[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16206]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 14, 2005

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, during my life I've been called a lot of 
things from a microbiologist, to a mother of three and a grandmother of 
7, to a Member of Congress, but today I seem to have earned a new 
title, one I never expected to have--I am now a walking chemical plant.
  Recently, I was a surrogate blood donor for a study conducted by the 
Environmental Working Group and Commonweal. I participated in this 
important study to find out what toxic substances I in particular, and 
Americans in general, have been exposed to throughout our lives.
  My stunning test results showed literally hundreds of chemicals 
pumping through my vital organs everyday. These chemicals include PCBs 
that were banned decades ago, as well as chemicals like Teflon that are 
currently under Federal investigation. Apparently, my body is home to 
toxic chemicals used to make insecticides, electrical cables, 
florescent lamps and even automobile engine oil, despite the fact that 
I tasked my husband with handling the car oil years ago.
  I also have auto exhaust fumes, flame retardant chemicals, and in 
all, some 271 harmful substances coursing through my veins. That's 
hardly the picture of health I had hoped for, but I've been living in 
an industrial society for over 70 years.
  While I was born in a coal mining mountains of Kentucky, I grew up in 
a bucolic area that did not have industrial pollution. So I have 
assumed my exposure to environmental chemicals occurred during 
adulthood. But for the ten newborn babies that also were part in this 
study, they were born polluted. On average each one had some 200 
chemicals in their blood, before they ever touched a blanket, a 
bassinet, a car seat, or even took their first breath.
  If ever this country had a wake-up call, it's the blood test results 
of these newborns. If ever we had proof that our nation's pollution 
laws aren't working, it's reading the list of industrial chemicals in 
the bodies of babies who have not yet lived outside the womb. 
Obviously, banning chemicals after they have entered the environment is 
not enough.
  That we have children coming into this world already polluted, at the 
same time we don't know what the effects of that pollution will be on 
their mental and physical development, is both bad policy and immorally 
wrong. We must test chemicals before they go onto the market, not after 
they get into our bloodstreams.
  Over the last 30 years, the U.S. has seen a steep rise in the 
occurrence of childhood cancers, testicular cancer, juvenile diabetes, 
attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities, thyroid disorders, 
cognitive impairment, and autoimmune disorders. Autism cases alone rose 
210 percent between 1987 and 1998.
  And we ask ourselves, why? What's happening? Is there a connection 
with the more than 75,000 new chemicals that have been introduced into 
our environment since the 1950s?
  Amazingly, there is still a lack of data on the potential neuro-
developmental effects on women, on fetuses, and on how long-term, low-
dose exposure to environmental pollutants impacts children at critical 
stages of development.
  For 5 years, I have called on Congress to enact legislation that 
would allow NIH to research the impact that these chemical pollutants 
have on women and children. Now, once again, I am introducing the 
Environmental Health Research Act. Specifically, this bill does two 
things. First, it authorizes the National Institute of Environmental 
Health Sciences to develop six multidisciplinary research centers to 
investigate the association and impact of environmental factors on 
women's health and their offspring. It also authorizes the Director of 
this institute, in cooperation with other Federal agencies, to 
establish a comprehensive program to conduct research on the impact of 
hormone disrupting chemicals affecting maternal and child health.
  We need to research the impact of these chemical pollutants now. Only 
then will we have the information we need both to detoxify and also to 
prevent developmental disabilities and other environmentally related 
diseases in future generations.
  Let's pass this legislation. Let's clean up our environment. Let's 
clean up our bodies, but most importantly, let's not permit our babies 
of the future to be polluted before they are even born.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill today.

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