LungBlog

Today, Lung Cancer Alliance praised the efforts of State Senator Susan Fargo for helping shepherd first-ever lung cancer research funding bill through the Massachusetts State Senate Committee on Revenue. Senate Bill #2454 would establish a “trust fund,” known as the Commonwealth Lung Cancer Early Detection and Treatment Research Fund, which would be funded by a percentage of the cigarette tax and would support research grants for early detection and treatment.

Janet Anderson said she discovered a malignant tumor in her uterus two years ago.

But after beating cancer once, the non-smoker was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer last year. Low-dose radiation put the disease into remission, but there is always the chance it could come back.

She added that while this type of cancer is incurable, that could change with additional research.

Anderson said she continues to complete quarterly scans and blood tests. Her annual bills are $4,000 instead of the $12,000 she would be forced to pay if this care was part of a clinical trial.

“When you are fighting cancer, the last thing you want to fight with is your insurance company,” she said. “I’m here today because of people who went through clinical trials in the past.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal urged the legislature to allocate $15.7 million to the Connecticut Comprehensive Cancer Plan to restore the full services of the state’s Quitline and other vital tobacco cessation and education programs.

Blumenthal submitted testimony, as he met in Washington, D.C. with other attorneys general to discuss this issue and others at a National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) conference.

Last year, more than 13,000 people – in one month – sought assistance to quit smoking through the Quitline smoking cessation program. The Quitline is a successful smoking cessation program combining counseling and nicotine replacement pharmaceutical drugs, but the program exhausted its funding, and full service was discontinued to new applicants less than 30 days after it began.

Senate Bill 459, An Act Promoting the Early Detections, Diagnosis and Treatment of Lung Cancer, Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer, would enable restoration of the Quitline’s full services and other programs.

Putting their rhetoric aside, let’s look at their records when it comes to leadership in cancer treatment and prevention. A search of cancer related bills sponsored in the Senate by each candidate revealed one for McCain, and several proposals from both Obama and Clinton.

Obama has sponsored or cosponsored bills to accelerate genomics research (S 976), enable states to develop or expand activities to monitor exposure to environmental toxins and pollutants (S 1068), and improve biomarkers for the early detection and screening of ovarian cancer (S 2569).

Senator Clinton has sponsored or cosponsored bills to provide education on the health consequences of exposure to secondhand smoke (S 2005), support Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month (S Res 222), ask the President to declare lung cancer a public health priority (S Res 87), require health plans to provide coverage for a minimum hospital stay for mastectomies, lumpectomies, and lymph node dissection for the treatment of breast cancer (S 459), and amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to protect the health of susceptible populations from trichloroethylene a probable carcinogen (S.1911).

Breast cancer, colorectal cancer and lung cancer are the most common and deadliest types, together accounting for 45 percent of cases and 52 percent of deaths.

“The good news is that we can do something about those three types of cancer,” Tucker said.

He said early detection through screening — and bringing down Kentucky’s high smoking rates — would greatly reduce the toll of these diseases. Currently, many patients find these cancers after they have spread, which is costly in lives and money.

Today, Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) urged leadership of the United States Senate to include funding for biomedical research in an economic stimulus package currently under consideration. In letters hand carried to Capitol Hill, LCA Board Chairman Rear Admiral Phil Coady, USN (Ret.) and LCA President & CEO Laurie Fenton Ambrose pointed out that every family in America is paying an increasing proportion of income on health care costs — a de facto tax increase that is falling disproportionately on low and middle income families.

Biomoda, an Albuquerque biomedical company that has developed a non-invasive test for early detection of lung cancer, declared on 21 January that busloads of New Mexico veterans will meet state legislators on 29 January as part of “Veterans Day” in Santa Fe to push for USD1.3m in funding of an early lung cancer screening programme for veterans.

U.S. Rep. Julia Carson, D-Ind., has died after a battle with lung cancer, her office said Saturday morning, reported Indianapolis TV station WRTV.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel presented the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation’s Luminosity Award to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein Nov. 9 in the presence of 650 guests at the foundation’s annual “Simply The Best Gala” at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
The award acknowledged Feinstein’s work in the fight against cancer, especially lung cancer.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. Unfortunately, lung cancer does not get much press, even though it takes the lives of more Americans each year than breast, prostate, colon liver and kidney cancers and melanoma combined.This year, for the first time, both houses of the state Legislature have memorialized November as Lung Cancer Awareness Month. Both Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings have signed proclamations declaring November as Lung Cancer Awareness Month.