Support the National Childhood Brain Tumor Prevention Network Act
Write or call your members of Congress today

Cancer is the number one disease killer of children, and brain tumors are the leading cause of death from cancer in children. Yet, almost nothing is known about what causes brain tumors in children and the few risk factors that have been identified explain only a small fraction of all cases. As a whole, children diagnosed with malignant brain tumors have only a 60 percent survival rate, and for many tumor types, much less than that. Most children who do survive have long-term health problems and disabilities due to the invasiveness of brain tumors, surgeries, and treatment. The cure rates for many pediatric brain tumors haven't improved in 20 years.

Mira's Movement is supporting the effort to pass landmark federal legislation aimed at discovering the causes of childhood brain tumors, with the ultimate goal of preventing and curing this devastating disease. The National Childhood Brain Tumor Prevention Network Act of 2009 provides $25 million a year for five years for research into the epidemiology (causes) of brain tumors in children, with the ultimate goal of preventing and curing this tragic disease.

On January 22, 2009, the act was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and in the Senate by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and David Vitter (R-LA). Follow these links to read the full text of the Senate bill (S. 305) or the House bill (H.R. 653).

It was at the request of Mira's Movement that Senator Schumer came to sponsor this bill in the Senate. We thank him for representing these children and leading the charge on this important issue!

Ask Congress to Pass this Act
E-mail or call your representatives in Congress and ask them to co-sponsor this important bill. Click here for easy-to-use letters and phone call talking points. Click here to find the contact information for your Senators or Representative.

This first-of-its-kind legislation would provide $25 million a year for five years for research into the epidemiology (cause) of brain tumors in children. The act mandates the creation of a Pediatric Brain Tumor Prevention Network to provide grants and coordinate research to determine risk factors and causes of childhood brain tumors. The act would mandate the creation of "catchment" areas—groups of children diagnosed with brain tumors based on the region of the country in which they live. This creates larger groups of data to examine, providing statistically significant results, which have never before been available. Funded research will investigate:

•  environmental exposures
•  nutrition (what kinds of food, how many calories, etc.)
•  genetics (parents and child), epigenetics (what turns genes off or on)
•  blood taken at birth (has the child's DNA changed since birth)
•  type of brain tumor (pilocytic astrocytoma, ependymoma, etc.)
•  region where the child lives in comparison to other regions

The federal government has an essential role to play in funding research into the causes of this deadly and devastating disease. Let this be the year that the tide begins to change for children diagnosed with brain tumors.

Thank you for supporting children with brain tumors and their families.

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