H. Res. 366 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
June 16, 2009. 
Whereas vision impairment and eye disease is a major public 
health problem, especially due to the aging of the popu-
lation, a disproportionate incidence of eye disease in mi-
nority populations, and vision loss as a result of diabetes 
and other chronic diseases, which costs the Nation 
$68,000,000,000 annually in health care costs, lost pro-
ductivity, reduced independence, diminished quality of 
life, increased depression, and accelerated mortality; 
Whereas 38,000,000 people in the United States age 40-plus 
currently experience blindness, low-vision, or an age-re-
lated eye disease, and this number is expected to grow to 
50,000,000 by 2020, a year mid-way in the tidal wave of 
78,000,000 baby boomers who will begin turning age 65 
in 2010, and many of whom will continue working well 
beyond age 65; 
Whereas, in public opinion polls over the past 40 years, peo-
ple in the United States have consistently identified fear 
of vision loss as second only to fear of cancer and, as re-
cently as a 2008 NEI study, 71 percent of respondents 
indicated that a loss of their eyesight would have the 
greatest impact on their life; 
Whereas, with wisdom and foresight, Congress passed the 
National Eye Institute (NEI) Act (Public Law 90–489),
•HRES 366 EH 
which was signed into law by President Johnson on Au-
gust 16, 1968, with the NEI holding the first meeting of 
its National Advisory Eye Council (NAEC) on April 3, 
1969; 
Whereas the NEI leads the Nation’s Federal commitment to 
basic and clinical research, research training, and other 
programs with respect to blinding eye diseases, visual dis-
orders, mechanisms of visual function, preservation of 
sight and the special health problems and needs of indi-
viduals who are visually-impaired or blind, and to dis-
seminate information aimed at the prevention of blind-
ness, specifically with public and professional education 
facilitated through its National Eye Health Education 
Program (NEHEP); 
Whereas the NEI maximizes Federal funding by devoting 85 
percent of its budget to extramural research that ad-
dresses the breadth of eye and vision disorders, including 
‘‘back of the eye’’ retinal and optic nerve disease, such 
as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, 
and diabetic retinopathy, and concomitant low vision, and 
‘‘front of the eye’’ disease, including corneal, lens, cata-
ract, and refractive errors; 
Whereas the NEI research benefits children, including pre-
mature infants born with retinopathy and school children 
with amblyopia (‘‘lazy eye’’); 
Whereas the NEI benefits older citizens in the United States 
by predicting, preventing, and preempting aging eye dis-
ease, thereby enabling more productive lives and reducing 
Medicare costs; 
Whereas the NEI has been a leader in basic research, work-
ing with the NIH’s Human Genome Project to translate
•HRES 366 EH 
discoveries of genes related to eye disease and vision im-
pairment, which comprises one quarter of genes discov-
ered to date, into diagnostic and treatment modalities; 
Whereas the NEI has been a leader in clinical research, fund-
ing more than 60 clinical trials, including a series of Dia-
betic Retinopathy Clinical Trials Networks, in association 
with the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive 
and Kidney Disorders (NIDDK), which have developed 
treatment strategies that have been determined by the 
NEI to be 90 percent effective and save an estimated 
$1,600,000,000 per year in blindness and vision impair-
ment disability costs; 
Whereas the NEI has been a leader in prevention research, 
having reported from the first phase of its Age-Related 
Eye Disease Study (AREDS) that high levels of dietary 
zinc and anti-oxidant vitamins reduced vision loss in indi-
viduals at high risk for developing advanced AMD by a 
magnitude of 25 percent, and in its second phase, is now 
studying the impact of other nutritional supplements; 
Whereas the NEI has been a leader in epidemiologic re-
search, identifying the basis and progression of eye dis-
ease and its disproportionate incidence in minority popu-
lations such that informed public health policy decisions 
can be made regarding prevention, early diagnosis, and 
treatment; 
Whereas the NEI has been a leader in collaborative, trans- 
NIH Institute research, working with the National Can-
cer Institute (NCI) and the National Heart, Lung, and 
Blood Institute (NHLBI) on factors that promote or in-
hibit new blood vessel growth that has resulted in the 
first generation of Food and Drug Administration 
(FDA)-approved ophthalmic drugs to inhibit abnormal