Fight Colorectal Cancer

The World Health Organization has declared today, May 31st, to be World No Tobacco Day.

Focus this year is on promoting 100% Smoke-free Environments.

Activities to celebrate World No Tobacco day are planned in countries worldwide.

Smoking increases the risk of colorectal cancer among many other diseases.  WHO says,

Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It is well known that half the people who smoke regularly today – about 650 million people – will eventually be killed by tobacco. Equally alarming is the fact that hundreds of thousands of people who have never smoked die each year from diseases caused by breathing second-hand tobacco smoke.

A bill (SB 14) which would require health benefit plans in Oklahoma to provide coverage for colorectal cancer examinations  passed the State Senate by a vote of 35 to 13 but did not fare as well in the Oklahoma House. According to Pat Marshall, Director of Government Relations for the American Cancer Society in Oklahoma, the measure died when the House Committee on Economic Development and Financial Services refused to hear the bill.

In a Friday, May 25 NewsOK.com article Marshall said:

“This year, almost 1,900 Oklahomans are expected to be diagnosed with colon cancer. I challenge the members of the Oklahoma Legislature to look at these men and women in the eye and tell them, ‘We could have prevented this disease, but we just didn’t have the courage to do the right thing.

“I want to thank those senators who voted for this bill and the 85 representatives who told me they support this bill. They won’t have to think twice about whether they did the right thing. No lost lives will be on their conscience, sacrificed for political ideology.”

Oklahomans in the colon and rectal cancer community should not give up. Here are some suggestions for further action:

• Contact Senator Debbe Leftwich and Representative Ann Coody, SB 14′s primary authors, and tell them you appreciate their efforts and that you want the bill reintroduced in the next legislative session. Go here for Sen. Leftwich’s and here for Rep. Coody’s contact information.
• Contact your State Senator and ask how he or she voted on SB 14. If your Senator was one of the 35 who voted yes be sure to say thank you and if he or she was one of the 13 who voted no tell him or her you disapprove of that vote. Click here than click one of the links on the left side of the page to find contact information for the Senator from your district.
• Contact Members of the House Economic Development and Financial Services Committee and tell them you disagree with their refusal to hear SB 14 and that you wanted a “do pass” recommendation Click here for a list of committee members.

Remember this is a process, not a one-time effort. State legislatures can be much easier to influence than Congress as they are much more locally connected with their constituents. Continue to tell your State Senators and Representatives you want this bill to pass and write letters to the editor on  the issue. Work to generate a wave of constituent support that cannot be ignored.

Some thoughts today — Memorial Day.

Working with people affected by colon and rectal cancer has wonderful benefits.  I have met and been inspired by strong and courageous people.  I’ve made many friends.

And I’ve lost dear friends who died from this terrible disease.  Today I remember and honor them.

There are too many names to list.  And there are many, many names I do not know.

This year 55,000 people will die of colorectal cancer in the United States.  Worldwide more than half a million people will die.

In their memory, we continue to work for better prevention and treatment — so we can beat colorectal cancer.

Death and suffering from colorectal cancer can be ended — and, if we to work, continue to fight, it will be.

• Prevent:  Make sure that everyone has access to effective screening and convince them to be tested.  The large majority of colon and rectal cancers can be prevented by timely screening.  Prevented!
• Treat:  Increase funding for research into new effective treatments to cure colorectal cancer and prevent it from coming back.  We especially need to find ways to treat the most serious cancers that have spread throughout the body.  Found early, treated effectively, colorectal cancer can be cured!
• Beat:  Fight colorectal cancer with every weapon available:  awareness, advocacy, screening, research, access to medical care. With enough money, imagination, and hard work colon and rectal cancer can be beaten!

If you are thinking of someone special today who has died from colon or rectal cancer and want to remember them, perhaps a gift to the Lisa Fund which is dedicated to innovative colorectal cancer research would be a fitting tribute.

Thank you Red, Debbie, Rebecca, Diane, Richard, Dagny, Jenny, Elizabeth. . . all of you in my heart . . . for your remarkable lives.

