I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2161 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a program on children 
and the media within the National Institute of Health to study the 
health and developmental effects of technology on infants, children, and 
adolescents. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 23, 2021 
Mr. RASKIN (for himself, Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio, and Mrs. TRAHAN) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a 
program on children and the media within the National 
Institute of Health to study the health and developmental 
effects of technology on infants, children, and adoles-
cents. 
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 ‘‘Children and Media 
Research Advancement Act’’ or the ‘‘CAMRA Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. RESEARCH ON THE HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT 
EFFECTS OF MEDIA ON INFANTS, CHILDREN, 
AND ADOLESCENTS. 
Subpart 7 of part C of title IV of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285g et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 452H. RESEARCH ON THE HEALTH AND DEVELOP-
MENT EFFECTS OF MEDIA ON INFANTS, CHIL-
DREN, AND ADOLESCENTS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National In-
stitutes of Health, in coordination with or acting through 
the Director of the Institute, shall conduct and support 
research and related activities concerning the health and 
developmental effects of media on infants, children, and 
adolescents, which may include the positive and negative 
effects of exposure to and use of media, such as social 
media, applications, websites, television, motion pictures, 
artificial intelligence, mobile devices, computers, video 
games, virtual and augmented reality, and other media 
formats as they become available. Such research shall at-
tempt to better understand the relationships between 
media and technology use and individual differences and 
characteristics of children and shall include longitudinally 
designed studies to assess the impact of media on youth 
over time. Such research shall include consideration of 
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core areas of child and adolescent health and development 
including the following: 
‘‘(1) COGNITIVE.—The role and impact of 
media use and exposure in the development of chil-
dren and adolescents within such cognitive areas as 
language development, executive functioning, atten-
tion, creative problem solving skills, visual and spa-
tial skills, literacy, critical thinking, and other learn-
ing abilities, and the impact of early technology use 
on developmental trajectories. 
‘‘(2) PHYSICAL.—The role and impact of media 
use and exposure on children’s and adolescent’s 
physical development and health behaviors, including 
diet, exercise, sleeping and eating routines, and 
other areas of physical development. 
‘‘(3) SOCIO-EMOTIONAL.—The role and impact 
of media use and exposure on children’s and adoles-
cents’ social-emotional competencies, including self- 
awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, relation-
ship skills, empathy, distress tolerance, perception of 
social cues, awareness of one’s relationship with the 
media, and decision-making, as well as outcomes 
such as violations of privacy, perpetration of or ex-
posure to violence, bullying or other forms of aggres-
sion, depression, anxiety, substance use, misuse or 
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disorder, and suicidal ideation/behavior and self- 
harm. 
‘‘(b) DEVELOPING RESEARCH AGENDA.—The Direc-
tor of the National Institutes of Health, in consultation 
with the Director of the Institute, other appropriate na-
tional research institutes, academies, and centers, the 
Trans-NIH Pediatric Research Consortium, and non-Fed-
eral experts as needed, shall develop a research agenda 
on the health and developmental effects of media on in-
fants, children, and adolescents to inform research activi-
ties under subsection (a). In developing such research 
agenda, the Director may use whatever means necessary 
(such as scientific workshops and literature reviews) to as-
sess current knowledge and research gaps in this area. 
‘‘(c) RESEARCH PROGRAM.—In coordination with the 
Institute and other national research institutes and cen-
ters, and utilizing the National Institutes of Health’s proc-
ess of scientific peer review, the Director of the National 
Institutes of Health shall fund an expanded research pro-
gram on the health and developmental effects of media 
on infants, children, and adolescents. 
‘‘(d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 
the National Institutes of Health shall submit a report to 
Congress on the progress made in gathering data and ex-
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panding research on the health and developmental effects 
of media on infants, children, and adolescents in accord-
ance with this section. Such report shall summarize the 
grants and research funded, by year, under this section. 
‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec-
tion— 
‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 
through 2024; and 
‘‘(2) $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 
and 2026.’’. 
Æ 
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