Text of Letter¹

I am writing as your constituent to respectfully request your support for the Prostate Research, Imaging, and Men's Education Act (S. 1734/H.R. 3563), also known as the PRIME Act. This crucial legislation calls for the appropriation of $130 million per year, over a five year period, for the National Institutes of Health and other components of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to fund the development of accurate and affordable tools for early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer has reached epidemic proportions in this country, becoming even more common than breast cancer. It strikes as many as 1 in 6 American men, killing approximately 30,000 men annually. Prostate cancer is a particularly common and deadly disease among African-American men, who are 60 percent more likely to be stricken and more than 100 percent more likely to die. While women have life-saving mammograms, men have no reliable diagnostic tools to guide early detection, biopsy and treatment. Consequently, patient care is blind and has lead to a health care crisis. The price is staggering: * More than 1 million men per year undergo unnecessary and traumatic biopsies, at a cost of $2 billion to our nation * Blind biopsies miss and underestimate at least 20% of cancers, leading to treatment failures in as many as in 1 in 2 men * Blind clinical decisions lead to unnecessary treatment in up to 44% of men * Blind treatment in turn causes incontinence and impotence, and inflates health care costs. The PRIME Act highlights prostate cancer as a national priority, and diagnostic technologies as a solution. This legislation follows the model of Congressional leadership, which assured government funding for breast cancer imaging and was instrumental for improved early detection, reduced mortality and minimally-invasive treatment in millions of women affected by breast cancer over the last decade. I strongly urge you, as my representative in the U.S. Congress, to co-sponsor the PRIME Act today. Your support is critical for developing accurate and affordable diagnostic tools, which will save lives, enable less invasive and more effective treatment, minimize suffering, eliminate unnecessary procedures and reduce health care costs to our nation by at least $5 billion annually. Sincerely Yours,

Your First Name:

Your Last Name:

Street Address:

Town/City:

State:

Zip Code:

Email Address:

Phone Number:

(optional)

Select your Representatives and/or Senators
(To choose multiple ones, hold down the CTRL key and click):

Note: If you don't know who represents you in the House of Representatives (or Senate),
you can find out via Juan Cabanela's Contacting Congress .

Would you like to be placed on our mailing list? Yes No