Ovarian Cancer Awareness Week, 2000

Proclamation 7342 of September 15, 2000

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Week, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest cancers
affecting American women today. This year alone, 14,000
women will die from ovarian cancer, and more than
23,000 will be diagnosed with the disease. While
ovarian cancer is very treatable when detected early,
currently 75 percent of new cases are not diagnosed
until the disease is in its late stages of development,
when treatment is less effective. With early detection,
women have a survival rate of over 90 percent;
diagnosis in its later stages, however, dramatically
reduces the chances of survival to just 25 percent.

Unfortunately, there is still no reliable and quick
screening test for ovarian cancer like the Pap smear
for cervical cancer or the mammogram for breast cancer.
In addition, its symptoms--such as abdominal discomfort
or bloating, cramps, unaccountable weight gain or loss,
abnormal bleeding--can often be mistaken for signs of
less serious conditions. Consequently, raising
awareness of risk factors for ovarian cancer is a
crucial weapon in our effort to save lives. While every
woman has the potential to develop ovarian cancer, the
risk is higher for those who have never given birth;
who are over the age of 50; or who have a family
history of ovarian, breast, or colon cancer.

Research into the causes and treatment of ovarian
cancer still offers us the best hope for progress in
defeating this disease that has taken such a deadly
toll on American families. The National Cancer
Institute (NCI) is currently sponsoring a large-scale
cancer screening trial to explore, among other issues,
the usefulness of testing women's blood for abnormally
high levels of CA-125, a substance known as a tumor
marker, which is often discovered in higher than normal
amounts in the blood of women with ovarian cancer.
Researchers are also evaluating the effectiveness of
ultrasound testing as a tool for early detection. To
learn more about the genetic causes of ovarian cancer,
the NCI's Cancer Genetics Network has established
registries to track cancers within families to identify
possible inherited risks.

As with every disease, knowledge is crucial to
overcoming ovarian cancer. Ovarian Cancer Awareness
Week offers us an invaluable opportunity to educate
Americans about the symptoms and risk factors of the
disease, to alert health care providers about the need
for vigilance in recognizing those symptoms and risks
early, and to promote increased funding for research
into more effective methods of diagnosis and treatment.
The more we know about ovarian cancer, the more women
and their families can live out their lives free from
the shadow of this devastating disease.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim September 17 through
September 23, 2000, as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Week. I
encourage the American people to observe this week with
appropriate ceremonies and activities that raise
awareness of the need for early diagnosis and treatment
of this deadly disease.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two
thousand, and of the Independence of the United States
of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.