[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5615 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5615

  To prohibit the use of Federal funds for the conduct or support of 
 programs of HIV testing that fail to make every reasonable effort to 
         inform the individuals of the results of the testing.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 1, 2000

  Mr. Coburn (for himself, and Mr. Norwood) introduced the following 
         bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit the use of Federal funds for the conduct or support of 
 programs of HIV testing that fail to make every reasonable effort to 
         inform the individuals of the results of the testing.

    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 ``Right to Know Act of 2000''.

SEC. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is 
        currently funding HIV serosurveillance studies at various 
        locations throughout the United States.
            (2) These studies are designed to determine the prevalence 
        of a disease within particular populations using ``blind'' 
        tests in which blood specimens are taken from individuals and 
        tested for HIV without their knowledge, identifying elements 
        are removed, and test results are withheld from the source 
        patient.
            (3) Blind HIV tests threaten the health and life of an 
        infected individual by withholding from that individual the 
        knowledge that could protect and enhance his or her health 
        through appropriate treatment.
            (4) Blind HIV tests threaten the public health and allow 
        others to become needlessly infected with HIV by denying an 
        infected individual the knowledge of their infection thereby 
        allowing them to unknowingly place others at risk of infection.
            (5) For the reasons stated in paragraphs (3) and (4):
                    (A) Studies that test individuals for HIV without 
                their knowledge and that do not disclose positive test 
                results to source patients are unethical.
                    (B) Anyone who is diagnosed with HIV should be told 
                the results of such test and provided with appropriate 
                counseling regarding care and prevention.
                    (C) The Federal government and others conducting 
                blind HIV studies should immediately cease such 
                activities.
                    (D) The Federal government and others who have 
                conducted blind HIV tests should make every possible 
                effort to notify those who have been diagnosed with 
                HIV.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION REGARDING USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS FOR HIV TESTING.

    None of the amounts made available in any Federal appropriations 
Act for any fiscal year may be used to conduct or support any program 
of testing individuals for infection with the human immunodeficiency 
virus in which there is a failure to make every reasonable effort to 
find and disclose to the tested individuals the results of the testing 
(including testing performed on blood samples the individuals provided 
for other purposes), together with appropriate counseling.
                                 <all>