Massachusetts State House Prostate Cancer Awareness Day Led By US Senators Scott Brown & John Kerry Supports Improved Early Detection To Save Lives

Key Legislators, Physicians, & Advocates Create a Massachusetts Model of National Leadership in Recognizing Prostate Cancer as a Priority in Public Health and Patient Care Disparities

BOSTON, June 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Massachusetts State Senate President Therese Murray, Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo and more than two dozen political and medical leaders will participate in the Prostate Cancer Awareness Day on June 28 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at the State House Hall of Flags. The goal of this event is to create a Massachusetts model of national leadership in recognizing the prostate cancer crisis as a priority in public health and patient care disparities.

US Senators Scott Brown (R-MA) and John Kerry (D-MA), a prostate cancer survivor, will speak via video and be joined by more than 20 key leaders in government, advocacy and medicine, calling for greater public awareness and increased medical research to improve early detection, which is critical for saving lives. Senator Kerry led the introduction of the bipartisan Prostate Cancer Resolution in the US Senate (S. Res. 493) late last week, recognizing this disease as a health care crisis in African American men and urging increased federal research support for improved diagnostic tools, including biomarkers and imaging.

US Preventive Services Task Force recently recommended against PSA screening, which is the main tool for early detection available to men today. According to AdMeTech Foundation President Dr. Faina Shtern, "The answer is not to eliminate or invalidate the PSA screening, but to focus on the critical need to advance diagnostic tools, which will make it possible to utilize the value of the PSA screening fully, improve early detection of lethal prostate cancer and eliminate unnecessary biopsies and treatment."

Prostate cancer - striking one in six men - is the most common major cancer in the United States, and its incidence has exceeded that of even breast cancer (striking one in eight women). However, public awareness and national investment in research are lagging behind, and men do not have reliable diagnostic tools akin to life-saving mammograms. While curable when detected early, prostate cancer remains the second most lethal malignancy in men, killing an American man every 16 minutes. African American men are impacted disproportionately, with 60% higher incidence and 250% higher mortality.

Prostate Cancer Awareness Day is hosted by the Boston-based AdMeTech Foundation, a non-profit organization providing international leadership in prostate cancer research, education, and awareness (www.admetech.org).

SOURCE AdMeTech Foundation

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