[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 31 (Wednesday, March 12, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HOUSE RESOLUTION 83 RELATIVE TO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. GEORGE W. GEKAS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 12, 1997

  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues, Mr. 
DeFazio, Mr. Gilman, Mr. Porter, Mr. Shaw and Mr. Stearns, in 
introducing a resolution to double the investment in medical research 
at the National Institutes of Health over the next 5 years. I want to 
set forth the reasons why the investment in biomedical research has 
provided major benefits to our people.
  The National Institutes of Health is the engine that drives medical 
research for our Nation and the world. Scientists funded by the NIH 
have produced a steady flow of discoveries leading to the prevention 
and treatment of many devastating diseases; their efforts are leveraged 
when their research leads privately funded U.S. researchers and 
researchers outside the United States to follow a lead. The 
congressional biomedical caucus, which I proudly Co-Chair with 
Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Sonny Callahan, and Joseph Kennedy, has 
brought some of this country's finest scientists to Congress to 
describe the amazing stories of how NIH funding has armed U.S. 
researchers as they lead the battle to successfully discover the causes 
of cancer, heart conditions, Alzheimer's disease, AIDS and other 
conditions which devastate millions of American families. Whether it is 
the recent discovery of genetic causes of some breast cancers, the 
development of Protease inhibitor treatment of AIDS, or the completion, 
which is within our grasp, of the map of all human genes; every day we 
hear of exciting advances in medical research which were made possible 
by the National Institutes of Health. I have sought advice and 
leadership from the five scientific societies which compose the Joint 
Steering Committee for Public Policy [JSC]: American Society for Cell 
Biology, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 
Biophysical Society, Genetics Society of America, American Association 
of Anatomists and the Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology and 
Neurobiology Chairpersons. I appreciate the quality and new information 
that the caucus briefings present under the leadership of Dr. J. 
Michael Bishop, University of California, San Francisco. I look forward 
to working with the JSC Chair Dr. Eric Lander, Director of the 
Whitehead Institute, Genome Center at MIT; Dr. Marc Kirschner, Chairman 
of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Tom Pollard, President 
of the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA, to make this resolution a reality.
  But this Nation's investment in the NIH is justified not just to 
relieve human suffering, but also to contribute to the national 
economy, and, in the long run, help reduce our deficit. As the world 
leader in biomedical research, some 50,000 scientists in 1,700 
institutions throughout the country received NIH funding. It is 
estimated that NIH funding leads to an annual contribution to the U.S. 
economy of $44.6 billion in sales, $17.9 billion in salaries and 
726,000 jobs. Our country's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology 
industries are dependent upon the research findings of NIH-funded 
research.
  Spectacular savings are affected by singular breakthroughs: Newborn 
screening and treatment for hypothyroidism now prevents lifelong mental 
retardation for thousands of people and saves $200 to $400 million per 
year; lithium treatment for bi-polar disorder has saved an astounding 
$145 billion in hospitalization costs since its introduction in the 
seventies. And it is estimated that delaying the onset of Alzheimer's 
disease by just 1 year would save $5 billion annually.
  There is no shortcut to curing disease: Only the accumulated efforts 
of thousands of scientists, predominately funded by the National 
Institutes of Health, can and will result in the realization of the 
promise to prevent and cure disease.

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