[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 157 (Wednesday, October 17, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12991-S12992]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. CLINTON:
  S. 2175. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act with regard to 
research on asthma, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I rise today to reintroduce the Family 
Asthma Act, legislation that would improve our federal government's 
response to this epidemic. The number of people with asthma has more 
than doubled in the past twenty years, and today, more than 32 million 
Americans, including more than 9 million children, have been diagnosed 
with asthma. By 2020, asthma is expected to strike 1 in 14 Americans 
and 1 in 5 families.
  While deaths and hospitalizations from asthma are decreasing, the 
disease has a disproportionate impact among racial and ethnic minority 
populations. The emergency department visit rate for blacks seeking 
asthma treatment was 350 percent higher than that of the rates of 
whites, while the hospitalization rate for blacks with asthma was 240 
percent higher than the rate of whites with asthma. Puerto Rican 
populations are 95 percent more likely to be diagnosed with asthma than 
white populations. Women are also disproportionately impacted, with 
asthma hospitalization rates approximately 35 percent higher among 
females than males.
  Our legislation seeks to reverse these disparities. It would set up 
pilot projects to increase patient self-management, and allow for a 
better understanding of the environmental factors, like indoor and 
outdoor air pollution, that contribute to asthma. It would improve our 
surveillance and education efforts through the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, so that we identify and target interventions to 
the populations with the highest burdens of asthma. And it would train 
providers to recognize the links between environmental pollution and 
asthma, in order to better treat and manage this condition.
  This legislation contains the following components: it establishes 
pilot projects to improve asthma management and increase our knowledge 
of the environmental and genetic links to asthma. The Family Asthma Act 
establishes a $10 million annual grant program through the National 
Institutes of Health to establish pilot research projects that assist 
patients with asthma management. These projects will also allow 
scientists to engage in research on the environmental and genetic 
factors that contribute to severe, persistent asthma.
  It directs our Government's asthma coordinating body to review and 
make recommendations for future directions in research and 
interventions. This legislation directs the National Asthma Education 
and Prevention Program to review current private and public sector 
efforts in combating asthma, and make recommendations as to how to 
strengthen those efforts in order to reduce the impact of this disease 
upon our health care system.
  It increases funding to the CDC for education and surveillance. The 
bill provides $10 million annually to increase CDC's educational 
efforts, with state, local and nonprofit partners, to raise awareness 
of both asthma and ways to manage the disease. It also increases the 
scope of CDC's asthma surveillance activities to include 
hospitalization data, so as to better measure the impact of asthma at 
both the national and local level.
  It creates a fellowship program to train providers about the links 
between the environment and asthma. Through this bill, the National 
Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences will set up a $2 million 
fellowship program to

[[Page S12992]]

help a broad spectrum of health care providers learn about the links 
between the environment and asthma, and increase their ability to 
address those links in clinical practice and asthma management 
programs.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to move 
this legislation forward and address the growing incidence of asthma in 
our country.
  I ask unanimous consent that a letter of support be printed in the 
Record.
       There being no objection, the material was ordered to be 
     placed in the Record, as follows:

                                    American Lung Association,

                                 Washington, DC, October 17, 2007.
     Hon. Hillary Rodham Clinton,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Clinton: The American Lung Association 
     strongly supports your Family Asthma Act. Once enacted into 
     law, this measure will result in much-needed research into 
     factors contributing to asthma and the alarming effects of 
     asthma on the health of Americans, particularly children, 
     minorities, women and the elderly.
       As you know, over 22 million Americans currently have 
     asthma, including more than six million children. Asthma is 
     the leading cause of chronic illness among children in the 
     U.S. and the third-leading cause of hospitalization among 
     kids under 15 years of age. It also results in almost 13 
     million days of missed school annually. Asthma takes a 
     significant toll on the public, increasing absenteeism from 
     work, as well as the financial burden of asthma treatment. 
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 
     estimates that 11 million workdays are missed annually as a 
     result of asthma and it is estimated to cost almost $15 
     billion in direct health care costs each year. Asthma also 
     disproportionately affects women and minorities.
       The introduction of this legislation comes at an important 
     time: this week, the National Asthma Education and Prevention 
     Program is issuing revised guidelines, emphasizing the 
     importance of asthma control and suggesting new approaches 
     for monitoring asthma. The new guidelines will help doctors 
     and their patients select a treatment based on the patient's 
     needs and level of asthma, emphasizing the importance of 
     regularly monitoring the patient's asthma level so that 
     treatments can be adjusted necessary.
       However, despite these new guidelines, nationwide efforts 
     to monitor asthma prevalence are hampered by a lack of 
     consistent data. Your legislation will require that asthma 
     surveillance activities be conducted so that critical 
     information on the prevalence and severity of asthma, the 
     effectiveness of public health asthma interventions and the 
     quality of asthma management is collected. The Family Asthma 
     Act will also require greater federal coordination to create 
     a national plan to combat asthma.
       Thank you for your leadership on this critical public 
     health issue. The American Lung Association looks forward to 
     working with you to see the Family Asthma Act become law.
           Sincerely,
                                             Bernadette A. Toomey,
                                                President and CEO.
                                 ______