MYRICK ANNOUNCES PASSAGE OF BREAST CANCER & ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH ACT

September 26, 2008

(Washington, D.C.) – Representative Sue Myrick (NC-09) today announced that HR 1157, The Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act, passed in the House yesterday. This bill establishes an Interagency Breast Cancer Coordinating Committee to enhance efforts to study potential connections between breast cancer incidence and environmental factors.

 

“We’ve made great progress in treatment and screening for breast cancer, but there is more to be done,” said Rep. Myrick, a breast cancer survivor and the lead Republican co-sponsor of the bill.  “This represents a practical step toward enhancing and intensifying breast cancer research as it relates to the environment.”

 

As amended, this bill has broad bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, and may be one of the last public health bills to pass both bodies before Congress leaves for recess. It will bring together leading decision-makers, scientists, researchers, and patient advocates to share the latest discoveries and determine the best and most cost-effective ways to study environmental and genomic triggers or causes of breast cancer. Since breast cancer and environmental research is conducted at other agencies beyond the National Institutes of Health, such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Defense, it only makes sense that these agencies share their expertise and work toward the most promising research goals.

 

Breast cancer remains the most common form of cancer in women. Worldwide trends of breast cancer incidence indicate that lifestyle choices may impact which women (and men) eventually develop this potentially fatal disease. Studies funded by both public and private dollars have sought to address particular aspects of the environment’s impact on breast cancer rates, but more must be done to engage all agencies that support this research. The bill is supported by Susan G. Komen for Cure and Friends for Cancer Research.

 

 

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