[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 195 (Monday, October 7, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 52675-52676]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-25897]
[[Page 52673]]
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Part IX
The President
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Proclamation 6926--National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, 1996
Proclamation 6927--National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, 1996
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 195 / Monday, October 7, 1996 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 52675]]
Proclamation 6926 of October 3, 1996
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, 1996
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Each year we set aside the month of October as a time
to assess the toll that breast cancer takes on our
society and the progress we have made in our battle to
overcome it. For those of us who have lost loved ones
to this disease--mothers, wives, daughters, sisters,
and friends--the battle holds special urgency.
Breast cancer remains the second leading cause of all
deaths among women ages 40 to 55. In 1996, a woman will
die from breast cancer every 12 minutes, and 184,300
women in the United States will be diagnosed with the
disease. Every one of these diagnoses changes not only
that woman's life, but the lives of all who love and
care for her.
We have embarked on an all-out assault to combat this
threat. The Federal Government has nearly doubled
funding for breast cancer research, detection, and
treatment since 1993, from $271 million to $476 million
in the Department of Health and Human Services alone.
And in response to requests from 2.6 million of our
Nation's citizens, we launched the National Action Plan
on Breast Cancer, an innovative public-private
partnership to develop a national strategy for
prevention, education and care.
We can be proud of the progress we are making in the
fight against breast cancer. During the most recent 5-
year period for which data are available (1989-1993),
age-adjusted mortality rates for white women fell
almost 6 percent. Although mortality rates among
African American women are still increasing, the rate
of increase has slowed to 1 percent, compared to 16
percent during the 1980's.
One of our most successful weapons in the fight against
breast cancer is early detection. The new Mammography
Quality Standards Act now ensures that every woman who
obtains a mammogram to detect breast cancer in its
earliest, curable, stages can be certain that
facilities meet the highest quality standards for
equipment and personnel. We are implementing the
National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection
Program to make free or low-cost mammography available
to medically under-served women. The First Lady
launched an education campaign to inform and encourage
older women to use Medicare's mammography screening
benefit. And to improve early detection, we are
transferring imaging technologies from the space,
defense, and intelligence communities.
I urge women throughout our nation to have appropriate
mammograms, to perform routine self-examination, and to
take advantage of the latest in preventive medical
care. Armed with this commonsense approach and the
promising advances in research and treatment, we can
look forward with confidence to the day when breast
cancer is finally eradicated.
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 October 1996 as National
Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I call upon government
officials, businesses, communities, volunteers,
educators, and all the people of the United States to
celebrate the successes we have had in advancing our
knowledge of
[[Page 52676]]
breast cancer, and to reaffirm our commitment to
continue to work together to fight this disease.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
third day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
first.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 96-25897
Filed 10-4-96; 11:28 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P