[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 63 (Friday, May 19, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            THE BREAST CANCER AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH ACT

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                             HON. RON KIND

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 18, 2006

  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to stand with the National Breast 
Cancer Coalition (NBCC) and the three million women living with breast 
cancer in the country today and urge all my colleagues to push for 
passage of the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act (H.R. 2231) 
by the end of this year.
  The bill authorizes $30 million a year for five years to establish 
multi-institutional, multidisciplinary centers. The centers would 
include institutions with different areas of expertise working together 
to look at different aspects of the issue. Furthermore, this bill would 
create a new mechanism for environmental health research, and provide a 
unique process by which up to eight research centers are developed to 
study environmental factors and their impact on breast cancer. Modeled 
after the DOD Breast Cancer Research Program, which has been so 
successful, it would include consumer advocates in the peer review and 
programmatic review process.
  This federal commitment is critical for the overall, national 
strategy and the long-term research investments needed to discover the 
environmental causes of breast cancer, so that we can prevent it, treat 
it more effectively, and cure it. It is generally believed that the 
environment plays some role in the development of breast cancer, but 
the extent of that role is not understood. More research needs to be 
done to determine the impact of the environment on breast cancer, which 
has been understudied in the past.
  Fewer than 30 percent of breast cancers are explained by known risk 
factors; however, there is little consensus in the scientific community 
on how the environment impacts breast cancer. Studies have explored the 
effect of isolated environmental factors such as diet, pesticides, and 
electromagnetic fields, but in most cases there is no conclusive 
evidence. Furthermore, there are many other factors that are suspected 
to play a role but have not been fully studied. These could provide 
valuable in understanding the causes of breast cancer and could lead to 
prevention strategies.
  We need to enact this bill this year, and I urge my colleagues to 
cosponsor this bill and bring it to the House Floor for a vote.

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