I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6017 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure that the Federal Government has independent, peer-reviewed scientific data and information to 

assess short-term and long-term direct and indirect impacts on the health 

of oil spill clean-up workers and vulnerable residents resulting from 

the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 30, 2010 

Mrs. CAPPS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure that 

the Federal Government has independent, peer-reviewed 

scientific data and information to assess short-term and 

long-term direct and indirect impacts on the health of 

oil spill clean-up workers and vulnerable residents resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘Gulf Coast Health 

5 Monitoring and Research Program Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GULF COAST HEALTH MONITORING AND RESEARCH 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

4 (42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 399V–5. GULF COAST HEALTH MONITORING AND RE7 SEARCH PROGRAM. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To ensure that the Federal Gov9 ernment has independent, peer-reviewed scientific data 

10 and information to assess short-term and long-term direct 

11 and indirect impacts on the health of oil spill clean-up 

12 workers and vulnerable residents resulting from the Deep13 water Horizon oil spill, the Secretary, in consultation with 

14 the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, and 

15 the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agen16 cy, shall establish as soon as practicable after date of en17 actment of this section, a short-term and long-term com18 prehensive health screening, monitoring, and research pro19 gram of oil spill workers and vulnerable residents, and of 

20 food safety affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 

21 ‘‘(b) SCOPE OF PROGRAM.—The program established 

22 under subsection (a) shall at a minimum include screening 

23 affected individuals for physical and behavioral health ef24 fects from the oil spill and the collection of exposure and 

25 health effects data on a statistically robust cohort of work26 ers and vulnerable residents. In addition, this program 


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1 shall include research on food safety of Gulf Coast seafood 

2 and the fresh water supply. This program shall coordinate 

3 with other Federal agencies, including the National Oce4 anic and Atmospheric Administration, the Occupational 

5 Safety and Health Administration, and the Environmental 

6 Protection Agency, to ensure that health-related data from 

7 exposures related to the oil spill or clean-up efforts in the 

8 possession of such agencies is made available to the pro9 gram. Data collected by or on behalf of BP PLC shall 

10 also be included. 

11 ‘‘(c) RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

12 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days 

13 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec14 retary shall appoint an independent technical advi15 sory committee to be known as the Gulf Coast 

16 Health Research Advisory Committee. 

17 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Advisory 

18 Committee shall be— 

19 ‘‘(A) to offer high quality scientific re20 search advice to the program established under 

21 this section, including proactive advice regard22 ing each agency’s long-term monitoring and re23 search objectives relating to workers and vul24 nerable residents at risk from the Deepwater 

25 Horizon disaster and other oil spills; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) to provide a forum for ensuring that 

2 health concerns of workers and the public are 

3 considered in determining the priorities for sci4 entific research. 

5 ‘‘(3) MEMBERSHIP.— 

6 ‘‘(A) COMPOSITION.—The Advisory Com7 mittee shall be composed of at least 10 but not 

8 more than 15 members. Members shall be 

9 qualified by education, training, and experience 

10 to provide scientific and technical advice with 

11 regard to environmental health and occupa12 tional health methods and research, including 

13 epidemiology, dose reconstruction, toxicology, 

14 risk and health communication, and medical 

15 ethics. At least 4 members shall be representa16 tive of the concerned and affected populations, 

17 including 1 member to represent commercial 

18 fishermen who were part of the Vessel of Op19 portunities program organized by BP PLC to 

20 recruit boat owners to assist in the response to 

21 the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, 1 member to 

22 represent other workers involved in cleanup of 

23 spill, and 2 members to represent the poten24 tially affected public in Gulf coastal commuVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:09 Aug 03, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6017.IH H6017

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1 nities. Consultants and nonvoting liaison rep2 resentatives may be invited as needed. 

3 ‘‘(B) APPOINTMENT AND TERMS.—The 

4 Secretary shall appoint Advisory Committee 

5 members, including a chair and vice chair to 

6 the Advisory Committee. Each term of a mem7 ber’s service on the Advisory Committee shall 

8 be 3 years, except for initial terms, which may 

9 be up to 5 years in length to allow staggering. 

10 Members may be reappointed and may serve 

11 after expiration of their terms until their suc12 cessors have been seated on the Advisory Com13 mittee. 

14 ‘‘(C) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—The Sec15 retary shall establish requirements to ensure 

16 that members of the Advisory Committee do not 

17 have any conflicts of interest. 

18 ‘‘(4) DUTIES.—The Advisory Committee 

19 shall— 

20 ‘‘(A) provide advice on the development 

21 and implementation of the health research pro22 gram; 

23 ‘‘(B) respond to requests for advice from 

24 the appropriate Federal official on matters 

25 within the Advisory Committee’s expertise; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) as appropriate, review reports or 

2 other documents submitted to the appropriate 

3 Federal officials pursuant to this section to ob4 tain information on protecting the health and 

5 safety of cleanup workers and vulnerable com6 munities. 

