SCR 89, 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.
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.
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