Expressing support for designation of September 2010 as "National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month".

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 1485, a resolution expressing the support of the House of Representatives for the designation of September 2010, as ``National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.'' I would like to thank the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee for bringing this important resolution to the Floor. I would also like to thank Representative Randy Neugebauer for his tireless efforts to raise awareness of this terrible disease.

The prostate is a topic that makes all men uncomfortable, present company included. And because of this fact, the disease has become a silent epidemic. According to the latest statistics, 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime (218,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year alone); this rivals the rate of breast cancer in women which is approximately 1 in 8.

That is why we must promote and support Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, to bring this issue into the light, and get men to begin having conversations about their prostate health. It is important for men to take advantage of prostate cancer screening exams in order to detect the disease at the earliest opportunity, when it is still curable.

However, getting more men to pay attention to this issue is only half the battle because a recent study funded by the National Cancer Institute demonstrated that the most common available methods of detecting prostate cancer, the PSA blood test and Digital Rectal Exam, DRE, the only preinvasive indicators available for the detection of prostate cancer, are not particularly adept at detecting prostate cancer. The study showed that many PSA blood tests that screen for prostate cancer result in false-negative reassurances and numerous false-positive alarms (15 percent of men with normal PSA levels still have prostate cancer). Even when PSA levels are abnormal, 88 percent of men end up not having prostate cancer that would require surgery but undergo unnecessary biopsies. As a result more than 1,000,000 U.S. men have prostate biopsies annually--costing our health care system approximately $1.44 billion--many of which could be eliminated if we had advanced diagnostic imaging tools.

When one look at the battle against breast cancer, a disease that again affects about 1 in 8 women, we see that it was a combination of increased awareness along with the development of more sophisticated diagnostic and imaging tools that help improve early detection and survival rates. The same strategy can work for prostate cancer.

For example, preliminary data from a European study demonstrated that when prostate

cancer biopsies were guided by high-precision, experimental MRI, they accurately detected 59% of clinically significant prostate cancer missed by at least two consecutive blind biopsies. Unfortunately, today, neither the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services nor the Department of Defense devotes substantial resources to prostate cancer imaging research. I have been told that the National Institutes of Health spent only $10 million on prostate cancer detection research last year out of a total prostate cancer research budget of $350 million. In short, there is no concerted Federal effort to bring the equivalent of mammography to prostate cancer detection. Representative Cummings and I have introduced legislation, the PRIME Act (H.R. 1485) to correct this problem. The PRIME Act would, among other things, require the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to: (1) carry out a program to expand and intensify research to develop advanced imaging technologies for prostate cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment comparable to mammogram technology. I encourage my colleagues to co- sponsor this critically importance legislation.

There is still much work to be done if we want to gain the upper hand against a disease that has negatively impacted so many men and their families. Prostate Cancer Awareness Month is a time for us to discuss and confront this epidemic, regardless of how uncomfortable it makes us feel. Despite the fact that men don't like to address these sorts of issues openly, we must acknowledge that the numbers speak for themselves. 32,000 men will die in 2010, 1.5 million men will have invasive and inaccurate biopsies performed, and 70,000 men will have treatment failures while trying to seek help for their condition. These statistics stand as stark reminders of the importance of this month and the dialogue that it will hopefully encourage.

It is my hope that through increased awareness and discussion about prostate cancer, we can begin to chip away at this silent killer. We owe it to ourselves, our fathers, grandfathers, brothers, sons, husbands, and friends to make this effort. I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 1458.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the author of H. Res. 1485, to express support for the designation of September as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month by the House of Representatives.

I didn't know much about prostate cancer, other than occasionally one of my friends would turn up with that diagnosis; and about every year when I went to my health care provider, I went through the normal process of having a digital exam and also taking my PSA, and was pretty religious about doing that, always with the good news of a negative result.

Well, that all changed in August of last year when I went for my test and it was decided that additional testing needed to be done. So tests were done, and it was determined that I did in fact have prostate cancer. Once you get cancer, then you get a lot more interested in that subject, and I wanted to share with the folks this evening a little bit about this prostate cancer.

Just in 2010 alone, 217,730 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and 32,000 men in the United States will die from prostate cancer. Thirty percent of the new diagnoses of prostate cancer will occur in men under the age of 65. Prostate cancer takes one life every 18 minutes. In the next 24 hours, prostate cancer will claim the lives of 83 American men.

If a close relative has prostate cancer, a man's risk of the disease more than doubles. With two relatives, his risk increases five times. With three close relatives, the risk is about 97 percent.

African American males suffer prostate cancer at a rate of 65 percent higher than white males and double the prostate cancer mortality rates of their white counterparts.

Obesity is a significant predictor of the severity of prostate cancer and the probability that the disease will lead to death. In fact, high cholesterol levels are strongly associated with advanced prostate cancer.

If a man in the United States has one family member diagnosed with prostate cancer, he has a 1 in 3 chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

What we have learned is that this is a deadly disease, and it affects men. The good news is that once I learned some of those facts, obviously that got my attention. But the good news is that almost 100 percent of the men diagnosed with prostate cancer will stay alive for at least 5 years; about 90 percent of the prostate cancer cases are found while the cancer is still either local or regional, and nearly 100 percent of these men will be alive 5 years after being diagnosed.

So what is the importance of National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month? Well, it is important to recognize that this is a real hazard for men. But, most importantly, and the good news is, if caught early and treated early, the survival chances are extremely good.

So that is the reason that I decided to bring this resolution before this House and to help bring awareness to the American people, and particularly men, is that it is important to make sure you get screened and to make that a part of your annual physical. And, if you are unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, that the earlier you detect it, the better your chances of survival and eventual cure are.

So I am about to celebrate the day after tomorrow, on September 30, of being 1 year cancer free. The reason I am able to do that and the reason I am able to stand before this body tonight is because we have got important research going on on how to treat this cancer. There is important research going on on hopefully some day being able to prevent prostate cancer. But until then, it is important that men get screened and get their tests done so that they too can stand and say, You know what? I survived prostate cancer.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of this bill and urge all men get tested.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer).

Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank our colleague from Texas for sharing his story with us.

Just to reiterate. Physical exams and blood tests are a primary means of diagnosing the disease, and all men should discuss this matter with their physicians to determine the best course for them, particularly men who are most at risk.

Again, I want to thank Representative Neugebauer from Texas for his work on the resolution, which calls for an increase in awareness of the screening methods and treatments of prostate cancer and continued research into the causes and potential cures.

Mr. Speaker, as a cosponsor of this resolution, I urge Members to support H. Res. 1485.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1485) expressing support for designation of September 2010 as ``National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 1485 expresses support for the designation of September 2010 as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

I would like to thank Representative Neugebauer for his leadership on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.