Senate Adopts Hatch Legislation to Combat Breast Cancer

Press Release

SENATE ADOPTS HATCH LEGISLATION TO COMBAT BREAST CANCER

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today hailed the Senate's passage of a bill aimed at researching possible links between breast cancer and the environment.

Hatch, a lead sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, said the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act (H.R. 1157) establishes a national strategy to explore the role of environmental factors in the incidence of cancer.

"Past studies of the environment and breast cancer have suggested the two might be linked, but the evidence has been inconclusive," Hatch said about the bill, which the Senate passed over the weekend. "This legislation will give researchers at the National Institutes of Health the resources they need to examine this in a coordinated and comprehensive way and to come to some definitive conclusions. It is imperative to find out what is causing this deadly disease and to eradicate it."

Sylvia Rickard, Utah field coordinator of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, called the bill an "important step forward" in the battle against the disease.

"After a decade of fighting to pass the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Act, the House and now the Senate have passed the bill, which has the potential to save thousands of lives every year," she said. "This [bill] is an important step forward to attempt change at the National Institutes of Health. We greatly appreciate the help of all our sponsors, especially Senator Hatch, the lead GOP sponsor and our strong advocate without whose help and support this bill would not have passed."

The legislation authorizes the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to spend $40 million over five years to conduct peer-reviewed studies of the possible link that will cut across traditional disciplines and traditional boundaries.

It directs the Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, acting through NIH's director, to allocate grants to public and private nonprofit entities for the operation of centers to conduct the research. The legislation further requires the HHS secretary to establish a comprehensive research strategy for the centers and to assist in program evaluations and make recommendations, among other things.

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