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VETERANS ORGANIZATIONS CALL FOR LUNG CANCER

SCREENING -- Advanced CT technology that can diagnose

lung cancer at its earliest most curable stage is available right

now, and high risk veterans should be benefiting from this.

What's interesting is that the call for action below does NOT mention veterans and smoking.  Vets have a very high rate of tobacco use...and, we all remember the smokes that came with our rations.

This program should be implemented immediately!

For more about veterans and lung cancer, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=lung+cancer&op=ph

Story here... http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/s
how/veterans-organizations-call-for-lung-cancer-screening,280740.shtml

Story below: 

-------------------------

Veterans Organizations Call for Lung Cancer Screening

WASHINGTON, -USNewswire/ -- Today, Lung Cancer Alliance announced that for the second year in row, a coalition of top veteran organizations called for a screening program for veterans at high risk of lung cancer.

Rear Admiral Philip J. Coady, USN, (Ret.), chairman of LCA's Board of Directors said today, "LCA is deeply grateful to the leadership and foresight of these organizations for speaking out about the number one cancer killer."

A lung cancer screening program was included in the Independent Budget for Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09). This highly regarded comprehensive alternative budget, which addresses the most urgent needs of veterans, is being presented to Congress this week. The AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Veterans of Foreign wars are the four co-authors of this document.

"Lung cancer continues to kill more men and women every year than all the other major cancers -- breast, prostate, and colon -- combined, and our veterans are at even higher risk, especially those whose active duty service exposed them to Agent Orange, asbestos, spent nuclear fuels, propellant gases and other carcinogens," Coady said.

Admiral Coady, a thirty-four year Navy veteran who never smoked, was diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago.

"Because there are usually no specific symptoms, most people are diagnosed so late they die within a year," he pointed out. "Yet advanced CT technology available right now that can diagnose lung cancer at its earliest most curable stage is available, and high risk veterans not benefitting from this is wrong." he said.

Lung cancer is usually an indolent cancer that takes years to develop, thus the burden of treatment is falling most heavily on the VA. Late stage lung cancer is twice as costly to treat as early stage.

Meanwhile, a research program carried out by the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program at 40 centers in 26 states and 6 foreign countries over the past 13 years indicates that CT screening can detect lung cancer at Stage 1 in 85% of cases, and those treated immediately had a ten year survival rate of 92%.

By partnering with those sites, the Veterans' Administration could quickly implement a pilot screening program for veterans at high risk with a broad geographic reach and with significant cost savings.

The Independent Budget for FY09 cites the devastating statistics of lung cancer and urges Congress and the Department of Veterans Affairs to initiate a $3 million pilot screening program for veterans at high risk.

Over 50 organizations support The Independent Budget, including LCA and the following:

  AAALAC International
  Administrators of Internal Medicine
  African American Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Association
  African American War Veterans, USA
  Air Force Women Officers Association
  Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine
  American Coalition for Filipino Veterans
  American Ex-Prisoners of War
  American Federation of Government Employees
  American Military Retirees Association
  American Military Society
  American Veterans Alliance, USA
  American Volunteer Reserve
  Armed Forces Top Enlisted Association
  Association for Service Disabled Veterans
  Association of American Medical Colleges
  Association of Professors of Medicine
  Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine
  Association of Subspecialty Professors
  Blinded Veterans Association
  Catholic War Veterans, USA, Inc.
  Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine
  Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States
  Fleet Reserve Association
  Georgia Department of Veterans Service
  Gold Star Wives of America
  Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
  Japanese American Veterans Association
  Jewish War Veterans of the USA
  Lung Cancer Alliance
  Military Officers Association of America
  Military Order of the Purple Heart of the USA, Inc.
  National Alliance on Mental Illness
  National Association of American Veterans, Inc.
  National Association of State Head Injury Administrators
  National Association of State Veterans Homes
  National Association of Uniformed Services
  National Association of Veterans' Research and Education Foundations
  National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
  National Gulf War Resource Center, Inc.
  National Spinal Cord Injury Association
  Naval Reserve Association
  Navy Seabee Veterans of America
  New Jersey Veterans Home at Paramus
  Non Commissioned Officers Association
  Society of Cuban American Veterans
  Society of Hispanic Veterans
  The Forty & Eight
  United Spinal Association
  United States Coast Guard CPOA/CGEA
  United States Federation of Korea Veterans Organization
  Veterans Affairs Physician Assistant Association
  Vietnam Veterans of America
  Washington State Office of the Governor

To view the Independent Budget go to http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/.

Lung Cancer Alliance ( http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/ ) is the only national non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to patient support and advocacy for those living with or at risk for lung cancer. Lung Cancer Alliance is committed to leading the movement to reverse decades of stigma and neglect by empowering those with or at risk for the disease, elevating awareness and changing health policy.

-------------------------

posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org

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