[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 11 (Thursday, January 19, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF THE ``SOUTHWEST PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORY''

                                 ______


                         HON. RONALD D. COLEMAN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 19, 1995

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation that 
was passed overwhelmingly in the House but killed by the other body 
during the 103d Congress. The ``Southwest Public Health Laboratory'' 
was included in the conference report to S. 1569, the Minority Health 
Improvement Act of 1994.
  This cooperative regional environmental laboratory would supplement 
existing public health laboratories within the border States. This is 
necessary due to the fact that State health departments have had 
difficulty meeting the increasing demands being made on them over the 
past several years. Basic duties, such as oversight of environmental 
conditions to reduce and eliminate health hazards, have become 
increasingly difficult to sustain due to tight budget constraints and 
increasing public health problems.
  A recent incidental discovery of highly toxic fish in the Rio Grande 
exemplifies the need for additional laboratory capacity and the 
difficulty in detecting some of these potential health threats. In 
fact, polluted water and contaminated food cause much higher rates of 
gastrointestinal and other diseases along the border than in the rest 
of the United States. For example, hepatitis A is two to three times 
more prevalent along the border than in the United States as a whole. 
This is a critical problem in my home county of El Paso. The rate of 
amebiasis, a parasitic infestation, is three times higher along the 
border than in the rest of the United States and the rate of 
shigellosis, a bacterial infection, is two times higher. These diseases 
don't check with immigration or customs inspectors for either country 
before crossing borders, nor do they remain at the border. Once these 
diseases are in the United States they become a public health problem 
for the entire country.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. This will 
not only benefit the southwestern border region, but the entire U.S. 
population.

                          ____________________