7 ‘‘(d) COOPERATION AND CONSULTATION.—In devel8 oping the research and monitoring program established 

9 under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consult with re10 lated agencies in the Department of Labor (including the 

11 Occupational Safety and Health Administration), the De12 partment of Commerce (including the National Oceanic 

13 and Atmospheric Administration), and the Environmental 

14 Protection Agency, and shall consult with— 

15 ‘‘(1) appropriate representatives from the Gulf 

16 Coast States and localities; 

17 ‘‘(2) local and State health department officials; 

18 ‘‘(3) academic institutions and other research 

19 organizations; 

20 ‘‘(4) worker representatives, community rep21 resentatives, and other members of the Gulf Coast 

22 communities; and 

23 ‘‘(5) other experts with expertise in human 

24 health and environmental monitoring and research. 


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1 ‘‘(e) DUTIES.—The primary duty of the program es2 tablished in section (a) is to implement and carry out the 

3 health program, including collecting baseline health infor4 mation, and conducting health screening, monitoring, sur5 veillance, and research. The program specifically shall in6 clude the following research elements: 

7 ‘‘(1) Exposure of workers and vulnerable resi8 dents to oil, dispersants, and other chemicals and 

9 physical hazards during the clean-up effort, includ10 ing— 

11 ‘‘(A) information about the use of personal 

12 protective equipment; 

13 ‘‘(B) biological sampling where appro14 priate; and 

15 ‘‘(C) information on such exposure of 

16 workers and vulnerable residents who may be 

17 more susceptible to environmental health im18 pacts due to their age, preexisting health sta19 tus, pregnancy status, or other factors deter20 mined by the Secretary. 

21 ‘‘(2) Acute health symptoms or biological find22 ings during the active clean-up period. 

23 ‘‘(3) Reproductive effects or effects on fetal or 

24 infant development, where relevant. 


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1 ‘‘(4) Chronic health effects, including genetic 

2 and immunological alterations in cells and tissues. 

3 ‘‘(5) Mental health effects, including stress, 

4 anxiety, depression, PTSD, and related symptoms. 

5 ‘‘(6) Levels of elevated hazardous substances in 

6 Gulf Coast seafood and local fresh water sources. 

7 ‘‘(7) Other elements considered necessary by 

8 the Secretary to ensure a comprehensive environ9 mental health research and monitoring program— 

10 ‘‘(A) to comprehend and understand the 

11 implications to worker and public health caused 

12 by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; and 

13 ‘‘(B) to make such recommendations to the 

14 Secretary as may assist in improving the re15 sponse to, and management and monitoring of, 

16 any future oil spills. 

17 ‘‘(f) REPORT.—No later than 1 year after the estab18 lishment of the program under subsection (a), and bienni19 ally thereafter, the Secretary shall forward to the Con20 gress and make available to the public a comprehensive 

21 report summarizing the activities and findings of the pro22 gram and detailing areas and issues requiring future mon23 itoring and research. Reports shall continue for at least 

24 20 years after the date of enactment of this section, and 

25 the Secretary may extend the reporting provision beyond 


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1 this initial period based upon a determination that addi2 tional monitoring and research is warranted. After 3 

3 years, the Advisory Committee shall issue a report, for4 warded to the Congress and made available to the public, 

5 examining lessons learned and a blueprint of best practices 

6 to handle future environmental health disasters, including 

7 strategies for rapid deployment of data collection and 

8 health monitoring and registering of individuals exposed 

9 to the environmental health disaster. 

10 ‘‘(g) DISCLOSURE AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may 

11 by order compel BP PLC to provide health-related data 

12 and information collected by or on behalf of BP PLC, ex13 cept to the extent such data or information is protected 

14 from disclosure under Federal law. 

15 ‘‘(h) AVAILABILITY OF DATA.—The Secretary shall 

16 maintain and archive information obtained or generated 

17 through the program established under subsection (a) in 

18 a manner that will facilitate use of such information for 

19 the health monitoring and research purposes of the pro20 gram and ensure that it is accessible and available to gov21 ernmental and nongovernmental personnel for relevant re22 search in accordance with applicable State and Federal 

23 law. Individual health information shall be handled in a 

24 manner that will protect individual patient confidentiality. 


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1 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this sec2 tion— 

3 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Gulf Coast State’ means each of 

4 the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ala5 bama, and Florida; 

6 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Advisory Committee’ means the 

7 Gulf Coast Health Research Advisory Committee es8 tablished under subsection (c). 

9 ‘‘(3) the term ‘vulnerable residents’ means indi10 viduals who live in Gulf Coast States in areas where 

11 they may be exposed to hazardous substances re12 lated to the oil spill; and 

13 ‘‘(4) the term ‘workers’ means paid or volunteer 

14 staff participating in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 

15 cleanup.’’. 

Æ 


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