Capito Applauds Passage of Women’s Lung Cancer Prevention Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Recently, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS), applauded the unanimous Senate passage of the Women and Lung Cancer Research and Preventive Services Act. U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) joined Senator Capito in introducing the legislation.

The bill directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate with the U.S. Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans' Affairs (VA) to conduct a comprehensive review across departments of ongoing research that could help us better understand and respond to the increasing number of women being diagnosed with lung cancer.

"West Virginia has long been deeply impacted by lung cancer, and while we've made progress, more must be done to expand prevention, early detection, and treatment. I was fortunate enough to meet with one of my constituents, Elizabeth de Jong, who underscored how uniquely this disease affects women," Senator Capito said. "Now that our legislation has unanimously passed the Senate, we are one step closer to helping advance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of lung cancer among women across our state."

"Cancer has touched each and every one of our lives in some way. Many of us remember a loved one fighting this horrible disease and doing everything we can to prevent ourselves from developing cancer. But for women, even if we never smoke, we're increasingly more likely than men to develop lung cancer. It's a deeply troubling trend that we need to better understand if we hope to combat the disease," Senator Smith said. "This legislation is a good first step for us to take to better understand what we do and don't know about why lung cancer rates seem to be moving in the wrong direction, particularly for one half of our population."

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