Section 23-79-1301 - FindingsThe General Assembly finds that:
(1) Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer in men;(2) In Arkansas, more men die from prostate cancer than women die of breast cancer, the tenth-highest death rate in the nation;(3) Even though the death rate for prostate cancer has decreased in Arkansas, there has been a fifty-five percent (55%) increase in premature death before sixty-five (65) years of age;(4) Arkansas's African-American men are fifty-five percent (55%) more likely to develop prostate cancer and one hundred seventy-six percent (176%) more likely to die from prostate cancer than Arkansas's Caucasian men;(5) The Arkansas Central Cancer Registry data indicates that there has been a steady increase in the number of new cases of prostate cancer and a steady decrease in deaths from prostate cancer in Arkansas since 1999, indicating that there have been improvements in discovering prostate cancer before symptoms appear;(6) Studies have found that men between fifty (50) years of age and sixty (60) years of age who were diagnosed with prostate cancer were sixty percent (60%) more likely to suffer premature death than those men who were diagnosed at an earlier age;(7) Identifying the characteristics of high-risk men and fostering early diagnosis and appropriate treatment could: (A) Prevent premature deaths;(B) Decrease: (i) Adverse effects and death from prostate cancer, particularly in the underserved populations;(ii) Health disparities; and(iii) Prostate cancer treatment costs through diagnosis at an earlier stage; and(C) Improve and extend quality of life; and(8) The cost of treatment per man for:(A) Early-stage prostate cancer is fifty-eight thousand dollars ($58,000); and(B) Late-stage prostate cancer is more than ninety-three thousand dollars ($93,000).