II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1157 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 26 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Received 

AN ACT 

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. 


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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 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXPANDING COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH ON 

7 BREAST CANCER AND THE ENVIRONMENT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart 1 of part C of title IV 

9 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285 et seq.) 

10 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 417F. INTERAGENCY BREAST CANCER AND ENVIRON12 MENTAL RESEARCH COORDINATING COM13 MITTEE. 

14 ‘‘(a) INTERAGENCY BREAST CANCER AND ENVIRON15 MENTAL RESEARCH COORDINATING COMMITTEE.— 

16 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 6 

17 months after the date of the enactment of this sec18 tion, the Secretary shall establish a committee, to be 

19 known as the Interagency Breast Cancer and Envi20 ronmental Research Coordinating Committee (in this 

21 section referred to as the ‘Committee’). 

22 ‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The Committee shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) share and coordinate information on 

24 existing research activities, and make rec25 ommendations to the National Institutes of 


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1 Health and other Federal agencies regarding 

2 how to improve existing research programs, 

3 that are related to breast cancer research; 

4 ‘‘(B) develop a comprehensive strategy and 

5 advise the National Institutes of Health and 

6 other Federal agencies in the solicitation of pro7 posals for collaborative, multidisciplinary re8 search, including proposals to evaluate environ9 mental and genomic factors that may be related 

10 to the etiology of breast cancer that would— 

11 ‘‘(i) result in innovative approaches to 

12 study emerging scientific opportunities or 

13 eliminate knowledge gaps in research to 

14 improve the research portfolio; 

15 ‘‘(ii) outline key research questions, 

16 methodologies, and knowledge gaps; 

17 ‘‘(iii) expand the number of research 

18 proposals that involve collaboration be19 tween 2 or more national research insti20 tutes or national centers, including pro21 posals for Common Fund research de22 scribed in section 402(b)(7) to improve the 

23 research portfolio; and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) expand the number of collabo2 rative, multidisciplinary, and multi-institu3 tional research grants; 

4 ‘‘(C) develop a summary of advances in 

5 breast cancer research supported or conducted 

6 by Federal agencies relevant to the diagnosis, 

7 prevention, and treatment of cancer and other 

8 diseases and disorders; and 

9 ‘‘(D) not later than 2 years after the date 

10 of the establishment of the Committee, make 

11 recommendations to the Secretary— 

12 ‘‘(i) regarding any appropriate 

13 changes to research activities, including 

14 recommendations to improve the research 

15 portfolio of the National Institutes of 

16 Health to ensure that scientifically-based 

17 strategic planning is implemented in sup18 port of research priorities that impact 

19 breast cancer research activities; 

20 ‘‘(ii) to ensure that the activities of 

21 the National Institutes of Health and other 

22 Federal agencies, including the Depart23 ment of Defense, are free of unnecessary 

24 duplication of effort; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) regarding public participation in 

2 decisions relating to breast cancer research 

3 to increase the involvement of patient ad4 vocacy and community organizations rep5 resenting a broad geographical area; 

6 ‘‘(iv) on how best to disseminate in7 formation on breast cancer research 

8 progress; and 

9 ‘‘(v) on how to expand partnerships 

10 between public entities, including Federal 

11 agencies, and private entities to expand 

12 collaborative, cross-cutting research. 

13 ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—For the pur14 poses of the Committee, when focusing on research 

15 to evaluate environmental and genomic factors that 

16 may be related to the etiology of breast cancer, noth17 ing in this section shall be construed to restrict the 

18 Secretary from including other forms of cancer, as 

19 appropriate, when doing so may advance research in 

20 breast cancer or advance research in other forms of 

21 cancer. 

22 ‘‘(4) MEMBERSHIP.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall 

24 be composed of the following voting members: 


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1 ‘‘(i) Not more than 7 voting Federal 

2 representatives as follows: 

3 ‘‘(I) The Director of the Centers 

4 for Disease Control and Prevention. 

5 ‘‘(II) The Director of the Na6 tional Institutes of Health and the di7 rectors of such national research insti8 tutes and national centers (which may 

9 include the National Institute of Envi10 ronmental Health Sciences) as the 

11 Secretary determines appropriate. 

12 ‘‘(III) One representative from 

13 the National Cancer Institute Board 

14 of Scientific Advisors, appointed by 

15 the Director of the National Cancer 

16 Institute. 

17 ‘‘(IV) The heads of such other 

18 agencies of the Department of Health 

19 and Human Services as the Secretary 

20 determines appropriate. 

21 ‘‘(V) Representatives of other 

22 Federal agencies that conduct or sup23 port cancer research, including the 

24 Department of Defense. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) 12 additional voting members ap2 pointed under subparagraph (B). 

3 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.—The Com4 mittee shall include additional voting members 

5 appointed by the Secretary as follows: 

6 ‘‘(i) 6 members shall be appointed 

7 from among scientists, physicians, and 

8 other health professionals, who— 

9 ‘‘(I) are not officers or employees 

10 of the United States; 

11 ‘‘(II) represent multiple dis12 ciplines, including clinical, basic, and 

13 public health sciences; 

14 ‘‘(III) represent different geo15 graphical regions of the United 

16 States; 

17 ‘‘(IV) are from practice settings, 

18 academia, or other research settings; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(V) are experienced in scientific 

21 peer review process. 

22 ‘‘(ii) 6 members shall be appointed 

23 from members of the general public, who 

24 represent individuals with breast cancer. 


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1 ‘‘(C) NONVOTING MEMBERS.—The Com2 mittee shall include such nonvoting members as 

3 the Secretary determines to be appropriate. 

4 ‘‘(5) CHAIRPERSON.—The voting members of 

5 the Committee shall select a chairperson from 

6 among such members. The selection of a chairperson 

7 shall be subject to the approval of the Director of 

8 NIH. 

9 ‘‘(6) MEETINGS.—The Committee shall meet at 

10 the call of the chairperson of the Committee or upon 

11 the request of the Director of NIH, but in no case 

12 less often than once each year. 

13 ‘‘(b) REVIEW.—The Secretary shall review the neces14 sity of the Committee in calendar year 2011 and, there15 after, at least once every 2 years.’’. 

16 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

17 purpose of carrying out research activities under title IV 

18 of the Public Health Service Act, including section 417F 

19 of such Act as added by subsection (a), there are author20 ized to be appropriated $40,000,000 for each of fiscal 

21 years 2009 through 2012. Amounts authorized to be ap22 propriated under the preceding sentence shall be in addi23 tion to amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated 


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1 for such purpose under section 402A of the Public Health 

2 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 282a). 

Passed the House of Representatives September 25, 

2008. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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