Robert Torricelli: “today, Senator Lautenberg and I are introducing the New Jersey Women's Environmental Health Act. I rise to draw this…”

“today, Senator Lautenberg and I are introducing the New Jersey Women's Environmental Health Act. I rise to draw this country's attention to breast cancer and the threat that it faces to all American women. It is estimated that more than one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Over 46,000 women will die each year. The American Cancer Society estimates 6,400 new cases of breast cancer in New Jersey in 1997--an estimated 1,800 deaths in this year alone. It is for this reason that I speak today, in an effort to heighten the awareness of breast cancer in our Nation and its possible environmental causes. Breast cancer in New Jersey is much worse than the rest of the country. New Jersey has the highest breast cancer death rate of any State in the Nation. Overall, New Jersey has an 11 percent higher incidence rate of breast cancer than the national rate. Between 1988-92 New Jersey's rate was 110.8. For the United States the rate was only 105.6. The highest counties include: Warren, 34.8 percent; Morris, 20.7 percent; and Monmouth, 18.5 percent.”