Schumer, Vitter Join Rep. Barbara Lee in Introducing Bill to Combat Brain Tumors in Children
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2009
CONTACT:
Brian Fallon (Schumer)
(202) 224-7433
Joel DiGrado (Vitter)
(202) 224-4623
Nicole Williams (Lee)
(202) 226-0323
With 2,200 Children Diagnosed with Malignant Brain Tumors Each Year, Critical Funding, Research, and Coordination are Desperately Needed
Legislation will Create a New Pediatric Brain Cancer Research Network within the National Cancer Institute to Study and Prevent this Tragic Disease
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and David Vitter (R-LA) joined with Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) today to introduce legislation that would require the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a National Childhood Brain Tumor Prevention Network. The new National Childhood Brain Tumor Prevention Network would be tasked with conducting and coordinating research, providing grants, and issuing guidance and recommendations with the ultimate goal of preventing and curing pediatric brain cancers. Senator Schumer and Senator Vitter introduced the bill in the Senate today. Rep. Lee reintroduced the legislation in the House.
“There is very little that we know about the causes of brain tumors in children. But what we do know is that this disease confounds researchers, inflicts heartache on families, and shortens the lives of far too many children,” Senator Schumer said. “For kids enduring treatment, and family and friends watching them suffer, research provides a ray of hope. We must provide the National Cancer Institute with the mandate, and the resources, to study this terrible disease, because every kid should be afforded the opportunity to grow up healthy and happy.”
“Brain tumors are the third most common type of cancer in children, and I believe it’s important to provide real and necessary resources at the National Cancer Institute to fight childhood brain tumors. After speaking with Louisiana patients suffering from brain tumors and gaining a greater appreciation of their struggles with this disease, I’m looking forward to working with Sen. Schumer, Rep. Lee and my colleagues in the Senate to pass this legislation into law,” said Senator Vitter.
“There are many young people in my district and across this country that suffer from these horrible, often fatal brain tumors,” said Rep. Lee. “The establishment of this network will help us to discover the causes of these tumors and will ultimately improve our ability to prevent and treat them. Nothing is more important than the health of our children, that is why we must do all we can to ensure they live healthy lives.”
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), brain tumors are the third most common type of childhood cancer, after leukemia and lymphoma. Unlike leukemia and lymphoma, childhood brain tumors do not have the same favorable prognosis. Each year, approximately 2,200 children and adolescents are diagnosed with malignant central nervous system tumors, over 90 percent of which are located within the brain. Children diagnosed with malignant brain tumors have only a 60 percent survival rate. Those that do survive have long-term health problems due to the invasiveness of brain tumors and treatment.
Childhood brain tumors present a unique challenge for doctors and researchers, as treatment of brain tumors in children is different than treatment in adults. Compounding this challenge, the symptoms of childhood brain tumors vary greatly from child to child. The cause of childhood brain tumors remains largely unknown and the few risk factors that have been identified explain only a small fraction of all cases.
Despite the differences between brain cancers and other childhood cancers, and adult brain cancer and childhood brain cancer, NCI does not have a separate division dedicated to studying childhood brain tumors. The new National Childhood Brain Tumor Prevention Network would fill this gap in research and treatment, providing a much needed resource for experts and doctors, as well as grant funding for research.
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