Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to lung cancer as a public health priority and the recommendations of the Lung Cancer Progress Review Group of the National Cancer Institute.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 335) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should declare lung cancer a public health priority and should implement a comprehensive interagency program to reduce the lung cancer mortality rate by at least 50 percent by 2015, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 335, and I would like to thank the lead cosponsors of the resolution, Ed Whitfield and Donna Christensen. I also wish to strongly commend the Lung Cancer Alliance and other organizations that have supported this resolution. I am so pleased

we could pass this resolution during Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

House Resolution 335 calls on the President to declare lung cancer a public health priority and encourages a greater investment in lung cancer research. This could not come at a more important time.

We have just seen newly released statistics that show, while overall cancer mortality rates are dropping quicker than ever, lung cancer mortality rates in women are actually increasing. As our Nation is committed to working towards the goal of eliminating all cancer deaths by 2015, the statistics for lung cancer are extremely disappointing.

Mr. Speaker, lung cancer is the number one cancer killer of both men and women, yet we are perhaps making the least amount of progress in effectively treating it. We must put greater investment into prevention and early diagnosis of lung cancer. This is the only way to improve outcomes.

One of the most effective ways to reduce lung cancer incidence is, of course, smoking cessation. I am proud of the remarkable achievements our Nation has made to encourage smokers to quit, and better yet, to teach people never to begin at all.

Disappointingly, some of America's leading women's magazines don't share that goal. As many of you have heard and seen, they continue running ads for cigarettes like Camel No. 9 which are clearly targeted at young women.

After years of steady decline, smoking rates have remained stagnant from 2004 to 2006. Launching an aggressive marketing campaign targeting young people is a terrible step backwards in our national efforts to reduce smoking. I hope this resolution today will reinforce our commitment to smoking cessation.

But one of the lesser known facts of lung cancer is that 8 percent of men and an astonishing 20 percent of women with lung cancer have never smoked. I am very aware of this fact through my own personal experience as my daughter became one of these statistics. I think the Nation as a whole became more aware with more visible cases, such as Dana Reeve. It often takes a high-profile case to propel us into action, and I hope that the growing awareness and action over the past 2 years will continue to improve our understanding of and our ability to confront lung cancer.

With a greater investment into integrated, multidisciplinary research organized around lung cancer, we do have a chance of reducing death. Let us use the opportunity of passing this resolution to reaffirm our shared commitment to combating lung cancer deaths, truly making it a public health priority for our Nation. I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 335.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

In closing, I just want to urge our colleagues to pass this resolution and to press forward with the research on lung cancer. I do this in the name of my daughter and of Dana Reeve and other people whose lives have not been saved but who could be promoting others to be encouraged to eradicate this most deadly of cancer scourges.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, Mrs. Capps. And I also want to thank Chairman Dingell and Ranking Member Barton, and others who have had a real hand in moving this legislation before us.

I rise today in support of this resolution, a resolution recognizing the impact of lung cancer and the recent recommendations of the Lung Cancer Progress Review Group of the National Cancer Institute. This group's process is a comprehensive, collaborative, integrated approach to control and eliminate lung cancer. The group was tasked with making recommendations, strategizing, and reporting on progress made in an effort to control and eliminate lung cancer.

The group was able to identify scientific priorities and needs and set forth a national agenda for research on lung cancer.

This Progress Review Group made the recommendation to foster the creation of scientifically integrated multi-institutional research consortia organized around the problem of lung cancer rather than around specific research disciplines. The recommendation speaks to the ongoing work at the NIH as well as in the private sector for cross- cutting research. And as a Congress, it is our responsibility to endow these researchers to best pursue answers. This report clarifies the benefits of broad science. Putting disease research into silos so that, as so many authorizing bills often do, is not always helpful to the greater goal. Let's take these recommendations to pursue a multilevel, multidisciplinary science in an effort to find a cure for lung cancer or thousands of other diseases that afflict the world. Reducing the mortality rate of lung cancer is an objective to which we all can subscribe. It is our responsibility to make sure that the scientists have the tools and the access necessary to pursue a cure.

So many of us here have been with someone at a bedside that is suffering from this awful disease, one of the worst. It is a great step forward that we can pass this legislation, to see the research come about, the funding with it, so that some day in fact we will have a cure to prevent this tragedy in families across the globe.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 335, which expresses the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to lung cancer as a public health priority and the recommendations of the Lung Cancer Progress Review Group of the National Cancer Institute. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Rep. Lois Capps for introducing this important resolution and for her continued efforts on behalf of those affected by lung cancer.

As many of us know all too well, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the United States. While overall advancements in cancer research, treatment, and detection in recent years provide great hope, there is still much to do, especially in the field of lung cancer. The 5-year survival rates have risen significantly for breast, prostate, and colon cancer, but unfortunately, the gains for lung cancer remain modest at best.

For my family and me, these statistics are all too real. In April 2006, my father-in-law, Joseph L. Ercole, was diagnosed with non-small cell adenoma carcinoma stage Ill-b and 9 months later, on February 11, 2007, he died from lung cancer. While his story is not unique, it brought to my attention the need to shine a spotlight on this disease. Clearly, a coordinated and comprehensive research effort, like those used to tackle other cancers, is needed to achieve significant increases in lung cancer survivability rates and prevent other families from suffering the same loss.

H. Res. 335, like S. Res. 87 passed by the Senate in August, clearly states our goals--to have lung cancer declared a public health priority and to reduce the lung cancer mortality rate by 50 percent by 2015--and a pathway to achieve it. Working together these goals can become reality.

I urge my colleagues in the House to join us in this fight and pass H. Res. 335