Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 89

Introduced by Senator Wolk

February 21, 2014

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 89—Relative to Lynch Syndrome Hereditary Cancer Public Awareness Day.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 89, as introduced, Wolk. Lynch Syndrome Hereditary Cancer Public Awareness Day.

This measure would recognize and support the importance of public awareness and education regarding Lynch syndrome by declaring March 22, 2014, as Lynch Syndrome Hereditary Cancer Public Awareness Day.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, Lynch syndrome is caused by a genetic defect to
a mismatch repair gene which is intended to correct errors which
occur in DNA replication; and

WHEREAS, These errors create a very high lifetime risk of
contracting various cancers, including up to 82 percent for
colorectal cancer and 60 percent for endometrial cancer, as well
as higher than average risk of cancers of the ovaries, the pancreas,
the bladder, the kidney, the gastric tract, the hepatobiliary tract,
the prostate, the breast, the skin, and the brain; and

WHEREAS, These cancers often occur at a much younger than
average age and are often aggressive leading to cancer metastases
in two to three years, as opposed to spontaneous cancers; and

WHEREAS, One in every 440 persons are projected to be
affected by Lynch syndrome, which includes approximately 86,450
Californians; and

WHEREAS, Less than 5 percent of those persons are currently
diagnosed; and

WHEREAS, In 2013, in the State of California, it was projected
that 14,115 new cases of colorectal cancer were expected to occur,
and 6,250 cases of uterine cancer were expected to occur, of which
3 to 5 percent of those cases would be the direct result of Lynch
syndrome; and

WHEREAS, Genetic counseling and testing could identify these
individuals and afford the opportunity for preventative measures
of annual cancer screenings in which these cancers could be
removed or treated before becoming life threatening; and

WHEREAS, These interventions are the closest thing to the
equivalent of a cure of Lynch syndrome hereditary cancers and
can protect families and save lives; and

WHEREAS, Education and public awareness can encourage
individuals to learn their family histories of cancer and discuss
them with their physicians, thereby saving tens of thousands of
California lives from the threat of hereditary cancers; now,
therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognize and support
the importance of public awareness and education regarding Lynch
syndrome by declaring March 22, 2014, as Lynch Syndrome
Hereditary Cancer Public Awareness Day; and it be further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.