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Public Policy Archives
Protect the Health of Families and Communities Across America
> Ask Congress to Support the Nationwide Health Tracking Act of 2002
Background
Chronic diseases are responsible for 70% of all deaths in America,
but there is no national system for adequately tracking these
diseases and environmental factors that may be related to them.
With the incidence of chronic diseases like cancer, asthma and
birth defects on the rise, we need information to better identify
their causes and develop prevention programs.
On March 21st, 2002, new legislation was introduced in Congress by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Harry Reid (D-NV) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA), and Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Peter King (R-NY), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY). The Nationwide Health Tracking Act of 2002 (H.R.4061/S.2054) would establish a Nationwide Health Tracking Network to track when and where chronic diseases occur, as well as their potential links to environmental factors.
The Network would coordinate national, state, and local efforts to inform communities, public health officials, researchers, and policymakers of potential environmental health risks. This information will be used to target resources and strengthen our capacity to identify, understand, rapidly respond to, and prevent chronic disease.
Action Needed
Please approach all members of Congress and especially those you
think would be less receptive to the legislation and urge them
to co-sponsor the Nationwide Health Tracking Act of 2002 (H.R.4061/S.2054).
> Call your Representatives through
the Capitol switchboard (202) 225-3121.
> Click
here for a letter tailored to this cause.
USCCB Position
As Catholics, we are called to participate intimately in sustaining
God’s creation by caring for our children and their physical
environment. We are particularly concerned about the poor and
the powerless who most directly bear the burden and suffer disproportionately
from the effects of environmental problems that may be causing
diseases like cancer and asthma, and harming children, born and
unborn.
“The whole human race suffers as a result of environmental blight, and generations yet unborn will bear the price for the failure to act today,” —Renewing the Face of the Earth, United States. Catholic Bishops, 1991.
For more information on children’s health and the environment, contact Roxana Barillas at 202-541-3445 or rbarillas@usccb.org.