Date: 2012-05-17
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank both the ranking member and the chair. I have so much to say about this very passionate issue. I will quickly say that I have two amendments. One deals with outreach on behalf of small and minority businesses for defense contracts. and I truly believe it is enormously important for the vast number of those businesses. but I really rise today to talk about triple negative breast cancer. which has killed so many women. I am very. very pleased to say that my amendment. with the Office of Health within the Department of Defense. will identify specific genetic and molecular targets and biomarkers for triple negative breast cancer. provide information useful in biomarker selection. drug discovery. and clinical trial design that will enable both triple negative breast cancer patients to be identified in the progression of the disease and also to provide for therapies. I do this in the loving memory of Yolanda Williams. whose funeral I spoke at last year. She was the daughter of Dr. Lois Moore and the wife of Mr. Williams. and she had two beautiful daughters. This wonderful. caring woman died so quickly because of triple negative breast cancer. Also. in the loving memory of Betty Sommers daughter. Stacey Michelle Gaecke. she shares her story that she also died from triple negative breast cancer. I ask for the support of my amendment. Mr. Chair. I rise today in support of my amendment # 91 to H.R. 4310 "National Defense Authorization Act." which would direct the Department of Defense Office of Health to work in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health to identify specific genetic and molecular targets and biomarkers for Triple Negative Breast Cancer. TNBC. In addition. my amendment is intended to result in information useful in biomarker selection. drug discovery. and clinical trials design that will enable both TNBC patients to be identified earlier in the progression of their disease and develop multiple targeted therapies for the disease. Triple negative breast cancer is a specific strain of breast cancer for which no targeted treatment is available. The American Cancer Society calls this particular strain of breast cancer "an aggressive subtype associated with lower survival rates." I offer this amendment in hopes that through a coordinated effort DOD and NIH can develop a targeted treatment for the triple negative breast cancer strain. Breast cancers with specific. targeted treatment methods. such as hormone and gene based strains. have higher survival rates than the triple negative subtype. highlighting the need for a targeted treatment. Today. breast cancer accounts for 1 in 4 cancer diagnoses among women in this country. It is also the most commonly diagnosed cancer among African American women. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2011. more than 26.000 African American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. and another 6.000 will die from the disease. Between 2002 and 2007. African American women suffered a 39% higher death rate from breast cancer than other groups. African American women are also 12% less likely to survive five years after a breast cancer diagnosis. One reason for this disparity is that African American women are disproportionally affected by triple negative breast cancer. More than 30% of all breast cancer diagnoses in African Americans are of the triple negative variety. Black women are far more susceptible to this dangerous subtype than white or Hispanic women.