WASHINGTON- In a flurry of pre-recess activity on Capitol Hill, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Sen. Harry Reid, D.-Nev., Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, and Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., announced legislation to create a National Health Tracking Network (NHTN).
The NHTN is intended to mirror the responsibilities of the organizations that track infectious diseases, but with the emphasis placed on tracking “disease clusters”. These are areas of persistent occurrence of diseases like cancer, asthma and birth defects. Senators Clinton and Reid made special mention of such a cluster in Indian country in Fallon, Nev.
The program will cost approximately $275 million or about $1 per American.
Reid said the program was needed to help discover the causes of these concentrated disease areas. According to many independent studies, most of these afflictions are caused by contamination of the water supply from mining certain minerals like uranium.
Reid has been an ardent supporter of the mining industry in his home state and other areas of the Western U.S.