[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 875 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 875

 To provide for programs to develop and implement integrated cockroach 
management programs in urban communities that are effective in reducing 
 health risks to inner city residents, especially children, suffering 
               from asthma and asthma-related illnesses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 25, 1999

   Mr. Rush (for himself, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Serrano, Mr. 
     Payne, Mr. Ford, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mrs. 
Christian-Christensen, Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. 
 Frost, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Hilliard, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mr. Capuano, 
 Mr. Rangel, Mr. Barrett of Wisconsin, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Eddie Bernice 
Johnson of Texas, and Mr. Smith of New Jersey) introduced the following 
         bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for programs to develop and implement integrated cockroach 
management programs in urban communities that are effective in reducing 
 health risks to inner city residents, especially children, suffering 
               from asthma and asthma-related illnesses.

    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 ``Urban Asthma Reduction Act of 
1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) certain pests of public health importance occur and 
        proliferate at higher rates in urban environments;
            (2) these pests may spread infectious disease and 
        contribute to the worsening of chronic respiratory illnesses, 
        including asthma;
            (3) pollution, smoking, pesticides, and other environmental 
        factors, including exposure to cockroaches, may contribute to 
        and worsen the condition of individuals, especially children, 
        suffering from asthma;
            (4) the widespread use of pesticides poses health risks to 
        children, as documented by the National Research Council;
            (5) the number of Americans suffering from Asthma has 
        increased 75 percent since 1980;
            (6) more than 15 million Americans suffer from an asthma;
            (7) children residing in the poorest neighborhoods of some 
        of America's largest cities suffer disproportionately from 
        asthma;
            (8) research supported by the National Institutes of Health 
        has conclusively demonstrated that the combination of cockroach 
        allergen and exposure to the insects is an important cause of 
        asthma-related illnesses and hospitalizations among children in 
        inner-city areas of the United States;
            (9) cities outside the United States have developed and 
        implemented effective systems of cockroach management;
            (10) integrated pest management is a cost-effective 
        approach to pest control that emphasizes prevention, and uses a 
        range of techniques, including property maintenance and 
        cleaning, and uses pesticides as means of last resort;
            (11) integrated pest management has been used successfully 
        by Federal agencies, including the General Services 
        Administration and the National Forest Service;
            (12) reducing exposure to cockroach allergen, as part of an 
        integrated approach to asthma management, may be a cost-
        effective way of reducing the social and economic costs of the 
        disease; and
            (13) no current Federal funding exists specifically to 
        assist cities in developing and implementing integrated 
        strategies to reduce cockroach infestation.

SEC. 3. PREVENTIVE HEALTH AND HEALTH SERVICES BLOCK GRANT; SYSTEMS FOR 
              REDUCING ASTHMA AND ASTHMA-RELATED ILLNESSES THROUGH 
              URBAN COCKROACH MANAGEMENT.

    Section 1904(a)(1) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
300w-3(a)(1)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (E) and (F) as 
        subparagraphs (F) and (G), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the following 
        subparagraph:
            ``(E) The establishment, operation, and coordination of 
        effective and cost-efficient systems to reduce the prevalence 
        of asthma and asthma-related illnesses among urban populations, 
        especially children, by reducing the level of exposure to 
        cockroach allergen through the use of integrated pest 
        management, as applied to cockroaches. Amounts expended for 
        such systems may include the costs of structural rehabilitation 
        of housing, public schools, and other public facilities to 
        reduce cockroach infestation, the costs of building 
        maintenance, and the costs of programs to promote community 
        participation in the carrying out at such sites of integrated 
        pest management as applied to cockroaches. For purposes of this 
        subparagraph, the term `integrated pest management' means an 
        approach to the management of pests in public facilities that 
        minimizes or avoids the use of pesticide chemicals through a 
        combination of appropriate practices regarding the maintenance, 
        cleaning, and monitoring of such sites.'';
            (3) in subparagraph (F) (as redesignated by paragraph (1)), 
        by striking ``subparagraphs (A) through (D)'' and inserting 
        ``subparagraphs (A) through (E)''; and
            (4) in subparagraph (G) (as so redesignated), by striking 
        ``subparagraphs (A) through (E)'' and inserting ``subparagraphs 
        (A) through (F).''.
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