On November 20, the House approved, 415-1, a bill (S. 286) to reauthorize and expand the Birth Defects Prevention Act (P.L. 105-168), which established the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Senate approved S. 286 on November 11 (see The Source, 11/14/03). It will now go to the White House for the President’s signature.
Sponsored by Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO), the measure would reauthorize the Act through FY2007 and would make a number of technical changes to current law. S. 286 also would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct research on the prevention of birth defects. Finally, the Secretary would be required to support a National Spina Bifida Program to prevent and reduce suffering of the nation’s most common permanently disabling birth defect.
Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) noted that 150,000 children are born each year with a birth defect. “That is 150,000 families too many who receive the news no parent should ever have to hear,” he lamented. Rep. Brown also pointed out that the causes remain unknown for over 60 percent of the birth defects in the country.
Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-FL) agreed. “My hope…is that this information will ultimately help us identify causes and possible cures for these disabling, very disabling conditions. I might add, these diseases are not only disabling insofar as the child is concerned, but what it does to the parents is just unbelievable. I know we have all seen that, and, hopefully we can find some way to find at least the causes,” he stated.
