July 29, 2011
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| July 29, 2011 |
1150 18th Street NW
Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20036
Telephone:(202) 296-9770
advocacy@thoracic.org
HEADLINE
EPA Delays Final Ozone Rule
This week, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would delay the final National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. The new standard that was supposed to have been announced July 29th would have reduced the acceptable standard of ozone to between 60 and 70 parts per billion. Regardless of where the final rule fell, the improvement on today’s standard of 75 ppb would unquestionably have been a boon to public health.
The agency gave no new date for when it would issue its final ozone rule. Industry groups, including chamber of commerce, manufacturers, electric utilities and the petroleum industry have mounted high profile media campaign to oppose any new ozone regulations.
The American Thoracic Society strongly opposes the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to delay—for the fourth time in a year—implementing a more stringent air quality standard for ozone.
“There is simply no excuse for this delay,” said ATS president, Nickolas S. Hill, MD. “Delay means more asthma attacks. Delay means more air pollution. Delay means we place no value on our health.”
Despite the EPA’s claim that they are “fully committed to finalizing EPA’s reconsideration of the Clean Air Act health standard for ground level ozone,” there is no tenable excuse for this delay.
The EPA has been reviewing the same data since 2007. Since then, the EPA has asked the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) three times for advice on the standard, and each time CASAC has answered: between 60 and 70 ppb.
RESEARCH
Judge Dismisses Challenge on Federal Stem Cell Research
This week, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, chief of the federal court in Washington, reversed his position and dismissed the original lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's policy on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. Last summer, Judge Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction, which halted NIH-supported stem cell research, stating that he believed the original lawsuit opposing federal support of stem cell research would succeed. NIH’s research in this area resumed after the U.S. Court of Appeals court ruled against the injunction while it considered the case. The court of appeals then issued their final ruling in April, 2011, overturning Lamberth’s decision.
In his ruling today, Judge Lamberth stated that he was bound by the higher court's analysis and approved the Administration's motion to dismiss the case. Despite resolution in this original case, there is the possibility that additional challenges will continue to be raised against federal support for human embryonic stem cell research. The ATS is working to support federal legislation to codify federal funding of this research.
Senate passes Mil/Con/VA – Restores VA Research Funding
Last week, the Senate passed the FY12 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill. The bill provided $581 million for the VA research program, an increase of $1.1 million over current year funding and a $72 million increase over the President’s budget recommendation.
Earlier this month, the House passed its version of the bill, providing $530 million for the VA research program, a cut of $50 million, but $22 million above the President’s budget request.
The ATS is pleased that our advocacy efforts were successful in restoring some of the proposed cut in the House bill and of the proposed cut in the Senate bill. A conference committee will be convened with members from each chamber to resolve differences between the two measures. However that process will be delayed for several weeks as Congress attempts to strike a compromise on the debt limit. The resolution of the debt limit will have a significant impact on both the timing and the substance of FY12 appropriations bill.
TUBERCULOSIS
House Panel Sets FY2012 Global Health Funding
This week, the State-Foreign Operations subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, chaired by Rep. Granger (R-TX), set overall funding levels for the global health programs overseen by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), including the tuberculosis (TB) program. The program provides technical assistance to over 40 of the countries that are most highly-burdened by TB, such as India, Ethiopia and South Africa. Additionally, the program supports new TB diagnostics and drug development. The subcommittee's FY2012 bill reduces USAID's global health programs from $7.829 billion in FY2011 to $7.114 billion, a cut of 9.1%.
We may not know funding levels for individual global health programs until next week, when the bill will be voted on by the full Appropriations Committee. House floor action on the bill will occur in the fall, after the August recess. At that time, the Senate subcommittee will consider their own version of the FY2012 State-Foreign Operation bill.
The Washington Letter is written by the American Thoracic Society government relations office and emailed to all ATS members living in the United States. The letter keeps clinicians, scientists, and patients abreast of legislative, judicial, and regulatory issues in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. Each week's edition is archived on the ATS Web site, www.thoracic.org. If you have any questions or one more information about becoming involved in advocacy, please contact the ATS Washington office at 202-296-9770.
