[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 153 (Thursday, September 25, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           COMPREHENSIVE TUBERCULOSIS ELIMINATION ACT OF 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 23, 2008

  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 
1532, the Comprehensive Tuberculosis Elimination Act of 2008.
  If you think that TB is a disease that occurs in impoverished nations 
you are wrong. In 2007, more than 13,000 individuals were diagnosed 
with TB in the U.S.
  This year alone my district had several TB outbreaks and in May, 150 
people were exposed to TB in an outbreak and 19 individuals were 
diagnosed with TB.
  Each year approximately 9 million people develop active TB and 1.7 
million die of the disease, making it the second deadliest in the 
world. Right now one third of the world's population is infected with 
TB and TB will claim 30 million lives over the next decade.
  With time, the TB germ has changed. It is now airborne and drug 
resistant strains have been found in 46 countries, including the U.S.
  In 2006, 91 cases of multi drug-resistant TB were reported in the 
United States and MDR-TB has been reported in 49 states. From 1993 to 
2007, there were 88 cases of extensively drug resistant TB in the U.S., 
which is resistant to almost all drugs used to treat TB.
  Unfortunately, we have allowed the treatment and diagnostic tools to 
treat TB go without updating for far too long. In fact, the most common 
test to diagnose TB is more than 100 years old.
  The drugs commonly used to treat TB are more than 40 years old, the 
TB vaccine we currently have is more than 85 years old and only 
provides some protections against severe TB in children, but is 
unreliable in protecting against the most common form of adult TB.
  The Comprehensive Tuberculosis Elimination Act addresses the issue of 
domestic TB by improving and increasing efforts to prevent, detect, and 
treat individuals in our country with TB.
  It would authorize grants within the CDC for research, development, 
and education. These grants include clinical trials to evaluate new 
drugs, diagnostics and vaccines; studies of at-risk populations; and 
projects to control TB along the U.S.-Mexico border.
  H.R. 1532 will reauthorize the Advisory Council on the Elimination of 
TB so the council may coordinate federal TB control and develop a new 
national plan to eliminate TB in the U.S.
  H.R. 1532 also provides for new tools in the fight against domestic 
TB by providing for CDC research and development for new drugs, 
diagnostics, and vaccines.
  The bill also directs the NIH to expand basic and clinical TB 
research and develop a TB vaccine.
  The Comprehensive Tuberculosis Elimination Act provides the means 
necessary to wage war against TB in the U.S. and hopefully in the 
future the eradication of TB in this country.

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