Promotin Awareness of Pancreatic Cancer

Floor Speech

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to promote awareness of the growing concern for one of the deadliest cancers in America--Pancreatic cancer.

Some of you may not know, but the threat of Pancreatic cancer is growing in the United States. Pancreatic cancer is not only one of the deadliest cancers, but it's the 4th leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the United States.

It is estimated that in 2013, 45,220 Americans will be diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and 38,460 will die from this disease; while overall cancer incidence and death rates are declining, the incidence of Pancreatic cancer and death rate due to this cancer have been increasing. According to a recent report issued by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Pancreatic cancer is expected to become the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States by 2020.

In my home state of New York, the projection of Pancreatic cancer deaths in 2013 is 2,500. Specifically, in Kings County, which is where my congressional district is located, there have been on average 256 deaths per year between 2006 and 2010. This information is particularly troubling to me and underscores the fact that we need to put forth more effort to support cancer research.

The Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act was signed into law on January 2, 2013. This law calls on the National Cancer Institute, also known as NCI, to develop scientific frameworks for Pancreatic and Lung cancer, which will help provide the strategic direction needed to make true progress in these deadly cancers.

Although we enacted this piece of legislation, our work is far from over. Pancreatic cancer statistics call for aggressive measures NOW to develop early detection and treatment tools before incidences of the disease dramatically increase--but NCI funding is falling dangerously behind. In fact, over the last decade the National Institutes of Health has lost approximately 20% of its purchasing power because funding has not kept pace with the rate of biomedical inflation. Added to that, the NCI budget was cut by 5.8%, largely as a result of sequestration.

As members of Congress, we can give current and future Pancreatic cancer patients a fighting chance by ensuring that the provisions of the Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act are fully implemented and provide sustained, adequate funding for the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.

We cannot have success in fighting diseases like Pancreatic cancer if research funding levels do not improve. So, I stand here today to urge my colleagues to support cancer research and ensure that the provisions of the Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act are fully implemented.

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