Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008

MERCURY EXPORT BAN ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - September 27, 2008)

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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I rise in strong support of S. 906, the Mercury Market Minimization Act of 2007.

Mr. Speaker, again, I didn't get a chance when Mr. Pallone was here to correct the Record. I--we--did contact

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Congressman Frank Pallone and Nathan Deal by way of letter on May 18, 2007, and wrote at the time as cochairs of the Congressional Lyme and Disease Caucus, ``we are writing to respectfully request that you mark up and report H.R. 741.

``H.R. 741, the 'Lyme and Tick-borne Disease Prevention, Education and Research Act of 2007' would work toward goals for the prevention, accurate diagnosis, and effective treatment of Lyme disease.''

Then we went on to explain the bill. We pointed out that at the time we had 77 cosponsors. That is now 112 and it is totally bipartisan and includes majority leader STENY HOYER. We also pointed out that Lyme is the most prevalent vector-borne disease in the United States today. More than 220,000 Americans develop Lyme each year. According to the CDC, only 10 percent of the cases that meet its surveillance criteria are reported. Cases that fall outside of the surveillance criteria are not even considered anywhere statistically.

If not diagnosed and treated early, Lyme disease can lead to chronic illness and can affect every system in the body, including the central nervous system and cardiac system. Later symptoms of Lyme disease include arthritis, neurological problems such as facial paralysis, memory problems, extreme weaknesses of the extremities, seizures, heart block and inflammation and even blindness.

So we sent that back in May 18, 2007. And I say that with respect to my colleague.

Let me also point out, and I just will read a very small portion of the statement of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the attorney general of Connecticut. And this is his statement.

``Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today announced,'' and this is May 1, 2008, ``that his antitrust investigation has uncovered serious flaws in the Infectious Disease Society of America's process for writing its 2006 Lyme disease guidelines and the IDSA has agreed to reassess them with the assistance of an outside arbiter.''

``The IDSA guidelines have sweeping,'' this is Blumenthal speaking, ``have sweeping and significant impacts on Lyme disease medical care. They are commonly applied by insurance companies in restricting coverage for long-term antibiotic treatment or other medical care and also strongly influence treatment decisions by physicians.

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``Insurance companies have denied coverage for long-term antibiotic treatment, relying on those guidelines as justification. The guidelines are also widely cited for conclusions that chronic Lyme disease is nonexistent.''

Blumenthal goes on to say: ``This agreement vindicates my investigation finding undisclosed financial interests and forcing a reassessment of IDSA's guidelines.''

Blumenthal said: ``My office uncovered undisclosed financial interests held by several,'' several, ``of the most powerful IDSA panelists. The IDSA's guideline panel improperly ignored or minimized consideration of alternative medical opinion and evidence regarding chronic Lyme disease, potentially raising serious questions about whether the recommendations reflected all relevant science. The IDSA's Lyme disease guideline process lacked important procedural safeguards requiring complete reevaluation of its 06 Lyme disease guideline, in effect a comprehensive reassessment through a new panel.''

Blumenthal, and I will put this in the Record, talks about the conflicts of interest with the insurance companies. Again, I would think this Congress would want to get to the science, find out does chronic Lyme exists, and whether or not this is indeed a coverup.

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