[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 12, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 BIRTH DEFECTS AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES PREVENTION ACT (H.R. 398)

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                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 12, 2003

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I don't know all of the reasons why this bill 
was pulled from the suspension calendar today. But I hope it will be 
re-scheduled for our consideration soon. I support passage of this bill 
sponsored by my New Jersey colleague, Congressman Mike Ferguson. It 
will re-authorize the important work of the National Center on Birth 
Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) within the Centers for 
Disease Control (CDC). Statutory authorization for this particular 
national center expired at the end of Fiscal Year 2002.
  But at the same time, I also want to underscore my concern that 
officials of the CDC and the National Center on Birth Defects do not 
currently intend to continue approximately $1 million in annual funding 
beyond Fiscal Year 2003 for the New Jersey Center for Birth Defects 
Research and Prevention, which is located in the City of Trenton. This 
would be very short-sighted and inefficient.
  The New Jersey Center is one of eight such state centers that CDC 
established in 1997, at the direction of Congress. Since then, they 
have been hard at work developing a statewide registry and database on 
the incidence of birth defects and linking them to new research. 
Continuing this important work will help us determine what factors 
might be causing birth defects. It could yield invaluable insights into 
whether exposure to certain environmental hazards, for example, 
contributes to birth defects.
  Sadly, our nation is now confronting huge budget deficits for years 
to come. But the CDC and the National Center on Birth Defects should 
build upon their initial five-year investment and continue their modest 
funding for all of the state efforts already compiling this vital 
information to help determine what causes birth defects.
  Doing all we can to prevent birth defects and to learn more about 
what contributes to them is not a partisan issue. Accordingly, I look 
forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to 
sustain federal support for New Jersey and other states that have taken 
the lead in developing this tracking data, while also enabling more 
states to do so.

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