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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
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Key Role in Lung Cancer Legislation

Dear Source:
Virgin Islands Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen MD played a key role in the passage of H. Res. 335 on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 by the U.S. House of Representatives. For the first time ever, the House called for a coordinated plan of action to reduce the 85% mortality rate of lung cancer, the biggest cancer killer which is now taking more lives each year than breast, prostate, colon, kidney, melanoma and liver cancers combined. Yet lung cancer has been the least funded and the only cancer blamed on the patient, even though over 50% of new cases are in former smokers and another 15% in people who never smoked at all. Also under-researched is that incidence and deaths occur more frequently in African American males and in veterans, particularly those exposed to asbestos, Agent Orange and other carcinogens.
Delegate Christensen was one of three original sponsors of this precedent setting resolution which will help to reverse decades of stigma and neglect. As a medical doctor and as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Healthcare Brain Trust her endorsement was critical in securing 80 more sponsors and unanimous passage this week.
Lung Cancer Alliance, the only national organization dedicated solely to advocacy and support for lung cancer patients and those at risk for the disease, is deeply grateful to Delegate Christensen for her leadership.
Laurie Fenton Ambrose
Washington, D.C.

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