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, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

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; 

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

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


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•SRES 87 IS 

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’’; 

Whereas the Report of the Lung Cancer Progress Review 

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

integrated, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research 


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•SRES 87 IS 

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; 

20 (D) graduate medical education programs 

21 in thoracic medicine and cardiothoracic surgery; 


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•SRES 87 IS 

1 (E) new programs within the Food and 

2 Drug Administration to expedite the develop3 ment of chemoprevention and targeted therapies 

4 for lung cancer; 

5 (F) annual reviews by the Agency for 

6 Healthcare Research and Quality of lung cancer 

7 screening and treatment protocols; 

8 (G) the appointment of a lung cancer di9 rector within the Centers for Disease Control 

10 and Prevention with authority to improve lung 

11 cancer surveillance and screening programs; 

12 and 

13 (H) lung cancer screening demonstration 

14 programs under the direction of the Centers for 

15 Medicare and Medicaid Services; 

16 (3) direct the Secretary of Defense, in conjunc17 tion with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to de18 velop a broad-based lung cancer screening and dis19 ease management program among members of the 

20 Armed Forces and veterans, and to develop techno21 logically advanced diagnostic programs for the early 

22 detection of lung cancer; 

23 (4) appoint a Lung Cancer Scientific and Med24 ical Advisory Committee, comprised of medical, sciVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:47 Feb 28, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR87.IS SR87

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1 entific, pharmaceutical, and patient advocacy rep2 resentatives, to— 

3 (A) work with the National Lung Cancer 

4 Public Health Policy Board described in para5 graph (5); and 

6 (B) report to the President and Congress 

7 on the progress toward and the obstacles to 

8 achieving the goal described in paragraph (1) of 

9 reducing the lung cancer mortality rate by 50 

10 percent by 2015; and 

11 (5) convene a National Lung Cancer Public 

12 Health Policy Board, comprised of multiagency and 

13 multidepartment representatives and at least 3 

14 members of the Lung Cancer Scientific and Medical 

15 Advisory Committee, to oversee and coordinate all 

16 efforts to accomplish the goal described in para17 graph (1) of reducing the lung cancer mortality rate 

18 by 50 percent by 2015. 

Æ 


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