Raising awareness of the racial disparities in the impact of colorectal cancer on the Black community.
This is a House resolution (H. Res. 239) introduced in March 2025 to raise awareness about the racial disparities in how colorectal cancer (CRC) affects the Black community. It highlights higher CRC incidence and death rates among Black Americans, notes the lower 5-year survival rate, and points to younger-onset trends. The resolution does not create new laws or funding by itself but calls on federal agencies and state programs to take specific actions: the CDC should expand work to identify factors behind racial disparities in screening and develop strategies to reduce them; broad encouragement for people to get screened when the USPSTF recommends; the CDC should study environmental factors while NIH researches physiological factors contributing to higher risk in younger adults; and state health plans should move quickly to cover colorectal screenings at younger ages, with special consideration for Black communities and others at higher risk.
Key Points
- 1Acknowledges that colorectal cancer is a major health issue in the United States and that Black Americans face disproportionate burden (higher incidence and death rates) and lower 5-year survival.
- 2Calls on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to continue and expand research into the causes of racial disparities in CRC screening and to develop effective strategies to reduce and eliminate these disparities.
- 3Encourages all eligible people to undergo colorectal cancer screening when advised by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
- 4Urges the CDC to conduct research on environmental factors and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study physiological factors that increase CRC risk for younger adults.
- 5Requests that state health plans quickly adopt measures to cover colorectal screenings at younger ages, with particular attention to the Black community and others at higher risk.