Sample Letter The Honorable [your Senator’s full name] or The Honorable [your Representative’s full name] Dear Senator/Representative [last name], Nearly 30% of all cancer deaths are due to lung cancer. About 157,200 American women and men will die this year from lung cancer— more than breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer combined. Yet lung cancer receives only fraction of the federal research funding—just 1/9 that for breast cancer. This affects survival. Since Congress passed the War on Cancer Act of 1971, the 5-year survival rate for breast cancer has risen to 86%, with colon cancer survival reaching 62% and prostate cancer 97%. By contrast, in 1971 the 5-year survival rate for lung cancer was 12%. Today it is only 15%. This must change!We must devote more federal funding to lung cancer research. Even if all smoking stops tomorrow, lung cancer will be a major health problem for decades. Right now, over half of new cases are diagnosed in people who have quit smoking or never smoked. Clearly, research is urgently needed for effective early detection, protection for people at risk for lung cancer, and for better treatments. Please speak out for me. [Include your brief personal reason, for example: My mother just died of lung cancer.] Please let me know what you will do to help address these lung cancer issues and save more lives. Thank you. Sincerely, [Your signature] For more information, go to www.senate.gov or www.house.gov.
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