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90 Cancer Survivors, Caregivers Urge Lawmakers to Prioritize Prevention

Hoosiers advocate for tobacco tax increase, improved cervical cancer care

March 7, 2017

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – March 7, 2017 – Ninety cancer survivors, caregivers and their families from across the state traveled to the Indiana Statehouse today and called on the General Assembly to prioritize the 36,440 Hoosiers who will be diagnosed with cancer in 2017.

 

The visit was part of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s (ACS CAN) annual Day at the Capitol, which brought cancer advocates together to ask for an increase the price of cigarettes and to improve cervical cancer diagnosis and survival rates.

 

“Cancer death rates continue to decrease nationwide, but we still haven’t fully implemented proven ways to prevent the disease in the first place,” said Aurmaudra Bradley, a lead ACS CAN volunteer from Westfield. “More than 13,500 Hoosiers will still lose their lives to cancer in 2017 alone. We’re here today to ask lawmakers to help women better access cervical cancer care and to confront one of the leading causes of premature death in our state – tobacco use.”

 

Matt English – a brain cancer survivor and boys’ basketball coach for Beech Grove High School – joined advocates in urging support for cancer patients and to mark the General Assembly’s annual Suits and Sneakers event. Legislators and staff throughout the Statehouse took part in this awareness effort by wearing sneakers today.

 

Specifically, ACS CAN volunteers asked lawmakers to:

 

  • Increase the price of cigarettes. Indiana’s $0.995-per-pack cigarette tax has not been increased in nine years and ranks far below the national average of $1.69 per pack. This low tax makes it cheaper and easier to smoke in Indiana, which has one of the highest smoking rates in the country. Increasing the price of cigarettes by $1.50-per-pack would keep more than 48,000 young Hoosiers from picking up a cigarette and help 58,500 current adult smokers quit the habit.
  • Improve diagnosis and survival rates for cervical cancer. Despite advances in prevention and screening, Indiana’s cervical cancer incidence and death rates have remained stagnant. Because it often shows no symptoms, early detection is critical to a patient surviving cervical cancer. A bill currently moving through the General Assembly would require the Indiana State Department of Health to identify barriers to adequate cervical cancer care and recommend ways to reduce the number of deaths statewide.


ACS CAN is the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate organization of the American Cancer Society, dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage lawmakers, candidates and government officials to support laws and policies that will make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.

More Press Releases AboutTobacco Taxes, Breast and Cervical Cancer, Indiana

Media Contacts

Tracy Lytwyn Fischer
Sr. Specialist, Media Advocacy
Indianapolis