Public Health
Public health initiatives are unique in that they target the health of our communities, our nation, and world rather than the individual. Broad, community-focused health programs are essential to ensure that each American citizen lives in a healthier and safer world. Congresswoman Slaughter has spent her career fighting to improve public health and wellness.
With a Master’s degree in public health, the congresswoman is an expert in the field and has spent her career fighting to improve public health and wellness. Congresswoman Slaughter serves to protect children and families from environmental toxins harmful to development, is on the frontlines of guarding against genetic discrimination, is a watchdog for food safety, and advocates for expanded research and funding into public health and program development.
Priorities
- Healthy Environments: As the primary advocate for full federal funding of lead poisoning prevention programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Congresswoman Slaughter fights to protect children and families from environmental toxins harmful to human health and development. She spearheads the charge in Congress to restore funding to childhood lead poisoning programs which have been slashed in recent years on both the state and federal levels.
- Food Safety: American citizens should not have to worry that the food on their tables is going to make them sick. This is why Congresswoman Slaughter is fighting to keep dangerous, contaminated foods out of the grocery stores and force companies to ensure that products are safe for sale and consumption.
- Genetic Privacy: With the genomic revolution, it is easier than ever for people and health care providers to access genetic information. Congresswoman Slaughter recognizes that this information must be protected in the same way as other personal information and shouldn’t be used for discriminatory purposes.
- Research and Development: The congresswoman shares the growing concern that hormone-disrupting pollutants in our environment may explain the rise in occurrences of childhood cancers, testicular cancer, juvenile diabetes, thyroid disorders, learning disabilities, cognitive impairments, and autoimmune disorders over the past 30 years. Despite the progress made in understanding the link between these chemicals and hormone disruption, further research is needed. Congresswoman Slaughter believes that investing in research today could prevent and treat a broad range of diseases and disorders in future generations.
Accomplishments
- Lead Poisoning Prevention: In May 2012, Congresswoman Slaughter and 25 colleagues called on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to adopt blood lead level recommendations proposed by the CDC Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (ACCLPP). CDC adopted this new standard in October 2012 and published the first set of statistics with the new findings in April 2013, which showed that 535,000 U.S. children under the age of six are poisoned by lead. Congresswoman Slaughter continues to fight for appropriate funding for childhood lead poisoning prevention programs. Not only did she secure $110 million for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control after it was cut to $50 million, but she also successfully restored funding for the CDC’s Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Program to $15 million after it was cut to $2 million in Fiscal Year 2012.
- Lead Hazard Title X Amendments Act: In 2013, the congresswoman introduced H.R. 1282, The Lead Poisoning Title X Amendments Act, which would modernize the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control Program and broaden the categories of those eligible to receive lead hazard abatement grants.
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA): Congresswoman Slaughter authored the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which became law in 2008 after a fourteen-year congressional battle. The late Senator Ted Kennedy called GINA the “the first civil rights bill of the new century.” This law prohibits health insurers and employers from using genetic information to discriminate against an individual. For instance, prior to GINA, an employer could refuse to hire or fire someone with a family history of breast cancer or other hereditary illnesses. The congresswoman continues to oversee the implementation of GINA and to monitor the developments in genetics and genomics to determine whether additional policy improvements are needed. You can read more about this important issue in an article written by Louise in the Harvard Journal on Legislation here.
- Pathogen Reduction and Testing Reform Act (PRTRA): In 2013, there was a massive outbreak of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella heidelberg caused by Foster Farms chicken that sickened over 630 people from 29 states and Puerto Rico and sent 38 percent of those sickened to the hospital. In response, Congresswoman Slaughter and her colleague, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, introduced PRTRA. The bill would grant USDA the authority to issue mandatory recalls for meat, poultry, or egg products with any antibiotic resistant or other microbial contaminant the USDA deems dangerous.
- The DES Education and Research Amendments of 1993: Diethylstilbestrol (DES) was an anti-miscarriage drug commonly used in the early 1990s that was discovered to carry serious health consequences for some women and their children in utero. Stunningly, common use of this compound was ended in cattle nearly 20 years before the same protections were extended to women. Congresswoman Slaughter battled in Congress for the DES Education and Research Amendments, which amended the Public Health Service Act to provide public health education, health professional training, and additional research on the long-term effects of DES. The congresswoman authored follow-up legislation, the DES Education and Research Amendments, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in October 1998.
More on Public Health
WASHINGTON, DC — Rules Committee Ranking Member Louise Slaughter (NY-25) released the following statement in reaction to the House Republicans' rules package for the 115th Congress:
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) today launched a campaign to hear directly from her constituents about how the Affordable Care Act has benefitted them as Republican leaders prepare to repeal this landmark law in the 115th Congress. Slaughter brought the Affordable Care Act to the floor of the House of Representatives in 2009 as Chairwoman of the Rules Committee. This law has expanded and improved health care for millions of Americans in the years since, with our nation’s uninsured rate now at its lowest level in more than 50 years.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) announced today that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has chosen the site at Market Place Center on Calkins Road as the location for the new veterans health facility in Rochester. Slaughter secured the funding for the new facility and has worked with the VA for years to ensure construction of this vital project. It is the next key step in her long battle to provide necessary care to veterans in the Rochester area. The VA’s decision will allow construction to begin on the new facility.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25), who has led the fight to get the Department of Defense (DoD) to take immediate action to better protect servicemembers from exposure to blast overpressure, responded to a new national report released today that found the department has failed to implement a program to protect our men and women in uniform.
WASHINGTON, DC — Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), and Frank Pallone (D-NJ) today hailed the Obama Administration’s final rule barring states from withholding federal family planning funds in a discriminatory manner from clinics that provide women’s reproductive health services. They noted that the rule issued today will shore up efforts across the country to safeguard women’s access to services protected under Title X, which have been in place for more than 25 years.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (NY-25), the only microbiologist in Congress, released this statement following reports that President-elect Donald Trump is considering venture capitalist Jim O’Neill to head the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has broad regulatory authority that impacts everything from vaccines to medical devices and tobacco products to prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Reps. Louise Slaughter (NY-25) and Diana DeGette (CO-01), co-chairs of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, called on congressional leaders to disband the Select Panel ahead of a vote expected Thursday on a privileged resolution that would provide an additional $800,000 in taxpayer dollars for the panel, which has aggressively targeted women’s health providers and the scientific community. House Republicans are now on course to spend more than $1.5 million funding this partisan attack on women’s health.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (NY-25) and Senator Al Franken (MN) today led a bipartisan, bicameral effort urging the International Code Council (ICC) to make commonsense reforms that would ensure renovated homes built prior to 1978 are free from hazardous levels of lead dust, which could cause lifelong cognitive damage in children. Similar reforms have already been passed into law in the City of Rochester and the State of Minnesota.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter announced a multi-million dollar award for Carestream Health from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to supply critical picture archiving and communications system products to the four U.S. military branches.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) announced today that the Mt. Hope Family Center has received a five-year $1.9 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide trauma treatment services for children and families exposed to a wide array of stress and trauma and to promote policies that support trauma-informed care. The Mt. Hope Family Center is the only member and Category III provider for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network in New York State outside the New York City area.