This weekend, Congress completed work on a large spending bill that maintains funding for colorectal cancer research and prevention. In the current budget-cutting environment, holding the line on research and prevention programs is a remarkable accomplishment and reflects the power of grassroots advocacy.

I congratulate the Fight Colorectal Cancer volunteers who took action this year to protect colorectal cancer research and prevention funding. We should be proud of our achievements, but we cannot become complacent. We must prepare for the Fiscal Year 2013 budget battle that lies ahead. Please register to attend Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Call-on Congress next March – where advocates from around the country will be urging their legislators to continue to protect colorectal cancer research funding.

The following are the spending outcomes on Fight Colorectal Cancer’s three appropriations priorities:

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Between 2003 and 2007, there were 32,000 fewer deaths from colorectal cancer in the United States. At least half of the drop was due to improved colorectal cancer screening rates according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In addition, to fewer deaths, 66,000 people didn’t get colorectal cancer at all during the same four years.

The good news is that the percentage of Americans who are up-to-date with colorectal cancer screening is rising steadily. About two-thirds now report an FOBT in the last year or a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy in the past 10 years.

The bad news is that 1 out of 3 people aged 50 to 75 hasn’t been screened. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2007, 62 out of every 100,000 black men in the United States were diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer, the highest rate of colorectal cancer of any US group.

Overall, men were more likely to get colorectal cancer than women — almost 53 of every 100,000 American males compared to 40 per 100,000 females.

Reporting colorectal cancer incidence rates for 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged regular colorectal cancer screening for all average risk adults 50 years and older to cut deaths from colorectal cancer.

According to the CDC, 142,672 Americans were diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2007, including 72,755 men and 69,917 women. Read the rest of this entry »

Among the nearly 12 million US cancer survivors, there are 1.1 million who have been diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer.

The number of all US cancer survivors has increased steadily from about 3.8 million in 1971 to 9.8 million in 2001 to 11.7 million in 2007.

More than half of survivors had colorectal, breast, or prostate cancer.

Individuals are considered cancer survivors from the time of diagnosis through the balance of their lives. Read the rest of this entry »

Overall, colorectal cancer screening rates were higher in 2008 than in 2006.

By 2008 almost 2 of every 3 Americans over the age of 50 had either had a fecal occult blood test in the past year or sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy within the past ten years.

Health insurance made a huge different with two-thirds (66.6 percent) of people with insurance up-to-date with screening compared to about one-third (37.5 percent) of those without health insurance. Read the rest of this entry »