Moments ago, the U.S. Senate failed to pass S. 1955.

[rodeodance]

Original Message --------
Subject: We Saved Mammograms!
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 16:11:15 -0700
From: American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
To: xxxxx


MAMMOGRAMS SAVE LIVES.

HELP US SAVE MAMMOGRAMS.

We Saved Mammograms!!

Dear Dar,

We did it!

Moments ago, the U.S. Senate failed to pass S. 1955.

The vote was close and the debate was fierce. But, at the end of the day, tens of thousands of cancer advocates around the nation stood up and let their Senators know this bill would be harmful to our fight against cancer.
We stopped the U.S. Senate from eliminating guaranteed insurance coverage for mammograms and other life-saving benefits for cancer screening and care!

The vote that just took place was on a process called cloture. Before Senators can have a final vote on a bill, they must pass a motion that cuts off debate and discussion on the bill. That “cloture motion” requires 60 votes. Your actions led to more than 40 Senators opposing cloture, preventing the bill from proceeding.

Visit our vote chart to find out how your Senators voted.

These past two weeks have been a remarkable time for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). You and your fellow cancer activists around the nation have produced an unprecedented level of grassroots activity and have left an unforgettable mark on Capitol Hill.

In just two weeks, ACS CAN volunteers have:
• Sent 167.000 emails
• Made 8,600 phone calls
• Held nearly two dozen media events and rallies

Together, we have once again made cancer issues a priority in Congress. Your U.S. Senators heard from you loud and clear and we can’t thank you enough for your efforts.

This incredible victory gives us great momentum as we fight for our other priority cancer issues. These issues include more funding for cancer research and re-authorizing the federal program that provides mammograms to those cannot afford them. We look forward to working with you on these issues later this year and into the future. Please visit www.acscan.org on a regular basis to stay updated on these issues and more.

Thank you so much for your actions over the past two weeks and for your passion toward this and many of our other cancer issues.

Without you, we could not have won today’s vote. Without you, cancer issues would not have catapulted back to the front burner on Capitol Hill. Without you, we would have taken a turn in the wrong direction in our fight to defeat this terrible disease.

But, with your continued support of ACS CAN and cancer issues, we can and will make cancer issues a national priority at the federal, state and local level. Please continue to be a part of all of these efforts – we wouldn’t have won without you, and there are more fights to win ahead!

Sincerely,



Daniel E. Smith
National Vice President, Federal & State Government Relations
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

[rodeodance]

1. k

[OzarkDem]

2. Mammograms alone don't save lives

and the American Cancer Society should know better.

Mammograms are meaningless unless without access to quality treatment for breast cancer. American Cancer Society needs to start supporting a health care agenda that promotes treatment, not just screening. They've been ingoring treatment issues for years and sending the same simplistic screening message since the turn of the century.

Even when they have a Lobby Day on Capitol Hill, ACS doesn't even let survivors call on their own legislators. They put them on display in a tent outside the Capitol Building. Women deserve better than to be put on display instead of being empowered and advancing their own legislative agenda.

[uppityperson]

3. Screening is the first step. No one step will save lives, but all help.

[OzarkDem]

5. Treatment is the first step

We have to get over the emphasis on "screening" at the expense of treatment.

Mammography is highly inaccurate and isn't early detection. Most tumors have been growing 6 to 10 years before they're detected.

It also doesn't prevent breast cancer and is virtually useless if you don't have access to treatment. Its a cruel hoax to give someone a free mammogram, but kiss them off once they're diagnosed. That's exactly what American Cancer Society does.

Fortunately, breast cancer patients have become educated and have learned to set the agenda for themselves. They're doing a much better job than ACS.

[uppityperson]

6. You are treating before finding cancer?

BSE is great, mammos are good, biopsys, diagnose then treat. That is what I am saying. Nothing about ACS but the order it needs to be done. Find it, then treat it. That's all.

[OzarkDem]

10. Screening is meaningless unless its coupled to treatment

And in the US today there are billions spent on treatment while groups like ACS and the Susan G Komen Foundation ignore those women who are diagnosed and have no health insurance.

Women are taken advantage of by these misleading, expensive and half baked "early detection" programs. If you doubt me, ask any scientist.

BSE does not reduce breast cancer mortality. Mammography does little. Many breast cancers will end up killing women no matter how early they are detected and many can't be detected by mammography.

Treatment cures breast cancer.

If you want to be technical, prevention is the first step.

[uppityperson]

12. More accessable treatment needs to happen for sure.

Treatment for anything for anyone, regardless of insurance status. Yes, I am a universal health care person, worked in the health care/medical field for the last 30 yrs, without insurance for much of it and my health status has suffered because of no insurance. It sucks and is very wrong.

[OzarkDem]

14. Agree, treatment is most important

So is prevention.

[WePurrsevere]

4. Good news! Another win for Dems and the American people. Getting folks....

tested is a great start. B-) Now let's work on comprehensive health care for ALL Americans so those that discover they have cancer (etc) can get proper treatment so they'll stand a good chance of fighting and beating whatever health issues they're hit with.

[OzarkDem]

13. Not unless its coupled with treatment

Be a strong woman, show your pride and assert yourself.

Don't be afraid to demand that women get treated for diseases as well as screening.

Don't let someone convince you that its your own fault if you get a disease.

[WePurrsevere]

17. Excuse me? You obviously don't know me & apparently didn't read my post. >

Be strong? Assert myself? Blame myself for getting a disease? What you said is definately not something anyone who knows me would tell me to be or do and for you to imply that I am otherwise is assuming, without knowing me at all, that I lack in those areas. You also either ignored or perhaps missed that I specifically mentioned fighting for treatment in my post.

