Florida Prostate Cancer Awareness Week is recognized each year as the week leading up to and including Father’s Day. The Orlando Men’s Council encouraged Governor Lawton Chiles to issue a proclamation recognizing Florida Prostate Cancer Awareness Week and encouraging men to have an annual check-up. Their e-mail message announcing that proclamation follows. Please contact Jim Bracewell of the Orlando Men’s Council at [email protected] for additional information.

Date: Thu, 16 May 96 08:52:45 UT
From: James Bracewell [email protected]
To: Men's Health Network [email protected],
Subject: FLORIDA PROSTATE CANCER AWARENESS WEEK

It's now official!! Today I received word (and a signed copy) that on May 10, 1996 Governor Lawton Chiles proclaimed June 16-22, as PROSTATE CANCER AWARENESS WEEK in Florida to promote the early detection and treatment of prostate cancer and to encourage men to have an annual examination.

Thanks to the Men's Health Network for their help in the draft proclamation.

Very few changes were made by the Governors office.

Jim Bracewell

The Orlando Men's Council, MSN Men's Issues Forum, and MenWeb

Here it is:

WHEREAS, The National Cancer Institute reports that prostate cancer is now the most common malignant cancer in American men (excluding skin cancer) and that it is now the second leading cause of death in men, and

WHEREAS, Every three minutes, a new prostate cancer case is diagnosed making prostate cancer the most diagnosed cancer in America today, with 244,000 new diagnoses and 40,400 deaths annually; and

WHEREAS, By the year 2000, the incidence of prostate cancer is expected to increase by 90 percent; and

WHEREAS, The Florida Cancer Data System reports that each year 14,000 men in Florida are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and it is the leading cause of cancer deaths for Florida men, with 2500 men dying each year and African-American men in Florida having the highest incidence of and mortality rates from prostate cancer of all men in Florida; and

WHEREAS, The American Cancer Society recommends that every man age 40 and older should have a digital rectal examination as part of his regular annual physical checkup, and every man age 50 and older should have an annual prostate-specific antigen blood test; and

WHEREAS, The American Cancer Society reports that survival rates for all stages of prostate cancer have steadily improved, increasing from 50 percent to 80 percent in the past 30 years; and

WHEREAS, It is in the public interest to promote public awareness of the benefits and values of the early detection, prevention, and treatment of prostate cancer; and

WHEREAS, Improved public awareness of the disparity in funding for prostate cancer research, as compared to the research funding for other major killer diseases, will help bring a halt to this inequity and thereby save men's lives; and

WHEREAS, it is appropriate for Florida to join men, their families, and loved ones throughout Florida in recognizing the importance of this disease;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Lawton Chiles, By virtue of the authority vested in me as Governor of the State of Florida, do hereby proclaim June 16-22, 1996, as PROSTATE CANCER AWARENESS WEEK in Florida to promote the early detection and treatment of prostate cancer and to encourage men to have an annual examination.

Men's Health Network
202-543-MHN-1 (6461)
[email protected]
Washington - Austin - Las Vegas - Los Angeles

About MHN/ Coalition/ Goals/ Strategy/ Activity/ Initiatives/
Library/ Programs/ Home/ Men's Links/ MHN Board
Top of page

 
LinkExchange Member