Ohio - A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION S. C. R. 33

As Reported by the Senate Health, Human Services and Aging Committee 129th General Assembly Regular Session 2011-2012 S. C. R. No. 33 Senator Burke Cosponsors: Senators Turner, Brown, Balderson, Peterson A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION To memorialize the Congress of the United States to seek the withdrawal of the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against prostate-specific antigen-based screening for prostate cancer for men in all age groups. BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF OHIO (THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING): WHEREAS, The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is an independent panel of nonfederal experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that is composed of primary care physicians; and WHEREAS, The USPSTF members are appointed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to conduct scientific evidence reviews of a broad range of clinical health care preventive services and develop recommendations for primary care clinicians and health systems; and WHEREAS, The USPSTF acknowledges that prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed nonskin cancer in men in the United States, with one in six American men being diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime; and WHEREAS, Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men in the United States; and WHEREAS, The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 241,740 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 28,170 men will die from the disease in 2012; and WHEREAS, In Ohio alone, there are approximately 7,961 newly diagnosed cases of prostate cancer and 1,232 deaths from the disease on an annual basis; and WHEREAS, In 2008, the USPSTF recommended against prostate-specific antigen-based screening for prostate cancer for men ages 75 and older; and WHEREAS, In October 2011, the USPSTF issued a new recommendation against prostate-specific antigen-based screening for prostate cancer for men in all age groups, because it concluded that there is moderate or high certainty that the service has no net benefit or that the harms outweigh the benefits; and WHEREAS, The USPSTF states that the October 2011 recommendation applies to men in the United States who do not have symptoms of prostate cancer, even though by the time a man experiences symptoms of prostate cancer, the cancer is generally too advanced to cure; and WHEREAS, The USPSTF states that its new recommendation against screening applies regardless of race, even though the USPSTF acknowledges that African-American men have a substantially higher prostate cancer incidence rate than Caucasian men and more than twice the prostate cancer mortality rate of Caucasian men; and WHEREAS, The USPSTF issued this recent recommendation without having a urologist or oncologist, two types of physicians who specialize in diagnosing and treating patients with prostate cancer, on the task force; and WHEREAS, The USPSTF's 2011 recommendation regarding prostate cancer screening follows its recommendation in November 2009 against routine mammograms for women ages 40 to 49 and against teaching women to do breast self-examinations, which Congress rejected after public outcry; and WHEREAS, The most recently updated study, the Goteborg Randomized Population-based Prostate Cancer Screening Trial, found that with screening, deaths from prostate cancer dropped 44 per cent over a 14-year period, compared with men who did not undergo screening, and that prostate cancer screening efficiency was similar to other cancers; and WHEREAS, The USPSTF recommendation against screening puts into harm's way men who are most at risk: the underinsured, those who live in areas where health care is not readily available, those who have a family history of prostate cancer, and African-American men, who have a higher incidence of and higher mortality rate from prostate cancer than Caucasian men; therefore be it RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 129th General Assembly of the State of Ohio, in adopting this resolution, respectfully memorialize the Congress of the United States to seek the withdrawal of the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against prostate-specific antigen-based screening for prostate cancer for men in all age groups; and be it further RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to each member of the Ohio Congressional delegation.