I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1746

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Director of the 

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to make grants 

for the development and operation of research centers regarding environmental factors that may be related to the etiology of breast cancer. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 10, 2003

Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mrs. MYRICK, Ms. NORTON, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. KILDEE, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MCNULTY, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. 

BROWN of Ohio, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. 

FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. FROST, 

Mr. WOLF, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. HOLT, Mr. MCDERMOTT, 

Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. BAKER, Mr. 

SENSENBRENNER, Mr. GORDON, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. 

DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. OWENS, Mr. HINCHEY, 

Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. OSE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SIMMONS, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. REYES, Mr. STARK, 

Mr. ACKERMAN, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. MEEHAN, 

Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. DOYLE, Ms. 

MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. BASS, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. 

LEACH, Mr. EVANS, and Ms. DELAURO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the 

Director of the National Institute of Environmental 

Health Sciences to make grants for the development 

and operation of research centers regarding environ-
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mental factors that may be related to the etiology of 

breast cancer.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Breast Cancer and 

5 Environmental Research Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) Breast cancer is the second leading cause of 

9 cancer deaths among American women. 

10 (2) More women in the United States are living 

11 with breast cancer than any other cancer (excluding 

12 skin cancer). Approximately 3 million women in the 

13 United States are living with breast cancer: 2 million 

14 who have been diagnosed and an estimated 1 million 

15 who do not yet know they have the disease. 

16 (3) Breast cancer is the most commonly diag17 nosed cancer among women in the United States 

18 and worldwide (excluding skin cancer). In 2001, it 

19 is estimated that 233,000 new cases of breast cancer 

20 will be diagnosed among women in the United 

21 States: 192,000 invasive breast cancer and 40,800 

22 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). 

23 (4) Breast cancer is the second leading cause of 

24 breast cancer death for women in the United States; 
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1 approximately 40,000 women in the U.S. die from 

2 the disease each year. Breast cancer is the leading 

3 cause of cancer death for U.S. women between the 

4 ages of 20 and 59, and the leading cause of cancer 

5 death for women worldwide. 

6 (5) A woman in the United States has a 1 in 

7 8 chance of developing invasive breast cancer in her 

8 lifetime—this risk was 1 in 11 in 1975. In 2001, a 

9 new case of breast cancer will be diagnosed every 2 

10 minutes, and a woman will die from breast cancer 

11 every 13 minutes. 

12 (6) All women are at risk for breast cancer. 

13 About 90 percent of women who develop breast can14 cer do not have a family history of the disease. 

15 (7) The National Action Plan on Breast Can16 cer, a public-private partnership, has recognized the 

17 importance of expanding the scope and breadth of 

18 biomedical, epidemiological, and behavioral research 

19 activities related to the etiology of breast cancer and 

20 the role of the environment. 

21 (8) To date, there has been only a limited re22 search investment to expand the scope or coordinate 

23 efforts across disciplines or work with the commu24 nity to study the role of the environment in the de25 velopment of breast cancer. 
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1 (9) In order to take full advantage of the tre2 mendous potential for avenues of prevention, the 

3 Federal investment in the role of the environment

4 and the development of breast cancer should be ex5 panded. 

6 (10) In order to understand the effect of chemi7 cals and radiation on the development of cancer, 

8 multi-generational, prospective studies are probably 

9 required. 

10 SEC. 3. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL 

11 HEALTH SCIENCES; AWARDS FOR DEVELOP12 MENT AND OPERATION OF RESEARCH CEN13 TERS REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL FAC14 TORS RELATED TO BREAST CANCER. 

