I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1723

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

MAY 3, 2001

Mrs. LOWEY (for herself and Mrs. MYRICK) 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 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 2001’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds as follows:

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

4 cancer deaths among American women.

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

6 with breast cancer than any other cancer (excluding

7 skin cancer). Approximately 3 million women in the

8 United States are living with breast cancer: 2 million

9 who have been diagnosed and an estimated 1 million

10 who do not yet know they have the disease.

11 (3) Breast cancer is the most commonly diag12 nosed cancer among women in the United States

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

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

15 will be diagnosed among women in the United

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

17 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

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

19 breast cancer death for women in the United States;

20 approximately 40,000 women in the U.S. die from

21 the disease each year. Breast cancer is the leading

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

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

24 death for women worldwide.

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

26 8 chance of developing invasive breast cancer in her
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1 lifetime—this risk was 1 in 11 in 1975. In 2001, a

2 new case of breast cancer will be diagnosed every 2

3 minutes, and a woman will die from breast cancer

4 every 13 minutes.

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

6 About 90 percent of women who develop breast can7 cer do not have a family history of the disease.

8 (7) The National Action Plan on Breast Can9 cer, a public private partnership, has recognized the

10 importance of expanding the scope and breadth of

11 biomedical, epidemiological, and behavioral research

12 activities related to the etiology of breast cancer and

13 the role of the environment.

14 (8) To date, there has been only a limited re15 search investment to expand the scope or coordinate

16 efforts across disciplines or work with the commu17 nity to study the role of the environment in the de18 velopment of breast cancer.

19 (9) In order to take full advantage of the tre20 mendous potential for avenues of prevention, the

21 Federal investment in the role of the environment

22 and the development of breast cancer should be ex23 panded.

24 (10) In order to understand the effect of chemi25 cals and radiation on the development of cancer,
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1 multi-generational, prospective studies are probably

2 required.

3 SEC. 3. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL

4 HEALTH SCIENCES; AWARDS FOR DEVELOP5 MENT AND OPERATION OF RESEARCH CEN6 TERS REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL FAC7 TORS RELATED TO BREAST CANCER.

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

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

10 at the end the following section:

11 ‘‘SEC. 463B. RESEARCH CENTERS REGARDING ENVIRON12 MENTAL FACTORS RELATED TO BREAST CAN13 CER.

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

15 based on recommendations from the Breast Cancer and

16 Environmental Research Advisory Panel (hereafter in this

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

18 a process of peer review and programmatic review, to pub19 lic or nonprofit private entities for the development and

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

21 conducting multidisciplinary and multi-institutional re22 search on environmental factors that may be related to

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

24 known as a Breast Cancer and Environmental Research

25 Center of Excellence. The Panel shall oversee the peer re-
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1 view process and shall conduct a programmatic review.

2 The Panel will recommend the funding criteria and mech3 anisms by which the grant funds shall be allocated. The

4 Panel shall make final programmatic recommendations on

5 allocation of grant funds.

6 ‘‘(b) BREAST CANCER AND ENVIRONMENTAL RE7 SEARCH ADVISORY PANEL.—

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab9 lish in the Institute of Environmental Health

10 Sciences the Breast Cancer and Environmental Re11 search Panel (hereafter in this section individually

12 referred to as the ‘Panel’).

13 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The Panel shall be com14 posed of nine appointed members and nonvoting ex

15 officio members. The Secretary shall appoint—

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

17 other health professionals, who are not officers

18 or employees of the United States, and who

19 represent multiple disciplines, including clinical,

20 basic and public health sciences, and also dif21 ferent geographical regions of the country, indi22 viduals shall come from practice settings as well

23 as academia and other research settings. Panel

24 members should be experienced in biomedical

25 review; and
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1 ‘‘(B) three members from the general pub2 lic who are consumer representatives who have

3 had breast cancer and who represent a constitu4 ency.

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

6 select a chairman from among the appointed mem7 bers.

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

9 call of the chairman or upon the request of the Di10 rector of the Institute, but not less often than once

11 a year.

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

13 center under subsection (a) shall establish and maintain

14 ongoing collaborations with community organizations in

15 the geographic area served by the center, including those

16 that represent women with breast cancer.

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

18 Director of the Institute shall, as appropriate, provide for

19 the coordination of information among centers under sub20 section (a) and ensure regular communication between

21 such centers, and may require the periodic preparation of

22 reports on the activities of the centers and the submission

23 of the reports to the Director.

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

25 subsection (a) shall be formed from a consortium of co-
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1 operating institutions, meeting such requirements as may

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

3 must require collaboration among highly accomplished sci4 entists, other health professionals and advocates of diverse

5 backgrounds from various areas of expertise.

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

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

8 5 years. Such period may be extended for one or more

9 additional periods not exceeding 5 years if the operations

10 of such center have been reviewed by an appropriate tech11 nical and scientific peer review group established by the

12 Director of the Institute and if such group has rec13 ommended to the Director that such period should be ex14 tended.

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

16 The Director of the Institute shall, to the extent prac17 ticable, provide for an equitable geographical distribution

18 of centers under this section.

19 ‘‘(h) INNOVATIVE APPROACHES.—Centers shall use

20 innovative approaches to study unexplored or under ex21 plored areas of the environment and breast cancer.

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

23 purpose of carrying out this section, there is authorized

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

25 2002 through 2007. Such authorization is in addition to
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1 any other authorization of appropriations that is available

2 for such purpose.’’.

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