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This bill would designate March 2018 as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in California.

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WHEREAS, Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths of Californians, with 14,400 new cases and 5,300 deaths expected in 2018; and

WHEREAS, Colorectal cancer is treatable, curable, and, in many cases, completely preventable; and

WHEREAS, When colorectal cancers are detected at an early stage, the survival rate is 92 percent; and

WHEREAS, Colorectal cancer is known as a silent killer because symptoms only show up in the later stages of the disease; and

WHEREAS, With proper screening, colorectal cancer can be prevented or, if found early, treated and cured; and

WHEREAS, In 2016, only 73 percent of California adults 50 years of age and older had received a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy, and 19 percent had received a fecal occult blood test (FOBT) to screen for colorectal cancer; and

WHEREAS, According to the United States Preventive Services Task Force, access to appropriate use of colorectal cancer screening tests, such as colonoscopies, sigmoidoscopies, FOBTs and fecal immunochemical tests (FIT), could reduce death rates of colon cancer up to 66 percent; and

WHEREAS, According to the American Cancer Society, in 2013, only about 39 percent of colorectal cancers were diagnosed at an early, more treatable and curable stage; and

WHEREAS, The uninsured, underinsured, and underserved are least likely to get screening for colorectal cancer, which means they are more likely to be diagnosed at a late stage when chances of survival drop to 14 percent; and

WHEREAS, Colorectal cancer screening is one of the most cost-effective prevention measures in health care, more cost effective than breast or prostate cancer screening; and

WHEREAS, African Americans have the highest colorectal cancer incidence and mortality rates of all racial groups in this country; and

WHEREAS, In California, colorectal cancer is the most common cancer among Korean and Kampuchean men, the second most common cancer among Hispanic, Japanese, South Asian, and Pacific Islander men, and the second most common cancer among Filipino, Hispanic, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Vietnamese, and Hmong women; and

WHEREAS, The California Colorectal Cancer Coalition (C4) is a nonprofit organization established to increase colorectal cancer screening rates in an effort to decrease mortality associated with the disease, and to implement strategies to reduce disparities in colorectal cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment among underserved populations in California; and

WHEREAS, The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society. ACS CAN supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem; and

WHEREAS, C4 and ACS CAN encourage Californians to discuss the colorectal cancer screening test that is best for them with their doctors and believes that the best test is the one you have done now; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature designates the month of March 2018 as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in California; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.