Kate Murphy

Only one in ten cancer survivors who visited a health provider over a year’s time was given advice about healthy diet, exercise, and tobacco use.  However, doctors didn’t discuss the three issues with adults without cancer either.  Ten percent of cancer survivors discussed all three topics with their doctors, compared to nine percent of adults who did not have cancer.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reviewed data from the 2000 National Health Survey to find out if during the past year people who visited a health provider that provider,

1. discussed diet
2. recommended they begin or continue exercise,
3. asked about smoking.

Sixteen hundred cancer survivors, more than a year beyond diagnosis, and nearly twenty-five thousand adults without cancer were interviewed face-to-face as part of the National Health Survey.  They were asked about discussions or recommendations for diet, exercise, and smoking made during a health visit during the past year

The analysis showed that:

• 30 percent of survivors and 23 percent of adults without cancer reported diet discussions.
• 22 percent of survivors and 24 percent of other adults were told to continue or begin exercising.
• Fewer than half were asked about smoking (42 percent of survivors and 41 percent of those without cancer).

Colorectal cancer survivors were even less likely to have had discussions about exercise or smoking, although obesity and tobacco increase risk for colon and rectal cancer.  Compared to others in their age range:

• 16 percent of colorectal cancer survivors and 27% of similar adults without cancer discussed beginning or continuing exercise.
• 31 percent of colorectal survivors versus 41% of other adults were asked about their use of tobacco.

Susan Sabatino, M.D., and her colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta concluded:

Findings from this nationally representative sample suggest that many providers may miss opportunities to counsel survivors about healthy behaviors, perhaps particularly colorectal cancer survivors.

SOURCE: Sabatino et. al.  Journal of Clinical Oncology, Volume 25, Number 15, pages 2100-2106, May 20, 2007.

During a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) briefing regarding the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Budget, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) (Chairman) called for Subcommittee Members to reject the cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposed by President George W. Bush.

After hearing testimony from the Directors of five different Institutes, including Dr. John Niederhuber from the National Cancer Institute, (NCI) Sen. Harkin said:

“In all areas, NIH continues to do really good work even though they’ve got tight budgets, but I think what I take from this is the fact that if we were to give them the increases we should be giving them, that we’re really on the cusp of some really important breakthroughs.”

Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania), the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, agreed with what Chairman Harkin had to say.

Joe Arite, C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition’s Policy and Grassroots Manager, attended the Subcommittee Hearing and commented:

“It is great to see Senators Harkin and Specter speak out against these proposed cuts. Now it is up to the rest of the Subcommittee to see this through. People’s lives are at stake.”

NIH funding has been level for the last number years which, due to inflation, translates to cuts. These FY08 cuts proposed by the President will affect the progress the NCI has made.

Clinical trials are already being cut which means promising research will be either delayed or not even started. According to Dr. Niederhuber’s testimony before the Subcommittee 5% of clinical trials will be eliminated in FY08 if these cuts are enacted.

The bottom line is less research means fewer treatment options for those living with colon and rectal cancer.

A thank you to Senators Harkin and Specter for their continued support. I urge everyone to contact these two Senators and thank them as well as calling the other Subcommittee Members to ask them to join in the fight for adequate cancer research funding.

Timing is of the essence so MAKE YOUR PHONE CALLS TODAY!!

Names and telephone numbers of the Members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS:

• Tom Harkin (Chairman) (D-Iowa) – (202) 224-3254
• Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) – (202) 224-3934
• Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin) – (202) 224-5653
• Patty Murray (D-Washington) – (202) 224-2621
• Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) – (202) 224-5824
• Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) – (202) 224-2152
• Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) – (202) 224-4642
• Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) – (202) 224-3224
• Arlen Specter (Ranking Member) (R-Pennsylvania) – (202) 224-4254
• Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi) – (202) 224-5054
• Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) – (202) 224-3324
• Larry Craig (R-Idaho) – (202) 224-2752
• Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) – (202) 224-5922
• Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) – (202) 224-3004
• Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) – (202) 224-5744