Contact Congress in Support of the National Childhood Brain Tumor Prevention Network Act
| — By e-mail or fax — By phone — Use this link to find your Senators. Locate your Representative using the Widget provided here. |
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| Suggested E-mail or Fax content Below are two possible letters: one for Senators and one for Representatives. The text of the letter can be copied and pasted into an e-mail or you can download a Word file. Please send this letter by e-mail or fax. (Regular mail must pass through a long screening process and takes 3-4 weeks to arrive.) |
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Hi. My name is _____________________, and I am a constituent of (Senator or Congressman/woman) ________________. I am calling to express my support for the National Childhood Brain Tumor Prevention Network Act. This bill was jointly introduced in the House and Senate on May 24th by Representatives Lee and Bishop and Senators Schumer and Vitter. The bill would provide $25 million per year for five years for research into the epidemiology of brain tumors in children. I am calling to ask that you support this bill. Brain tumors are the leading cause of death from cancer in children , but very little is known about their cause. Children diagnosed with malignant brain tumors have an overall survival rate of 60%, and some types much less than that. Many that 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 have changed little in 20 years. This act mandates the creation of a Childhood Brain Tumor Prevention Network within the Center for Disease Control to oversee grants and coordinate research to determine risk factors and causes of childhood brain tumors. Groups of children from the same geographic region would be put into 'catchment' areas, creating statistically significant findings that would be applicable to the general population. Funded research will investigate a full range of possible causes, such as environmental exposures, nutrition, genetics and epigenetics, and regions in which affected children live. This would provide valuable information in the prevention, and potentially the treatment, of these diseases. We need the support of the federal government in funding research into the causes of this disease. The private sector cannot do it alone. Many of the parents of children with brain tumors are immersed in the fight to save their child and don't have the time or energy to call you themselves. Please know I speak for them in asking for your support of this issue and this bill. Thank you! Notes for reference if asked: |
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