November 2, 2001

In This Issue:
Action on Nursing Shortage, Cancer Pain and Fatigue, New Rx for Refractory Breast Cancer, Nicotine Lozenges Help Smokers Best, Pancreatic and Prostate Activists

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THE LATEST NEWS

Senate Panel Acts To Ease Nursing Shortage

Patient Education On Cancer Fatigue Not A Priority for Nurses

5-FU Called New Standard For Refractory Metastatic Breast Cancer

cancerpage updates the news throughout the day, Monday through Friday, and adds late-breaking stories on holidays and weekends.

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CANCER LEADERS FOCUS ON PAIN MEDS

Cancer patients are not getting relief from the pain associated with their disease, says a leading pain specialist at the American Medical Association's (AMA) news conference held in San Francisco last Monday." The drugs are effective in treating pain, but do not cause the sudden rush that drug abusers seek" according to the AMA. The American Cancer Society (ACS) joined with other health care organizations and with law enforcement organizations to promote pain relief for people with cancer. These groups are collaborating to prevent illegal abuse of prescription pain medications while ensuring that these drugs remain available for cancer patients. AMA press conference made clear that long-acting opioids prescribed for chronic pain do not produce the immediate peak blood level that results in euphoria or a 'high.'

http://www.cancer.org/eprise/main/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_2_1x_Pain_Relief_Important_to_Many_Cancer_Patients

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PANCREATIC CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) is asking governors to declare November as pancreatic cancer awareness month. Media outreach is also being done in all 50 states to increase awareness about pancreatic cancer. Send an email to Carolyn Denice at cdenice@pancan.org to see how you can be involved or call 877-2-PANCAN. Their website address is www.pancan.org.

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PROSTATE CANCER ACTIVISTS

The National Prostate Cancer Coalition holds a monthly conference call with anyone interested in legislation affecting prostate cancer. On the first Wednesday of every month, the NPCC holds a free phone call for everyone interested prostate cancer issues. The call lasts about 45 minutes and covers broad-topics such as "What's happening on Capitol Hill." The October topic was the Department of Defense funds of $135 million for prostate cancer. The next Advocacy Conference Call will take place on Wednesday, November 7th at 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time in USA. The toll-free, call-in phone number is 1-877-825-5810. For further info, go to their main page and select Advocacy. http://www.pcacoalition.org/index.htm