PRINTER'S NO. 2265
No. 250 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY BUNT, JUNE 19, 2001
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
JUNE 19, 2001
A RESOLUTION
1 Recognizing September 2001 as "Childhood Cancer Month" in
2 Pennsylvania.
3 WHEREAS, Childhood cancer is the number one disease causing
4 death among young people; and
5 WHEREAS, Every year more than 12,000 children and young
6 adults are diagnosed with childhood cancer; and
7 WHEREAS, Cancer is the second leading cause, after accidents,
8 of childhood death; and
9 WHEREAS, On any given school day 46 young people, or two
10 classrooms of students, are diagnosed with cancer; and
11 WHEREAS, One of every 330 persons in the United States will
12 develop cancer before their 20th birthday; and
13 WHEREAS, The median age of cancer diagnosis in children is
14 six; and
15 WHEREAS, American children are more likely to develop
16 leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, neuroblastoma, Wilms' tumor or
17 a sarcoma than to develop HIV/AIDS; and
1 WHEREAS, Childhood cancers affect more potential patient
2 years of life than any other cancer except breast cancer and
3 lung cancer; and
4 WHEREAS, Cancer in childhood occurs regularly and randomly
5 and spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class or geographic
6 region; and
7 WHEREAS, The cause of most childhood cancers is unknown and
8 these cancers cannot be prevented; and
9 WHEREAS, Cancer during adolescence and young adulthood is
10 increasing and unexplained, and progress in treating cancer in
11 these age groups is lagging; and
12 WHEREAS, In the United States the incidence of cancer is
13 increasing among adolescents and young adults at a greater rate
14 than in any other age group except persons older than 65 years
15 of age; and
16 WHEREAS, The cause of this increase is presently unknown; and
17 WHEREAS, Cancer is the most curable chronic disease of
18 childhood, more curable than asthma, congenital anomalies,
19 epilepsy, cystic fibrosis or diabetes; and
20 WHEREAS, The rate at which children die of cancer has
21 decreased below 20% of the rate at which children are diagnosed;
22 and
23 WHEREAS, With continued progress in treating childhood cancer
24 and with improved funding of research, the cure rate for cancers
25 diagnosed prior to age 20 can approach 85%; and
26 WHEREAS, Currently more than one in every 900 persons in the
27 United States between 20 and 45 years of age is a survivor of
28 childhood cancer; therefore be it
29 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives recognize
30 September 2001 as "Childhood Cancer Month" in Pennsylvania.
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