[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 85 (Thursday, June 25, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IN SUPPORT OF BRAIN INJURY RESEARCH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BILL PASCRELL, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 25, 1998

  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, Traumatic Brain Injury, known as TBI, is 
the number one killer and cause of disability among young people in the 
United States. It claims more victims than breast cancer, prostate 
cancer and AIDS combined, yet it receives little attention from 
Congress, the media and the medical community.
  It is time that Congress demonstrate it's commitment to head injury 
patients and expand our efforts to treat and cure brain injuries. Each 
year, more than 2 million Americans are involved in an incident which 
results in head injury. Approximately 100,000 victims die and 500,000 
will require hospitalization.
  Traumatic brain injury can strike anyone and leave devastating 
results. Trauma to the head can result in significant impairment to an 
individual's physical, psychosocial and cognitive functional abilities. 
TBI affects the victim's whole family both emotionally and economically 
and often results in immense medical and rehabilitative expenses. The 
direct and indirect costs of TBI are $25 billion per year.
  In 1996, Congress passed the Traumatic Brain Injury Act which 
authorized the NIH to expand research studies and establish innovative 
programs regarding traumatic brain injury. We must now provide the NIH 
with sufficient funding so that exciting new research, such as 
regeneration, can reach the clinical stage and give victims and their 
families new hope.
  I urge my colleagues to support NIH brain injury funding so that we 
can help save Americans from the devastation of Traumatic Brain Injury.

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