Whereas
millions of people around the world struggle each year for life and breath due
to lung diseases, including tuberculosis, asthma, pneumonia, influenza, lung
cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary fibrosis,
and more than 8,100,000 die each year;
Whereas
lung diseases afflict people in every country and every socioeconomic group,
but take the heaviest toll on the poor, children, the elderly, and the
weak;
Whereas
lung disease is a serious public health problem in the United States that
affects adults and children of every age and race;
Whereas
lower respiratory diseases are the fourth leading cause of death in the United
States;
Whereas
the economic cost of lung diseases is expected to be $177,000,000,000 in 2009,
including $114,000,000,000 in direct health expenditures and $64,000,000,000 in
indirect morbidity and mortality costs;
Whereas
nearly half of the world’s population lives in or near areas with poor air
quality, which significantly increases the incidence of lung diseases such as
asthma and COPD, and more than 2,000,000 people die prematurely due to indoor
and outdoor air pollution;
Whereas
tuberculosis, an airborne infection that attacks the lungs and other major
organs, is a leading global infectious disease;
Whereas
no new drugs have been developed for tuberculosis in more than 5 decades and
the only vaccine is nearly a century old, yet there were 9,400,000 new cases in
2008, and this curable disease kills 1,800,000 each year;
Whereas
an estimated 12,000,000 adults in the United States, are diagnosed with COPD,
and another 12,000,000 have the disease but don’t know it;
Whereas
COPD kills an estimated 126,000 people in the United States each year, is
currently the fourth leading cause of death in the Nation, is the only one of
the 4 major causes that is still increasing in prevalence, and is expected to
rise to become the third leading cause of death in the United States;
Whereas
lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the United States and the most
common cause of cancer deaths;
Whereas
the leading cause of lung cancer is long-term exposure to tobacco smoke;
Whereas
about 23,400,000 people in the United States have asthma, a prevalence which
has risen by over 150 percent since 1980;
Whereas
asthma is the most common chronic disorder found in children, with 7,000,000
affected;
Whereas
flu and pneumonia together are the eighth leading cause of death in the United
States;
Whereas
about 190,000 people in the United States are affected by acute respiratory
distress syndrome (ARDS) each year, a critical illness that results in sudden
respiratory system failure, which is fatal in up to 30 percent of cases;
Whereas
about 75,000 people in the United States die as a result of acute lung injury,
a disease that can be triggered by infection, drowning, traumatic accident,
burn injuries, blood transfusions, and inhalation of toxic substances, which
kills approximately the same number of people each year as die from breast
cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer combined;
Whereas
of the 10 leading causes of infant mortality in the United States, 4 are lung
diseases or have a lung disease component;
Whereas
pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a relentlessly progressive, ultimately fatal disease
with a median survival rate of 2.8 years that has no life-saving therapy or
cure;
Whereas
more than 120,000 people are living with PF in the United States, 48,000 are
diagnosed with it each year, and as many as 40,000 die annually, the same as
die from breast cancer;
Whereas
the cause of sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that occurs most often in the
lungs and has its highest incidence among young people aged 20 to 29, is
unknown;
Whereas
15 years ago, people with pulmonary hypertension lived on average less than 3
years after diagnosis;
Whereas
new treatments have improved survival rates and quality of life for those
living with this condition, but it remains a severe and often fatal
illness;
Whereas
Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare lung disease that affects women
exclusively and is also associated with tuberous sclerosis, has no treatment
protocol or cure and is often misdiagnosed as asthma or emphysema;
Whereas
Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, a genetic metabolic disorder which causes albinism,
visual impairment, and serious bleeding due to platelet dysfunction, has no
cure and no standard of treatment;
Whereas
children's interstitial lung disease, a group of rare lung diseases, has many
different forms, including surfactant protein deficiency, chronic
bronchiolitis, and connective tissue lung disease, and is thus difficult to
diagnose and treat;
Whereas
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 50,000,000 to
70,000,000 adults in the United States suffer from disorders of sleep and
wakefulness;
Whereas
insufficient sleep is associated with a number of chronic diseases and
conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and
depression;
Whereas
the average cost of treating severe COPD is 5 times higher than treating mild
COPD;
Whereas
the appropriate medication and disease management of asthma can reduce health
care costs, including hospitalization, emergency room visits, and physician
visits, by half;
Whereas
the flu vaccine can prevent 60 percent of hospitalizations and 80 percent of
deaths from flu-related complications among the elderly;
Whereas
advances in medical research have significantly improved the capacity to fight
lung disease by providing greater knowledge about its causes, innovative
diagnostic tools to detect the disease, and new and improved treatments that
help people survive and recover from this disease;
Whereas
there is no cure for major lung diseases including asthma, COPD, and lung
cancer;
Whereas
chronic lung diseases are a leading cause of death and yet the quality of
palliative and end-of-life care for patients with chronic lung disease is
significantly worse than patients with other terminal illnesses;
Whereas
the National Institutes of Health, through its many institutes and centers,
through basic, clinical, and translational research, plays a pivotal role in
advancing the prevention, detection, treatment, and cure of lung
disease;
Whereas
the Department of Veterans Affairs is actively engaged in research in
respiratory diseases that impact the Nation’s veterans;
Whereas
the Environmental Protection Agency establishes air quality standard and
enforcement programs to ensure the quality of the air we breathe;
Whereas
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, provides essential health
insurance benefits for millions of patients with respiratory disorders;
Whereas
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through its many centers and
programs, provides valuable prevention and surveillance programs on diseases of
the lung;
Whereas
an international collaboration of medical professional and scientific societies
is working to enhance the general public’s understanding of respiratory
diseases, their causes, prevention, treatment, and impact respiratory disease
play in human health; and
Whereas
the initiative, The Year of the Lung, seeks to raise awareness about lung
health among the public, initiate action in communities worldwide, and advocate
for resources to combat lung disease including resources for research and
research training programs worldwide: Now, therefore, be it
That the Senate supports the goals and
ideals of the Year of the Lung.