Senate HELP Committee Approves Bills Related To Breast Cancer Research, Down Syndrome

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 03 Mar 2008 - 6:00 PST

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The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday approved by voice vote two bills related to breast cancer research and Down syndrome, CQ Today reports. The breast cancer research bill (S 579) would authorize the HHS secretary, working through the NIH director, to develop a research program of peer-reviewed grants to study environmental factors that are believed to contribute to the development of breast cancer. The bill authorizes $40 million per year in Fiscal Years 2008 to 2012 (Armstrong, CQ Today, 2/27). The bill is sponsored by Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and currently has 67 co-sponsors.

NIH is typically is opposed to research mandates, but HELP Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said the agency is satisfied with the measure because it would require a peer-review process in awarding grants. The committee rejected three amendments offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) -- one calling for a Government Accountability Office report on priority-setting at NIH; a second to render the bill meaningless by striking the word "environmental"; and a third to require the committee staff, rather than NIH, to conduct and supervise medical research. (Allen, CongressDaily, 2/28).

The committee also approved a bill (S 1810) that was introduced by Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Kennedy in November 2007 (CQ Today, 2/27). The bill would amend the Public Health Service Act to increase the provision of scientifically sound information and support services to patients receiving a positive test diagnosis for Down syndrome or other prenatally and postnatally diagnosed conditions. The bill authorizes $5 million annually through FY 2013 to support efforts by health care providers to provide more comprehensive medical information about Down syndrome, including facts about life expectancy, referrals to support networks and options for caring for children with the condition (Bill text, 2/27). The measure would create a hotline for parents of children with Down syndrome and a database of parents willing to adopt children with the condition.

The committee postponed consideration of a bill (S 1760) to reauthorize Healthy Start, which provides funding to localities for services to reduce infant mortality and morbidity, as well as a bill (HR 20) to authorize $3 million in grants in FY 2008 to study the causes and treatment of postpartum depression (CQ Today, 2/27).

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