[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2835 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2835

  To require an assessment of research on effects of radio frequency 
                       emissions on human health.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 9, 1999

 Mr. Sanders introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require an assessment of research on effects of radio frequency 
                       emissions on human health.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) There has been a substantial effort by the Federal 
        Government to determine the effects of electric and magnetic 
        fields on biological systems, as is evidenced by the Electric 
        and Magnetic Fields Research and Public Information 
        Dissemination (RAPID) Program, which was established by section 
        2118 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-486; 42 
        U.S.C. 13478).
            (2) This five-year program, which was coordinated by the 
        National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the 
        Department of Energy, examined the possible effects of electric 
        and magnetic fields on human health. Despite the success of 
        this program, there has been no similar effort by the Federal 
        Government to determine the possible effects on human health of 
        radio frequency emissions associated with telecommunications 
        facilities.
            (3) The RAPID program could serve as the excellent model 
        for a Federally-sponsored research project.

SEC. 2. ASSESSMENT OF RESEARCH ON EFFECTS OF RADIO FREQUENCY EMISSIONS 
              ON HUMAN HEALTH.

    (a) Assessment.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
carry out an independent assessment on the effects of radio frequency 
emission on human health. The Secretary shall carry out the independent 
assessment through grants to appropriate public and private entities 
selected by the Secretary for purposes of the independent assessment.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are hereby authorized 
to be appropriated for the Secretary of Health and Human Services for 
fiscal year 2000, $10,000,000 for purposes of grants for the 
independent assessment required by subsection (a). Amounts appropriated 
pursuant to the authorization of appropriation in the preceding 
sentence shall remain available until expended.
    (c) The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall produce a 
report on existing research evaluating the biological effects to human 
health of short term, high-level, as well as long-term, low-level 
exposures to radio frequency emissions to Congress no later than 
January 1, 2001.
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