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President Bush signed into law on Friday a bill that reauthorizes CDC's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program through fiscal year 2011. President Bush signed into law on Friday a bill that reauthorizes CDC's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program through fiscal year 2011.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths for American women. This year, an estimated 180,000 Americans will be diagnosed with breast cancer -- 11,000 will be diagnosed with cervical cancer. Together, these two cancers are expected to claim the lives of more than 44,000 Americans in 2007.

“Early detection allows early intervention and is the best way to increase the chance for survival”, Bush said. “The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program has helped millions of low-income and uninsured women get screened for cancer. This is an effective program. Since its creation, the program has conducted nearly seven million cancer screenings, it's diagnosed thousands of cases of breast and cervical cancer, and it's helped educate women about the importance of early detection.”

The program provides Pap tests and other screenings for qualified women ages 18 to 64 and mammograms for qualified women ages 40 to 64. To qualify, women must be uninsured and have annual incomes lower than 250 per cent of the federal poverty level.

“We expect that in 2007 this program will provide more than 700,000 screenings for low-income and uninsured women”, he added. “The program is an important part of this nation's fight against cancer, and the bill I'm about to sign will continue this life-saving work.”