Statements on Introduced Bills and Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

By Mr. DEWINE:

S. 2361. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to enhance research, training, and health information dissemination with respect to urologic diseases, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Mr. DEWINE. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Training and Research in Urology Act-or the TRU Act. During my career in the U.S. Senate, I have supported the successful effort to double NIH research funding and have provided a strong voice for our children. This bill complements my past and continued efforts. It helps provide urologic scientists with the tools they need to find new cures for the many debilitating urologic diseases impacting men, women, and children. This legislation is important to my home State of Ohio and would impact positively many families in Ohio and nationwide who are afflicted with urologic diseases.

Ohio is a leader in urologic research. Researchers at the Children's Hospital of Cincinnati, the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve, and Ohio State University have made great strides toward achieving treatments. The fact is that urologic conditions affect millions of children and adults. Urology is a physiological system distinct from other body systems. Urologic conditions include incontinence, infertility, and impotence-all of which are extremely common, yet serious and debilitating. As many as 10 million children-more than 30,000 in Ohio-are affected by urinary tract problems, and some forms of these problems can be deadly. At least half of all diabetics have bladder dysfunctions, which can include urinary retention, changes in bladder compliance, and incontinence. Interstitial Cystitis (IC), a painful bladder syndrome, affects 200,000 people, mostly women. There are no known causes or cures, and few minimally effective treatments. Additionally, there are 7 million urinary tract infections in the U.S. each year.

Incontenence costs the healthcare system $25 billion each year and is a leading reason people are forced to enter nursing homes, impacting Medicare and Medicaid costs. Urinary tract infection treatment costs total more than $1 billion each year. Many urologic diseases, incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and cancer, increase in aging populations. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men, and African-American men are at a greater risk for the disease. Medicare beneficiaries suffer from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which results in bladder dysfunction and urinary frequency. Fifty percent of men at age 60 have BPH. Treatment and surgery cost $2 billion per year.

Research for urologic disorders has failed to keep pace. Further delay translates into increased costs-in dollars, in needless suffering, and in the loss of human dignity. Incontinence costs the healthcare system $23 billion each year, yet only 90 cents per patient is spent on research-little more than the cost of a single adult undergarment. In 2002, only $5 million of the $88 million in new initiatives from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) was designated to urologic diseases and conditions. Of that $5 million, no new initiatives were announced for women's urologic health problems. In 2001, we spent less than five cents per child on research into pediatric urologic problems. The medications currently used are very expensive and have unknown, long-term side effects.

The TRU Act establishes a Division of Urology at the NIDDK-the home of the urology basic science program-and expands existing research mechanisms, like the successful George O'Brien Urology Research Centers. This will give NIH new opportunities for investment in efforts to combat and vanquish these diseases.

This legislation is necessary to elevate leadership in urology research at the NIDDK. When the Institute was created in its current form nearly 20 years ago, Congress specifically provided for three separate Division Directors. Regrettably, the current statute fails to provide the NIDDK with the flexibility to create additional Division Directors when necessary to better respond to current scientific opportunities. This prescriptive statutory language is unique to the NIDDK. For example, the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute do not have any statutory language regarding Division Directors.

The basic science breakthroughs of the last decade are literally passing urology by. A greater focus on urological diseases is needed at the NIDDK and will be best accomplished with senior leadership with expertise in urology as provided in the TRU Act. This legislation is supported by the Coalition for Urologic Research & Education (CURE)-a group representing tens of thousands of patients, researchers and healthcare providers. I urge my colleagues to join me as cosponsors of the TRU Act.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.