Bipartisan legislation to help end breast cancer by 2020 has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

“Breast cancer continues to af­fect too many of our mothers, wives, sisters and friends,” said Whitehouse. “This bill sets an am­bitious goal of ending breast can­cer by 2020, and will help drive our efforts to put an end to this tragic disease.”

In the United States, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, up from 1 in 11 in 1975. In Rhode Island alone, 133 out of every 100,000 women suffer from breast cancer, which is nearly 9 percent above the national average.

Nationwide, health-care costs associated with breast cancer to­taled $16.5 billion in 2010 and resulted in $12.1 billion in lost productivity, according to the Na­tional Cancer Institute.

The act would create a commis­sion to identify research, encour­age partnerships between the pub­lic and private sectors, and create transdisciplinary collaboration.

The bill is supported by the Rhode Island Breast Cancer Co­alition, which has been working for two decades to make sure the voices of breast cancer patients in the state are heard in Washington. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed is a co-spon­sor of the bill.