II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 579 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2007 

Mr. REID (for himself, Mr. HATCH, Mrs. CLINTON, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. 

SANDERS, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. WARNER, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. 

MENENDEZ, Mr. REED, Mr. LEAHY, and Mr. LAUTENBERG) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

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 environmental 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 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH; AWARDS FOR 

2 DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION OF RE3 SEARCH CENTERS REGARDING ENVIRON4 MENTAL FACTORS RELATED TO BREAST CAN5 CER. 

6 Part A of title IV of the Public Health Service Act 

7 (42 U.S.C. 281 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 404H. RESEARCH CENTERS REGARDING ENVIRON10 MENTAL FACTORS RELATED TO BREAST CAN11 CER. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

13 the Director of NIH, based on recommendations from the 

14 Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Panel estab15 lished under subsection (b) (referred to in this section as 

16 the ‘Panel’), shall make grants to public or nonprofit pri17 vate entities for the development and operation of collabo18 rative, multi-institutional centers for the purpose of con19 ducting multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research 

20 on environmental factors that may be related to the eti21 ology of breast cancer. Each such center shall be known 

22 as a Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Center 

23 of Excellence. 

24 ‘‘(b) BREAST CANCER AND ENVIRONMENTAL RE25 SEARCH PANEL.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es2 tablish within the National Institutes of Health a 

3 Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Panel. 

4 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—The Panel shall be com5 posed of— 

6 ‘‘(A) 9 members to be appointed by the 

7 Secretary, of which— 

8 ‘‘(i) six members shall be appointed 

9 from among physicians and other health 

10 professionals, who— 

11 ‘‘(I) are not officers or employees 

12 of the United States; 

13 ‘‘(II) represent multiple dis14 ciplines, including clinical, basic, and 

15 public health sciences; 

16 ‘‘(III) represent different geo17 graphical regions of the United 

18 States; 

19 ‘‘(IV) are from practice settings, 

20 academia, or other research settings; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(V) are experienced in peer re23 view; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) three members shall be appointed 

25 from the general public who are representVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:26 Feb 17, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S579.IS S579

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1 atives of individuals who have had breast 

2 cancer and who represent a constituency; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(B) such nonvoting, ex officio members as 

5 the Secretary determines to be appropriate. 

6 ‘‘(3) CHAIRPERSON.—The members of the 

7 Panel appointed under paragraph (2)(A) shall select 

8 a chairperson from among such members. 

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

10 call of the chairperson or upon the request of the 

11 Director of NIH, but in no case less often than once 

12 each year. 

13 ‘‘(5) DUTIES.—The Panel shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) develop a comprehensive strategy con15 cerning collaborative centers that would— 

16 ‘‘(i) result in innovative approaches to 

17 study unexplored or underexplored areas of 

18 the environment and breast cancer; 

19 ‘‘(ii) outline key research questions, 

20 methodologies, and knowledge gaps con21 cerning environmental factors that may be 

22 related to the etiology of breast cancer; 

23 ‘‘(iii) outline key issues concerning en24 vironmental factors that may be related to 

25 the etiology of breast cancer; and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) result in an overall strategy to 

2 address environmental factors related to 

3 breast cancer; 

4 ‘‘(B) make recommendations to the Sec5 retary with respect to the mechanisms, peer re6 view criteria, and allocations under this section; 

7 ‘‘(C) assist in the overall program evalua8 tion; and 

9 ‘‘(D) make recommendations for the dis10 semination of information on program process. 

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

12 center under subsection (a) shall include community orga13 nizations in the geographic area served by the center, in14 cluding those that represent women with breast cancer, 

15 as integral collaborators involved at all levels of the deci16 sion-making and research in such center. 

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

18 Director of NIH shall, as appropriate, provide for the co19 ordination of information among centers under subsection 

20 (a) and ensure regular communication between such cen21 ters, and may require the periodic preparation of reports 

22 on the activities of the centers and the submission of the 

23 reports to the Director. 

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

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1 operating institutions and community groups, meeting 

2 such requirements as may be prescribed by the Director 

3 of NIH. Each center shall require collaboration among 

4 highly accomplished scientists, other health professionals 

5 and advocates of diverse backgrounds from various areas 

6 of expertise. 

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

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

9 5 years. Such period may be extended for one or more 

10 additional periods not exceeding 5 years if the operations 

11 of such center have been reviewed by an appropriate tech12 nical and scientific peer review group established by the 

13 Director of NIH and if such group has recommended to 

14 the Director that such period be extended. 

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

16 The Director of NIH shall, to the extent practicable, pro17 vide for an equitable geographical distribution of centers 

18 under this section. 

19 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

20 purpose of carrying out this section, there is authorized 

21 to be appropriated $40,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

22 2008 through 2012. Such authorization is in addition to 

23 any other authorization of appropriations that is available 

24 for such purpose.’’. 

Æ 


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