[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4594 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4594

  To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to reducing the 
              burden of diabetes among children and youth.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 7, 2000

 Ms. DeGette (for herself, Mr. Nethercutt, Mr. LaFalce, and Mr. Weldon 
 of Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                       the Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to reducing the 
              burden of diabetes among children and youth.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pediatric Diabetes Research and 
Prevention Act''.

SEC. 2. PROGRAMS REGARDING DIABETES IN CHILDREN AND YOUTH.

    (a) National Registry on Juvenile Diabetes.--The Secretary of 
Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the 
``Secretary''), acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, shall develop a system to collect data on 
juvenile diabetes, including with respect to incidence and prevalence, 
and shall establish a national database for such data.
    (b) Long-Term Epidemiology Studies on Juvenile Diabetes.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary, acting through the Director 
        of the National Institutes of Health, shall conduct or support 
        long-term epidemiology studies in which individuals with type 
        1, or juvenile, diabetes are followed for 10 years or more. 
        Such studies shall, in order to provide a valuable resource for 
        the purposes specified in paragraph (2), provide for complete 
        characterization of disease manifestations, appropriate medical 
        history, elucidation of environmental factors, delineation of 
        complications, results of usual medical treatment and a variety 
        of other potential valuable (such as samples of blood).
            (2) Purposes.--The purposes referred to in paragraph (1) 
        with respect to type 1 diabetes are the following:
                    (A) Delineation of potential environmental triggers 
                thought precipitating or causing type 1 diabetes.
                    (B) Delineation of those clinical characteristics 
                or lab measures associated with complications of the 
                disease.
                    (C) Potential study population to enter into 
                clinical trials for prevention and treatment, as well 
                as genetic studies.
    (c) Type 2 Diabetes in Youth.--The Secretary, acting through the 
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall 
implement a national public health effort to address type 2 diabetes in 
youth, including--
            (1) enhancing surveillance systems and expanding research 
        to better assess the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in youth and 
        determine the extent to which type 2 diabetes is incorrectly 
        diagnosed as type 1 diabetes among children; and
            (2) assisting States in establishing coordinated school 
        health programs and physical activity and nutrition 
        demonstration programs to control weight and increase physical 
        activity among youth.
    (d) Clinical Trial Infrastructure/Innovative Treatments for 
Juvenile Diabetes.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of the 
National Institutes of Health, shall support regional clinical centers 
for the cure of juvenile diabetes and shall through such centers 
provide for--
            (1) well-characterized population of children appropriate 
        for study;
            (2) well-trained clinical scientists able to conduct such 
        trials;
            (3) appropriate clinical settings able to house such 
        studies; and
            (4) appropriate statistical capability, data, safety and 
        other monitoring capacity.
    (e) Development of Vaccine.--The Secretary, acting through the 
appropriate agencies of the Public Health Service, shall provide for a 
national effort to develop a vaccine for type 1 diabetes. Such effort 
shall provide for a combination of increased efforts in research and 
development of candidate vaccines, coupled with appropriate ability to 
conduct large clinical trials in children.
    (f) Loan Repayment Program.--Part G of title IV of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 288 et seq.) is amended by inserting 
after section 487E the following section:

     ``loan repayment program for research on diabetes in children

    ``Sec. 487F. (a) In General.--The Secretary, in consultation with 
the Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and 
Kidney Diseases, shall establish a program of entering into contracts 
with qualified health professionals (including graduate students) under 
which such health professionals agree to conduct research regarding 
diabetes in children in consideration of the Federal Government 
agreeing to repay, for each year of such service, not more than $35,000 
of the principal and interest of the educational loans of such health 
professionals.
    ``(b) Adjustments Regarding Cost of Living.--With respect to the 
limitation established in subsection (a) on the annual amount of 
repayment that may be made, the Secretary may make such periodic 
adjustments to the limitation to reflect increases in the cost of 
living as the Secretary deems necessary.
    ``(c) Applicability of Certain Provisions.--With respect to the 
National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program established in 
subpart III of part D of title III, the provisions of such subpart 
shall, except as inconsistent with subsection (a) of this section, 
apply to the program established in such subsection (a) in the same 
manner and to the same extent as such provisions apply to the National 
Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program established in such 
subpart.
    ``(d) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term `diabetes 
in children' includes Type 1 diabetes in children and Type 2 diabetes 
in children.
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as 
may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2001 through 2005. 
Amounts available for carrying out this section shall remain available 
until the expiration of the second fiscal year beginning after the 
fiscal year for which the amounts were made available.''.
    (g) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as 
may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2001 through 2004.
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