Proclamation 4919

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

This year marks the tenth anniversary of our country's commitment of major resources to the control of cancer through the National Cancer Program. While progress against this dread disease has been slow, each step forward can save thousands of lives since statistics show that one out of four Americans now living will become a victim of cancer.

Research has demonstrated that lifestyle and environment play a crucial role in the development of cancer. Reports issued by the Surgeon General increasingly link cigarette smoking with cancer of the lung and other parts of the body. We have developed greater understanding of the effects of exposure to carcinogens and radiation in the workplace and have also learned the importance of diet and nutrition as factors in the development and prevention of cancer. Advances in biochemistry, microbiology, and other basic research have improved our comprehension of the cellular events that lead to cancer formation, but researchers still seek a clearer understanding of the cause of cancer as they strive to halt the progress of this disease more effectively.

Improved surgical procedures, new discoveries in recombinant DNA and hybridoma technology, and developments on the frontiers of immunotherapy hold out the possibility not only of better treatment, but also of the significant breakthrough long prayed for. With continued advances, this ancient scourge may yet pass from mankind.

In 1938, the Congress of the United States passed a joint resolution requesting the President to issue an annual proclamation declaring April to be Cancer Control Month.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the month of April, 1982, as Cancer Control Month. I invite the Governors of the fifty states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate officials of all other areas under the United States flag, to issue similar proclamations. I also ask the health care professions, the communications industry, and all other interested persons and groups to unite during this appointed time to reaffirm publicly our nation's continuing commitment to control cancer.

In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 2nd day of April in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and sixth.

RONALD REAGAN [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:43 a.m., April 5, 1982]