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[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 385 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 385

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 23, 2002

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of Health and 
 Human Services should conduct or support research on certain tests to 
 screen for ovarian cancer, and Federal health care programs and group 
 and individual health plans should cover the tests if demonstrated to 
                 be effective, and for other purposes.

Whereas ovarian cancer is a serious and underrecognized threat to women's 
        health;
Whereas ovarian cancer, the deadliest of the gynecologic cancers, is the fourth 
        leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States;
Whereas ovarian cancer occurs in 1 out of 57 women in the United States;
Whereas approximately 50 percent of the women in the United States diagnosed 
        with ovarian cancer die as a result of the cancer within 5 years;
Whereas ovarian cancer is readily treatable when it is detected in the beginning 
        stages before it has spread beyond the ovaries, but the vast majority of 
        cases are not diagnosed until the advanced stages when the cancer has 
        spread beyond the ovaries;
Whereas in cases where ovarian cancer is detected in the beginning stages, more 
        than 90 percent of women survive longer than 5 years;
Whereas only 25 percent of ovarian cancer cases in the United States are 
        diagnosed in the beginning stages;
Whereas in cases where ovarian cancer is diagnosed in the advanced stages, the 
        chance of 5-year survival is only about 25 percent; and
Whereas ovarian cancer may be difficult to diagnose because symptoms are easily 
        confused with other diseases and because there is no reliable, easy-to-
        administer screening tool: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting 
        through the Director of the National Institutes of Health--
                    (A) should conduct or support research on the 
                effectiveness of the medical screening technique of 
                using proteomic patterns in blood serum to identify 
                ovarian cancer, including the effectiveness of using 
                the technique in combination with other screening 
                methods for ovarian cancer; and
                    (B) should continue to conduct or support other 
                promising ovarian cancer research that may lead to 
                breakthroughs in screening techniques;
            (2) the Secretary should submit to the Congress a report on 
        the research described in paragraph (1)(A), including an 
        analysis of the effectiveness of the medical screening 
        technique for identifying ovarian cancer; and
            (3) if the research demonstrates that the medical screening 
        technique is effective for identifying ovarian cancer, Federal 
        health care programs and group and individual health plans 
        should cover the technique.

            Passed the House of Representatives July 22, 2002.

            Attest:

                                                 JEFF TRANDAHL,

                                                                 Clerk.
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