BILL NUMBER: SJR 7	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  85
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  AUGUST 24, 2009
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  AUGUST 17, 2009
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  JULY 9, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JULY 9, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Lowenthal
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Torlakson)
   (Coauthors: Senators Ashburn and Maldonado)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Ma, Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bass,
Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Carter, Chesbro, Cook, Coto, Davis,
DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey,
Hayashi, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Lieu, Logue, Mendoza,
Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, and Yamada)

                        APRIL 20, 2009

   Relative to pancreatic cancer.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 7, Lowenthal. Pancreatic cancer.
   This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the
United States to expand federally funded research efforts aimed at
developing a reliable means of detecting pancreatic cancer in its
early stages.



   WHEREAS, Approximately 38,000 Americans, including an estimated
3,625 Californians, will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this
year; and
   WHEREAS, Seventy-five percent of pancreatic cancer patients die
within the first year of their diagnosis, and 95 percent die within
five years, making pancreatic cancer the deadliest of any cancer; and

   WHEREAS, Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of
cancer death in the United States, with an estimated 3,380
Californians expected to die from pancreatic cancer in 2009; and
   WHEREAS, There has been no significant improvement in pancreatic
cancer survival rates in over 30 years, and pancreatic cancer
research is still in the earliest scientific stages; and
   WHEREAS, There are no early detection methods and minimal
treatment options for pancreatic cancer; and
   WHEREAS, The incidence rate of pancreatic cancer is 40 to 50
percent higher in African Americans than in other ethnic groups, with
Jews of Ashkenazi descent also at an increased genetic risk; and
   WHEREAS, Pancreatic cancer has struck such notable figures as
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Patrick Swayze, Dr. Randy Pausch, and
Luciano Pavarotti; and
   WHEREAS, Pancreatic cancer research constitutes less than 2
percent of the National Cancer Institute's federal research funding,
a figure far too low given the severity of the disease, its mortality
rate, and how little is known about how to arrest it; and
   WHEREAS, There is a critical need to support research that
identifies new methods of detecting and treating pancreatic cancer;
and
   WHEREAS, H.R. 745 was introduced in the United States House of
Representatives by California Congresswoman Anna Eshoo to require the
establishment of a Pancreatic Cancer Initiative and an
Interdisciplinary Pancreatic Cancer Coordinating Committee to, among
other things, provide advice on overall research objectives and
benchmarks for pancreatic cancer research; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
urges the President and Congress of the United States to expand
federally funded research efforts aimed at developing a reliable
means of detecting pancreatic cancer in its early stages and more
effective means of treatment, through legislative measures, such as
H.R. 745; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United States,
and to the directors of the National Institutes of Health and the
National Cancer Institute.