[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 4, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE GLOBAL PATHOGEN SURVEILLANCE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ELLEN O. TAUSCHER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 4, 2003

  Mrs. TAUSCHER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the Global 
Pathogen Surveillance Act of 2003 with my colleague, Congressman Mark 
Kirk. This important bipartisan legislation mirrors legislation offered 
by Senators Biden and Lugar, and will reduce the risk of infectious 
diseases entering this country.
  As we have learned from the outbreak of severe acute respiratory 
syndrome, or SARS, and the anthrax attacks, nature and terrorists do 
not stand still while the world finds ways to improve its preparedness 
against biological threats.
  Indeed, new diseases--no matter where they start--can spread to the 
United States in days or even hours. Many of them, including smallpox, 
SARS and the plague have lengthy incubation times, lasting two to 
twelve days.
  The flight time between any two cities, however, is under 36 hours. 
Any of the 140 million people who enter the United States by air each 
year can, unknowingly, carry these dangerous pathogens with them.
  SARS, for example, came to the world's attention in East Asia in 
March. Today, there are over eight thousand cases worldwide, with the 
highest number of cases in the United States occurring in my home state 
of California.
  Because it was not reported immediately and a strong international 
network was not in place to monitor and control it, SARS has become a 
worldwide epidemic.
  It has put a severe strain on hospitals and health care systems and 
caused financial chaos in dozens of countries.
  While Congress has been generous in funding measures to improve 
domestic biopreparedness, rapid detection of outbreaks requires 
significant improvements in international disease surveillance.
  While developing nations are most likely to experience rapid disease 
outbreak, they don't have the trained personnel, the laboratory 
equipment or the public health infrastructure to deal with epidemics--
much less warn the rest of the world.
  Our bill would help train public health professionals in developing 
countries to use electronic syndrome surveillance systems and 
traditional epidemiology methods to better detect, diagnose and contain 
infectious disease outbreaks.
  Our bill would also help developing countries purchase public health 
laboratory equipment for health surveillance and diagnosis as well as 
communications technology to transmit information about infectious 
diseases.
  This legislation would also develop and enhance existing regional 
health networks and establish lab-to-lab cooperative relationships 
between the United States and public health laboratories and foreign 
counterparts.
  It would also strengthen the reporting capabilities of the World 
Health Organization, whose decision to issue a global alert in March 
allowed health officials around the world to take appropriate measures 
to control the spread of SARS.
  All these provisions strengthen a global surveillance network which 
will detect the unique symptoms of an epidemic before it spreads and 
allow earlier diagnosis and better containment measures.
  I call on my colleagues to support this important bill and help us 
close the huge gaps in our defense against emerging diseases.

                          ____________________