Political Quotes

“I introduce two important pieces of legislation which promise to be of great significance to women with breast cancer: the Consumer Involvement in Breast Cancer Research Act of 1996, and the Improved Patient Access to Clinical Studies Act of 1996. Breast cancer is a national health crisis of enormous proportions. Each year, breast cancer strikes approximately 182,000 women, resulting in 46,000 deaths. It has become the most common form of cancer and the second leading cause of death among American women. An estimated 2.6 million women in the United States are living with breast cancer, 1.6 million have been diagnosed with the disease, and an estimated 1 million women do not yet know they have breast cancer. Some 1 out of 8 women in our country will develop breast cancer in her lifetime, up from one out of 14 in 1960. In fact, this year, a new case of breast cancer will be diagnosed every 3 minutes, and a woman will die from breast cancer every 11 minutes. Breast cancer is a crisis that has tragically claimed the lives of almost 1 million women of all ages and backgrounds since 1960. It has become the leading cause of death for women age 40 to 44, and the leading cause of cancer death in women age 25 to 54. In 1994, 900 Maine women were diagnosed with breast cancer. This is the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer among Maine women, and represents more than 30 percent of all new cancer among women in Maine.”