California Assembly Bill ACR81 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: ACR 81AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 1, 2011 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Skinner  (   Coauthors:   Senators   Alquist,   Anderson,  Corbett,   De Len,   DeSaulnier,   Evans,   Fuller,   Hancock,   Kehoe,   Leno,   Lieu,   Liu,   Lowenthal,   Negrete McLeod,   Padilla,   Pavley,   Rubio,   Runner,   Steinberg,   and Wolk   )  AUGUST 23, 2011 Relative to Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST ACR 81, as amended, Skinner. Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. This measure would designate the month of September of every year as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month throughout the State of California, and would encourage and promote efforts to educate the people and the health care practitioners of the state regarding ovarian cancer and its early detection and prevention, the risk factors involved in its development, and the early warning symptoms and signs. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, Each year in the United States, over 21,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and about 15,000 women die of this disease; and WHEREAS, If diagnosed and treated at an early stage before the cancer spreads outside of the ovary, the treatment is potentially less costly, and the five-year survival rate is higher, at approximately 70 percent. However, fewer than 20 percent of ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed early. An overwhelming 80 percent of all ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed at advanced stages; and WHEREAS, Although mortality rates  among   for  other cancers have been reduced due to the capabilities of early detection and enhanced treatments, the mortality rates for ovarian cancer have remained high for the past three decades. Unfortunately, women with ovarian cancer do not share the luxury of early detection; this cancer is among the deadliest of all gynecologic cancers; and WHEREAS, Ovarian cancer has been predicted to reach epidemic proportions as the population ages, because advancing age is one of the known risk factors for the development of ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer primarily occurs in women over 45 years of age; and WHEREAS, The symptoms of ovarian cancer are vague and not well known by the public. While ovarian cancer is the ninth most common cancer among the female population, it is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women; and WHEREAS, There are factors that are known to reduce the risk for ovarian cancer and that play an important role in the prevention of the disease; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the month of September of every year as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month throughout the State of California, and encourages and promotes the efforts of the people and the health care practitioners of the state to increase their awareness of this disease and to educate themselves about its early detection and prevention, the risk factors involved in its development, and the early warning symptoms and signs; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.