BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SJR 7
Author: Lowenthal (D), et al
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE
SUBJECT : Pancreatic cancer
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution urges the President and the
Congress of the United States to expand federally funded
research efforts aimed at developing a reliable means of
detecting pancreatic cancer in its early stages.
ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following
legislative findings:
1. Approximately 38,000 Americans, including an estimated
3,625 Californians, will be diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer this year.
2. Seventy-five percent of pancreatic cancer patients die
within the first year of their diagnosis, and 95 percent
die within five years, making pancreatic cancer the
deadliest of any cancer.
3. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of
cancer death in the United States, with an estimated
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3,380 Californians expected to die from pancreatic
cancer in 2009.
4. There has been no significant improvement in pancreatic
cancer survival rates in over 30 years, and pancreatic
cancer research is still in the earliest scientific
stages.
5. There are no early detection methods and minimal
treatment options for pancreatic cancer.
6. The incidence rate of pancreatic cancer is 40 to 50
percent higher in African Americans than in other ethnic
groups, with Jews of Ashkenazi descent also at an
increased genetic risk.
7. Pancreatic cancer has struck such notable figures as
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Patrick Swayze, Dr. Randy
Pausch, and Luciano Pavarotti.
8. Pancreatic cancer research constitutes less than two
percent of the National Cancer Institute's federal
research funding, a figure far too low given the
severity of the disease, its mortality rate, and how
little is known about how to arrest it.
9. There is a critical need to support research that
identifies new methods of detecting and treating
pancreatic cancer.
10.H.R. 745 was introduced in the United States House of
Representatives by California Congresswoman Anna Eshoo
to require the establishment of a Pancreatic Cancer
Initiative and an Interdisciplinary Pancreatic Cancer
Coordinating Committee to, among other things, provide
advice on overall research objectives and benchmarks for
pancreatic cancer research.
This resolution urges the President and the Congress of the
United States to expand federally funded research efforts
aimed at developing a reliable means of detecting
pancreatic cancer in its early stages.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
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SUPPORT : (Verified 5/7/09)
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
CTW:mw 5/7/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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