As a Woman, as a (now x single) Mother, as a (now retired) Nurse, as an Activist, etc... I can multi-task (and even though I am now disabled I am still damn good at it). I can be happy for the victory we had (especially since we were rather close to losing) AND still continue the fight I've been fighting for years for medical care and treatment for ALL Americans and that very much includes women.

Actually breast (and actually all) cancer screening, research and treatment are one of the medical causes close to my own heart. Years ago I lost a friend to breast cancer and almost lost a friend to cervical cancer. My beloved step-mother is a breast cancer survivor, still going strong from the early 1970's fight she won after just losing her 1st husband to Hodgkins. I myself had a scare when 14 years old, thankfully it was a benign cyst (I get them quite often and have to be especially watchful of "lumps").

I truly appreciate that you feel so strongly about treatment for women but please understand that just because someone doesn't react and/or fight the way you feel they should doesn't mean that they're not fighting the same battle right along side you. B-)

[caligirl]

7. Still waiting for ADA to send out an email, they did a press release

which just says alot of the same things as they said before.

[woodsprite]

8. Knowing about a cancer that is in the body is the first step for

anything! Even to begin researching alternative approaches rather than standard radiation or chemo. I know. I just went thru surgery for endometrial cancer just over 4 wks ago. I have decided not to have radiation because it's a one shot deal and chemo doesn't work well with this particular type, so I will continue with screenings every 3 months for 2 years and every 6 months for the following 5 yrs.

Mammogram caught my mother's breast cancer before she even felt it. It was laying on the chest wall in a deep part of her breast. It would have been difficult to feel even in 3 yrs her doctor said. By then, it would probably have metastasized to her lungs or bones. She was cancer free at the time of her death thanks to mammogram screenings.

[OzarkDem]

11. And its a cruel hoax

if the same amount of focus isn't applied to treatment.

Most breast tumors have been growing for 6 to 10 years before they can be detected by mammography. And for many types of breast cancer, early detection is no help at all. Breast cancer is not a one size fits all disease and the approach to eradicating it needs to reflect that.

I had a mammogram every year from the age of 40, yet it never detected my breast cancer, even when the mass was over 4 centimeters. I was lucky, I had health insurance that covered my treatment. Many women today get the free mammogram then get dumped by breast cancer groups once they're diagnosed. They end up facing hospital bills of $100,000 to $200,000 or more.

Mammography is highly inaccurate and oversold. We need better tools for detection and treatment.

As women we deserve the best and we shouldn't be afraid to ask for it.

[uppityperson]

16. Research for a better diagnostic tool, as well as treatment?

Ideas? My mammo detected a mass, was a cyst but still, am getting mammos as well as doing BSE and realizing that they might not find cancer. I would like better diagnostic tools as well as accessable affordable treatment, not sure how or when that will happen. I want the end of the Iraq invasion, the end of Big Brother, people to treat each other decently, no fear, no starvation, affordable small homes and the end of worshipping the almighty dollar, all that too.

[WePurrsevere]

18. There are alternatives both available and being developed.

There's a blood test that's been approved for use for almost a decade... I haven't yet found if it's being further developed or not though. It certainly has never been offered to me when blood tests for cholesterol, etc is being drawn.

They can also now use laser to provide a 3-D image: www.imds.com

There's also thermography and ultra sound . Of course one tool all women have available is PROPER self exam... they actually have training classes to teach how to do this the right way.

Mammograms are deeply entrenched and can and has saved lives but it is certainly should not be accepted as the be all and end all. If the current breast cancer screening tests that widely available were not as uncomfortable (and scary) more women would have them done which in turn would save more lives and help cut back the costs of treatment needed (since the costs for treatment increases the further along cancer is caught).

What I find interesting is the difference in how they screen and test for testicular cancer versus breast cancer (link:www.oncologychannel.com/testicularcancer/diagnosis.shtml|info here]. (Maybe if men had to have their testicles smooshed in a mammogram vise once or twice a year they'd fight and work harder on developing and replacing such screening methods eh? ;))

I do believe that women will eventually win this fight and that in my lifetime the mammogram will be a thing of the past with new and much more accurate and comfortable technology will have taken it's place and be available to all. Of course better yet would be the total eradication of breast and all other cancers (and since I'm fantasizing... all diseases). B-)

[OzarkDem]

19. Proteomics

Research is currently being conducted on ways to detect breast cancer via bodily fluids - blood, saliva, etc. It would do so much more accurately, less invasively and could possibly tell you if your cellular anomaly is likely to become cancerous or not.

Keep in mind, the larges manufacturer of mammography machines is GE. They have a vested interest in keeping mammography in widespread use, even though its highly inaccurate.

If as much money had been spent on finding other methods of detection as have been spent on "proving" mammography works, we'd probably have better detection tools by now.

I know you're worried about your cyst, but make sure your doctor uses ultrasound to keep track of it. Its more accurate and doesn't use radiation, which can actually cause non-cancerous cells to become cancerous if they receive enough exposure.

Women need to avoid being lulled into a false sense of security thinking mammography will end breast cancer. We have to advocate for more, much more.

[uppityperson]

20. This would be a very good thing to have possible.

I could rant on about major pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies (their finances, inhumanity and so forth) also. Money makes more money. It sucks.

[cally]

9. There's the difference between Dems and Reps

Thanks Dem Senators for this vote. Of course, Landrieu and Nelson voted once again with the Repubs. (Snowe did also.)

[sandnsea]

15. No on cloture = filibuster

Just sayin'.

[depakid]

21. No thanks to DINO's- Nelson & Landreux

It ended up a pretty straight party line vote- with the usual right wing sellouts- Ben Nelson and Mary Landreiux voting to trash your coverage- and on the other side we got one- Republican, Lincoln Chaffee.

I actually hope that POS Nelson loses this November.