15 Subpart 12 of part C of title IV of the Public Health 

16 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285l et seq.) is amended by adding 

17 at the end the following section: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 463B. RESEARCH CENTERS REGARDING ENVIRON19 MENTAL FACTORS RELATED TO BREAST CAN20 CER. 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Institute, 

22 based on recommendations from the Breast Cancer and 

23 Environmental Research Advisory Panel (hereafter in this 

24 section referred to as the ‘Panel’), shall make grants, after 

25 a process of peer review and programmatic review, to pub-
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1 lic or nonprofit private entities for the development and 

2 operation of not more than 8 centers for the purpose of 

3 conducting multidisciplinary and multi-institutional re4 search on environmental factors that may be related to 

5 the etiology of breast cancer. Each such center shall be 

6 known as a Breast Cancer and Environmental Research 

7 Center of Excellence. The Panel shall oversee the peer re8 view process and shall conduct a programmatic review. 

9 The Panel will recommend the funding criteria and mech10 anisms by which the grant funds shall be allocated. The 

11 Panel shall make final programmatic recommendations on 

12 allocation of grant funds. 

13 ‘‘(b) BREAST CANCER AND ENVIRONMENTAL RE14 SEARCH ADVISORY PANEL.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab16 lish in the Institute of Environmental Health 

17 Sciences the Breast Cancer and Environmental Re18 search Panel (hereafter in this section individually 

19 referred to as the ‘Panel’). 

20 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The Panel shall be com21 posed of nine appointed members and nonvoting ex 

22 officio members. The Secretary shall appoint—

23 ‘‘(A) six members from physicians, and 

24 other health professionals, who are not officers 

25 or employees of the United States, and who 
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1 represent multiple disciplines, including clinical, 

2 basic and public health sciences, and also dif3 ferent geographical regions of the country, indi4 viduals shall come from practice settings as well 

5 as academia and other research settings. Panel 

6 members should be experienced in biomedical 

7 review; and 

8 ‘‘(B) three members from the general pub9 lic who are consumer representatives who have 

10 had breast cancer and who represent a constitu11 ency. 

12 ‘‘(3) CHAIR.—The members of the Panel shall 

13 select a chairman from among the appointed mem14 bers. 

15 ‘‘(4) MEETINGS.—The Panel shall meet at the 

16 call of the chairman or upon the request of the Di17 rector of the Institute, but not less often than once 

18 a year. 

19 ‘‘(c) COLLABORATION WITH COMMUNITY.—Each 

20 center under subsection (a) shall establish and maintain 

21 ongoing collaborations with community organizations in 

22 the geographic area served by the center, including those 

23 that represent women with breast cancer. 

24 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION OF CENTERS; REPORTS.—The 

25 Director of the Institute shall, as appropriate, provide for 
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1 the coordination of information among centers under sub2 section (a) and ensure regular communication between 

3 such centers, and may require the periodic preparation of 

4 reports on the activities of the centers and the submission 

5 of the reports to the Director. 

6 ‘‘(e) REQUIRED CONSORTIUM.—Each center under 

7 subsection (a) shall be formed from a consortium of co8 operating institutions, meeting such requirements as may 

9 be prescribed by the Director of the Institute. Each center 

10 must require collaboration among highly accomplished sci11 entists, other health professionals and advocates of diverse 

12 backgrounds from various areas of expertise. 

13 ‘‘(f) DURATION OF SUPPORT.—Support of a center 

14 under subsection (a) may be for a period not exceeding 

15 5 years. Such period may be extended for one or more 

16 additional periods not exceeding 5 years if the operations 

17 of such center have been reviewed by an appropriate tech18 nical and scientific peer review group established by the 

19 Director of the Institute and if such group has rec20 ommended to the Director that such period should be ex21 tended. 

22 ‘‘(g) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF CENTERS.—

23 The Director of the Institute shall, to the extent prac24 ticable, provide for an equitable geographical distribution 

25 of centers under this section. 
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1 ‘‘(h) INNOVATIVE APPROACHES.—Centers shall use 

2 innovative approaches to study unexplored or under ex3 plored areas of the environment and breast cancer. 

4 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

5 purpose of carrying out this section, there is authorized 

6 to be appropriated $30,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

7 2004 through 2009. Such authorization is in addition to 

8 any other authorization of appropriations that is available 

9 for such purpose.’’.

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