Rep. Jim Glenn (D-Owensboro) and Rep. Bob DeWeese (R-Louisville) this week pre-filed a bill that will appropriate $8 million over the next two fiscal years to provide colon cancer screening for thousands of uninsured Kentuckians.

The bill will fund the existing Kentucky Colon Cancer Screening Program that the legislature enacted in 2008 but has not yet funded. It will allot $3 million next fiscal year and $5 million the following year to cover screening for uninsured residents ages 50 to 64 and others determined to be at high risk for colon cancer. The program also will educate all Kentuckians on the importance of screening.

Kentucky ranks No. 1 in colon cancer mortality despite the fact that colon cancer deaths are 90 percent preventable. Finding and removing pre-cancerous polyps prevents colon cancer. Each year in the U.S., colon cancer kills as many people as breast cancer and AIDS combined, and it’s the second leading cancer killer among both men and women in the country.

Kentucky is improving. A decade ago, Kentucky was the worst state in the U.S. for colon cancer screening, but it has risen to 32nd place, and now 480 fewer people are getting colon cancer each year. That equates to a savings of around $35 million each year in direct treatment.

Rep. Glenn lost his wife to colon cancer last year.

“I’m just trying to make sure other people don’t go through the experience I went through,” he said. “I’m just trying to make sure everyone is aware you need a colon checkup.”

Rep. DeWeese said he supports the bill because early detection will “result in a higher cure rate, and will also mean that many people can be cured by a simple operation and not have to undergo chemotherapy or other long-term treatment.”

Dr. Whitney Jones, a Louisville gastroenterologist who founded a non-profit called Colon Cancer Prevention Project in 2004, said of the bill: “Kentucky has made amazing advances in colon cancer, but without state support to reach those at risk who need access, we may continue to fall behind other states. That would be a shame since this has been a public health success story.”

Colon Cancer Fact Sheet

  • Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, accounting for about 20 percent of all cancer deaths.
  • This year alone, more than 131,000 Americans will be diagnosed with colon cancer, and 56,000 will die from it.
  • Colon cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related deaths among non-smokers
  • The lifetime risk for an American to get CRC is 1 in 17
  • Nearly half of those newly diagnosed with colon cancer are expected to die within five years, largely due to their disease being detected in the last stage.
  • Colon cancer is also one of the most curable types of cancer if it is diagnosed early
  • Only 37% of colon cancers are discovered in the early stages.
  • The survival rate from CRC is about 90% when the disease is detected early, compared to only 8% when it is detected in a later stage.
  • Colon polyps and early colon cancer are often asymptomatic until they are advanced.
  • 74 million Americans over age 50 and about 1 in 4 will develop polyps in the colon, yet less than half are being screened at the appropriate age.
  • An individual with a first degree relative with an adenomatous polyp would have a 50% (one and one-half times) greater risk of developing colon cancer than an individual without a relative with polyps.
  • Even though family history of colon cancer is an important risk factor, majority (80%) of colon cancers occur sporadically in patients with no family history of colon cancer
  • Factors that increase a person's risk of colorectal cancer include high fat intake, a family history of colorectal cancer and polyps, the presence of polyps in the large intestine, and chronic ulcerative colitis.
  • According to the American Cancer Society, of the nearly 60,000 Americans that will die this year from colon cancer experts predict 30,000 lives could be saved a year if everyone age 50 and older got tested for colon cancer

Kentucky’s Colon Cancer Fact Sheet

  • Kentucky has 3 cities that rank in the top 50 of worst statistics for colon cancer.
  • Kentucky rates lower on screening compliance for colon cancer.
  • The National Cancer Institute’s Healthy People 2010 reports Kentucky as in the top 10 on 3 risk factors for colon cancer (obesity, lack of physical activity and smoking)
  • 2,350 new cases of colorectal cancer will be diagnosed in Kentucky this year and 910 Kentuckians are expected to die

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