I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 832 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure that the Federal Govern-
ment 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 
FEBRUARY 28, 2011 
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 result-
ing from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gulf Coast Health 
Monitoring and Research Program Act of 2011’’. 
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SEC. 2. GULF COAST HEALTH MONITORING AND RESEARCH 
PROGRAM. 
Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 399V–6. GULF COAST HEALTH MONITORING AND RE-
SEARCH PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To ensure that the Federal Gov-
ernment 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 Deep-
water Horizon oil spill, the Secretary, in consultation with 
the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, and 
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agen-
cy, shall establish as soon as practicable after date of en-
actment of this section, a short-term and long-term com-
prehensive health screening, monitoring, and research pro-
gram of oil spill workers and vulnerable residents, and of 
food safety affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 
‘‘(b) SCOPE OF PROGRAM.—The program established 
under subsection (a) shall at a minimum include screening 
affected individuals for physical and behavioral health ef-
fects from the oil spill and the collection of exposure and 
health effects data on a statistically robust cohort of work-
ers and vulnerable residents. In addition, this program 
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shall include research on food safety of Gulf Coast seafood 
and the fresh water supply. This program shall coordinate 
with other Federal agencies, including the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration, the Occupational 
Safety and Health Administration, and the Environmental 
Protection Agency, to ensure that health-related data from 
exposures related to the oil spill or clean-up efforts in the 
possession of such agencies is made available to the pro-
gram. Data collected by or on behalf of BP PLC shall 
also be included. 
‘‘(c) RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days 
after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec-
retary shall appoint an independent technical advi-
sory committee to be known as the Gulf Coast 
Health Research Advisory Committee. 
‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Advisory 
Committee shall be— 
‘‘(A) to offer high quality scientific re-
search advice to the program established under 
this section, including proactive advice regard-
ing each agency’s long-term monitoring and re-
search objectives relating to workers and vul-
nerable residents at risk from the Deepwater 
Horizon disaster and other oil spills; and 
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‘‘(B) to provide a forum for ensuring that 
health concerns of workers and the public are 
considered in determining the priorities for sci-
entific research. 
‘‘(3) MEMBERSHIP.— 
‘‘(A) COMPOSITION.—The Advisory Com-
mittee shall be composed of at least 10 but not 
more than 15 members. Members shall be 
qualified by education, training, and experience 
to provide scientific and technical advice with 
regard to environmental health and occupa-
tional health methods and research, including 
epidemiology, dose reconstruction, toxicology, 
risk and health communication, and medical 
ethics. At least 4 members shall be representa-
tive of the concerned and affected populations, 
including 1 member to represent commercial 
fishermen who were part of the Vessel of Op-
portunities program organized by BP PLC to 
recruit boat owners to assist in the response to 
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, 1 member to 
represent other workers involved in cleanup of 
spill, and 2 members to represent the poten-
tially affected public in Gulf coastal commu-
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