Children’s Health

I am strongly committed to the protection and promotion of good health for all our children. One of my major concerns is making sure that our children have access to safe medications. During my time in the Senate, I introduced the Pediatric Research Equity Act, legislation that gives the FDA the authority to ensure that drugs marketed to pediatric populations have first been tested on children. This bill was signed into law in December 2003. I have also introduced legislation to create a pediatric vaccine stockpile, so that we will not have shortages of essential vaccines that help protect the health of our children.

Asthma rates more than doubled from 1985 to 2005, and by 2020, asthma is expected to strike 1 in 14 Americans. Millions of school and workdays are lost annually due to the burden of asthma, and in 2004, the cost of asthma to the United States was in excess of $16 billion dollars. I believe we need to reduce the high rates of asthma in New York and our nation. Too many children suffer asthma attacks, and I have introduced the Family Asthma Act to help kids manage their asthma, and improve our ability to identify and control the environmental factors that contribute to asthma attacks.