rate by at 

least 50 percent by 2015. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2007 

Mr. HAGEL (for himself, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, 

and Mr. BROWN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

AUGUST 2, 2007 

Committee discharged; considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President should 

declare lung cancer a public health priority and should 

implement a comprehensive interagency program to reduce the lung cancer mortality rate by at least 50 percent by 2015. 

Whereas lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for 

both men and women, accounting for 28 percent of all 

cancer deaths; 

Whereas lung cancer kills more people annually than breast 

cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, melanoma, and kidney cancer combined; 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

2 

SRES 87 ATS 

Whereas, since the National Cancer Act of 1971 (Public Law 

92–218; 85 Stat. 778), coordinated and comprehensive 

research has raised the 5-year survival rates for breast 

cancer to 88 percent, for prostate cancer to 99 percent, 

and for colon cancer to 64 percent; 

Whereas the 5-year survival rate for lung cancer is still only 

15 percent and a similar coordinated and comprehensive 

research effort is required to achieve increases in lung 

cancer survivability rates; 

Whereas 60 percent of lung cancer cases are now diagnosed 

in nonsmokers or former smokers; 

Whereas 2⁄3 of nonsmokers diagnosed with lung cancer are 

women; 

Whereas certain minority populations, such as Black males, 

have disproportionately high rates of lung cancer incidence and mortality, notwithstanding their lower smoking 

rate; 

Whereas members of the baby boomer generation are entering their sixties, the most common age at which people 

develop cancer; 

Whereas tobacco addiction and exposure to other lung cancer 

carcinogens such as Agent Orange and other herbicides 

and battlefield emissions are serious problems among 

military personnel and war veterans; 

Whereas the August 2001 Report of the Lung Cancer 

Progress Review Group of the National Cancer Institute 

stated that funding for lung cancer research was ‘‘far 

below the levels characterized for other common malignancies and far out of proportion to its massive health 

impact’’; 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

3 

SRES 87 ATS 

Whereas the Report of the Lung Cancer Progress Review 

Group identified as its ‘‘highest priority’’ the creation of 

integrated, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research 

consortia organized around the problem of lung cancer 

rather than around specific research disciplines; and 

Whereas the United States must enhance its response to the 

issues raised in the Report of the Lung Cancer Progress 

Review Group: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 

2 President should— 

3 (1) declare lung cancer a public health priority 

4 and immediately lead a coordinated effort to reduce 

5 the lung cancer mortality rate by 50 percent by 

6 2015; 

7 (2) direct the Secretary of Health and Human 

8 Services to increase funding for lung cancer research 

9 and other lung cancer-related programs as part of a 

10 coordinated strategy with defined goals, including— 

11 (A) translational research and specialized 

12 lung cancer research centers; 

13 (B) expansion of existing multi-institu14 tional, population-based screening programs in15 corporating state-of-the-art image processing, 

16 centralized review, clinical management, and to17 bacco cessation protocols; 

18 (C) research on disparities in lung cancer 

19 incidence and mortality rates; 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

4 

SRES 87 ATS 

1 (D) graduate medical education programs 

2 in thoracic medicine and cardiothoracic surgery; 

3 (E) new programs within the Food and 

4 Drug Administration to expedite the develop5 ment of chemoprevention and targeted therapies 

6 for lung cancer; 

7 (F) annual reviews by the Agency for 

8 Healthcare Research and Quality of lung cancer 

9 screening and treatment protocols; 

10 (G) the appointment of a lung cancer di11 rector within the Centers for Disease Control 

12 and Prevention with authority to improve lung 

13 cancer surveillance and screening programs; 

14 and 

15 (H) lung cancer screening demonstration 

16 programs under the direction of the Centers for 

17 Medicare and Medicaid Services; 

18 (3) direct the Secretary of Defense, in conjunc19 tion with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to de20 velop a broad-based lung cancer screening and dis21 ease management program among members of the 

22 Armed Forces and veterans, and to develop techno23 logically advanced diagnostic programs for the early 

24 detection of lung cancer; 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

5 

SRES 87 ATS 

1 (4) appoint a Lung Cancer Scientific and Med2 ical Advisory Committee, comprised of medical, sci3 entific, pharmaceutical, and patient advocacy rep4 resentatives, to— 

5 (A) work with the National Lung Cancer 

6 Public Health Policy Board described in para7 graph (5); and 

8 (B) report to the President and Congress 

9 on the progress toward and the obstacles to 

10 achieving the goal described in paragraph (1) of 

11 reducing the lung cancer mortality rate by 50 

12 percent by 2015; and 

13 (5) convene a National Lung Cancer Public 

14 Health Policy Board, comprised of multiagency and 

15 multidepartment representatives and at least 3 

16 members of the Lung Cancer Scientific and Medical 

17 Advisory Committee, to oversee and coordinate all 

18 efforts to accomplish the goal described in para19 graph (1) of reducing the lung cancer mortality rate 

20 by 50 percent by 2015. 

Æ 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS