Waging a War on Breast Cancer in Congress
Senator Leahy Tells How It Began
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Senator Leahy met with
members of the National
Breast Cancer Coalition: Cindy Broder, Fran Visco,
and Vermonters Sally Miller of Milton and
Eva Pavelka of Colchester. April 30, 2002 |
Early in 1992, I was visited by several Vermont women, activists and
victims of breast cancer, and we discussed the urgent need for more
intensive research of this disease that has taken the lives of nearly
one million American women over the last forty years. Soon after, I was
joined by several members of Congress in starting a Congressional
campaign to eradicate breast cancer. We began by introducing a Senate
resolution
urging the Secretary of Health and Human Services to declare breast
cancer a public health emergency. The Resolution raised public
awareness about this dreaded disease and sent a strong message that
the investigation into the cause, treatment, and prevention of the
cancer needed to be accelerated.
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In 1997, I supported a
bill to create a special stamp, the proceeds of which would go to the
fight against breast cancer. In 1998, the U.S. Postal Service issued the
Breast Cancer Research Stamp - the first U.S. stamp to have its net
proceeds above the cost of postage earmarked for a research organization
or cause. Since the stamp became available, more than 695 million have
been sold, raising over $50 million for breast cancer research. The
stamp was originally authorized to be sold until July 29, 2000. Due to
the overwhelming success of the stamp, an effort was launched to extend
the program's life. I was an original cosponsor of the
Breast Cancer Research Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2000 and
subsequent legislation that has extended the program until December
2007. Currently, I am the cosponsor of a bill to allow these stamps to
continue to be sold to support breast cancer research until December
2009.
Three million American women are living with breast cancer, and
an estimated 266,471 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed
each year. According to the National Cancer Institute, 1 out of
every 8 women -- or 14.2 percent -- in the United States will develop breast
cancer in her lifetime, and of these women 47 percent will die within 20
years of diagnosis. The disease kills more than 43,000 American
women each
year, it is the leading cancer among American women, and it is second only to
lung cancer in cancer deaths. We have no choice but to continue our
fight against this dreadful disease.
Learn More about Senator Leahy's Fight Against Breast Cancer:
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Marcelle & I at Race for
the Cure, Washington, DC
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