Families USA Endorses Legislation Responding to Global TB Crisis

Bipartisan Bill Introduced in U.S. Senate Would Bring

U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) on Tuesday introduced the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act of 2007, which will help fight the reemergence of tuberculosis in the U.S. as well as help combat TB worldwide. The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, about this legislation:

“As recent headlines have made clear, a passenger on air flights between North America and Europe could have infected his fellow travelers with a dangerous form of tuberculosis. This health scare should help us understand that we are dealing with a disease that can now travel as rapidly as a jet, outwit our travel security, and defeat many of our most reliable medications.

“Our response to this disease needs to be brought up to date, and we commend Senators Brown, Hutchison, and Kennedy for their leadership in introducing legislation aimed at fighting the growing threat of TB, here and abroad. This legislation calls for rebuilding the public health TB control infrastructure needed to combat the disease, and it also calls for additional and much-needed funding into research and development (R&D) of new diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines. 

“The most common tools used to fight TB today are a diagnostic that is more than 100 years old, a vaccine that is more than 85 years old, and drugs that are more than 40 years old. These may have been cutting-edge medical weapons in the days when this disease was quaintly known as ‘consumption,’ but they have woefully fallen behind the evolution of the disease itself and the means by which it can spread. Imagine still trying to fight cancer or heart disease with only the tools available 40 years ago. The public would be demanding more funding for research and the development of new treatments. Yet our R&D investment in TB, one of the world’s leading killers, has been paltry. As a result, drug-resistant TB strains are increasing—they are found in every region of the world, including the United States—and we don’t have the tools we need to fight them.

“With the rise in the incidence of drug-resistant TB, the disease not only poses a growing worldwide threat, but it is also becoming an increasing danger here in the U.S. The Comprehensive TB Elimination Act of 2007 takes important steps in assuring adequate support for domestic control programs and the development of new medical interventions that will benefit Americans and people around the world. That’s important for us here at home, that’s important for the world, and we will work with the Senators to get this legislation enacted into law.”

Families USA, with the financial support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has added global health to its list of important advocacy issues. It will focus its efforts on funding priorities for the U.S. agencies most involved in global health research and development: the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control. Families USA will also be highlighting global health issues and why these issues should matter to the average American.

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

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