In Recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Floor Speech

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast Cancer is the most common cancer among women in the U.S. and also the most common cancer found among every ethnic and racial group in America. Thanks to continuous research efforts to improve breast cancer treatment, the mortality rate for this cancer is gradually declining.

According to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Organization, in 2013, it is estimated that among U.S. women there will be 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 39,620 breast cancer deaths. It is also estimated that 27,060 new cases of breast cancer and 6,080 deaths are expected to occur among African American women.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among African American women and the second leading cause of cancer death among African American women exceeded only by lung cancer. Studies have found that African American women often have aggressive tumors with a poorer prognosis which leads to a higher mortality rate.

Breast cancer incidence in African American women is lower than in White women overall. However, for women younger than 45, incidence is higher among African American women than White women. Breast cancer mortality is 41 percent higher in African American women than in White women. Although breast cancer survival in African American women has increased in recent decades, survival rates remain lower than among White women.
Over the past 20 years, progress in both early detection and treatment has led to improved survival for people of all ages and races, and with all stages of breast cancer. Between 1990 and 2009, breast cancer mortality declined by 33 percent among women in the United States.

According to the National Cancer Institute, between 2003 and 2009, 89.2 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer survived 5 years or more after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Death rates have been falling on average 1.9 percent each year over the last 10 years and this is due to the advances in treatment.

Though we have been successful in improving our treatment of Breast Cancer, we still must provide adequate research funding to find a cure for the disease. I therefore stand in honor of all breast cancer patients and survivors to urge my colleagues to support cancer research and ensure that the current and future breast cancer patients have an increased fighting chance for survival.

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