Public Law 102–370

Joint Resolution

To designate October 1992 as “National Breast Cancer Awareness Month”.

Whereas breast cancer will strike an estimated 180,000 women and 1,000 men in the United States in 1992;

Whereas, assuming an average life expectancy of 85 years, a woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is 1 in 9;

Whereas the risk of developing breast cancer increases as a woman grows older;

Whereas breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, and will kill an estimated 46,000 women and 300 men in 1992;

Whereas the 5-year survival rate for localized breast cancer has risen from 78 percent in the 1940s to over 90 percent today;

Whereas most breast cancers are detected by the woman herself;

Whereas educating both the public and health care providers about the importance of early detection will result in reducing breast cancer mortality;

Whereas appropriate use of screening mammography, in conjunction with clinical examination and breast self-examination, can result in the detection of many breast cancers early in their development and increase the survival rate to nearly 100 percent;

Whereas data from controlled trials clearly demonstrate that deaths from breast cancer are significantly reduced in women over the age of 40 by using mammography as a screening tool;

Whereas many women are reluctant to have screening mammograms for a variety of reasons, such as the cost of testing, lack of information, or fear;

Whereas access to screening mammography is directly related to socioeconomic status;

Whereas increased awareness about the importance of screening mammography will result in the procedure being regularly requested by the patient and recommended by the health care provider; and

Whereas it is projected that more women will use this lifesaving test as it becomes increasingly available and affordable: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Approved September 24, 1992.