Showing posts with label federal funding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label federal funding. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

New Federal Stem Cell Rules Would Hinder Existing Research, Consumer Group Warns

TT Note: Another fine example of the changes made in policy over the last 3 months or so. Help one group. Destroy another. This seems to be the rule of the land these days.

Stem cell research does have some great potential. Why not let the earlier approved lines continue their research?

/PRNewswire / -- -- Regulations governing stem cell research proposed by the Obama Administration -- unless modified before final implementation on July 1 -- prohibit federal funding of important research that had received funding under the Bush Administration, Consumer Watchdog said today. The nonpartisan, nonprofit group called on the National Institutes of Health to change the draft regulations.

On March 9, President Obama signed an executive order intended to lift restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. As part of the order, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were directed to develop regulations "to help ensure that NIH-funded research in this area is ethically responsible, scientifically worthy, and conducted in accordance with applicable law."

"Most of us were heartened when President Obama lifted Bush Administration restrictions on funding stem cell research, but the perverse effect of these proposed NIH rules is that the limited research scientists were able to conduct under Bush will now be ineligible for federal funding," said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Stem Cell Project Director. "Certainly this is not what President Obama intended and the regulations must be modified."

Bush allowed the NIH to fund research on embryonic stem cell lines that were derived before 9 pm, Aug. 9, 2001. In practice there were about 20 lines that were available to scientists that qualified for federal money. Embryonic stem cells, which have the potential to develop into virtually any cell in the body, are derived from embryos left over from in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments and would otherwise be destroyed.

The Bush approved stem cell lines were derived before the proposed NIH rules and do not meet some of their specific technical standards. In addition some stem cell lines derived with state or private funding or in other countries since 2001 don't meet some of the technical specifications of the proposed NIH rules.

For instance, under the new NIH guidelines donors would have to be told that the embryos would be used for stem cell research. When some of the earlier lines were derived, donors were told more generically that the embryos would be used for research. The new regulations call for an explicit statement that the results of using the human embryonic stem cells may have commercial potential and that the donor would not receive any financial benefit from such commercial development. They also would have to be told that the stem cell lines derived from the donated embryos might be maintained for many years.

"The NIH guidelines set the highest standards and make sense going forward," said Simpson. "However the earlier lines were derived under Institutional Review Board (IRB) supervision, following ethical guidelines then in place, suggested by such organizations as the National Academies of Science, or covered by state regulations like those of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. It would be wrong to preclude them from federal funding going forward. You can't hold someone to standards that didn't exist when these lines were derived in good faith according to then existing standards."

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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Midwestern and Southern States Receive Least Federal Funding for Disease Prevention

TT Note: Looking at the states' rankings based on the amount of federal dollars, that is, your and mine tax dollars, there appears to be an unequal distribution. Wonder if the new and improved tax revenues by the new administration will allow for those states who receive less federal help have lower taxes than those who dip mightily? Oops, sorry. Guess the caffeine isn't making my brain work too well. Of course not. We will all have to dig deep for the money.

/PRNewswire/ -- Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today released a new report that found Midwestern and Southern states received less funding from the federal government than Northeastern and Western states did in fiscal year (FY) 2008 for disease prevention programs, which can amount to millions of dollars in differences. The Shortchanging America's Health: A State-By-State Look at How Federal Public Health Dollars are Spent also examines how the economic downturn could lead to serious cuts to disease prevention and emergency preparedness programs at the state level.

The report found that states receive $17.60 per person on average from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to spend on public health. Midwestern states received an average of $17.69 per person and Southern states received $18.43 per person, while Northeastern states received $22.49 and Western states received $23.94 per person from the CDC.

"Even in better economic times, the country's investment in keeping the public healthy and safe is a tiny fraction of what we spend on treating people after they've become sick. Our priorities are upside down. And now in tough times, this balance could get worse, but we shouldn't forget that cutting public health programs to try to solve short-term budget problems will result in long-term negative financial and health consequences," said Jeff Levi, PhD, Executive Director of TFAH. "Public health programs help keep disease rates down, which in turn keeps health care costs down. It's going to be hard to get the economy healthy again if our workers and our health care system are both sick."

Alaska received the most funding from CDC of any state at $52.78 per person in FY 2008, while Indiana received the least at $12.74 - a $40 difference. Approximately 75 percent of CDC's budget is distributed through grants or cooperative agreements to states and communities to support programs to prevent diseases and prepare for health disasters.

Public health programs are supported through a combination of federal, state, and local resources. State funding is expected to drop significantly as state governments face severe budget crises. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), at least 46 states are facing shortfalls to their 2009 and/or 2010 budgets. CBPP estimates that combined budget gaps for states in the remainder of 2009, 2010, and 2011 could total more than $350 billion.

Some health programs at-risk for cuts include:

-- Cancer, diabetes, obesity, and other chronic disease prevention;
-- HIV/AIDS, MRSA, TB, and other infectious disease prevention;
-- Food and water safety;
-- Environmental health improvement; and
-- Bioterrorism and health emergency preparedness.


In addition, more than 11,000 state and local public health jobs have already been cut, and another 10,000 may be cut, according to surveys conducted by state and local health departments.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided an additional $1 billion for public health programs for next year, which will help provide additional support in many communities.

"The financial crisis makes it more important than ever for the country to make prevention a top priority," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "Even in these troubled times, prevention is an investment we can count on to deliver a big payoff - sparing millions of people from developing preventable diseases while saving billions in health care costs."

The full report includes state-by-state pages of key health statistics and funding information and is available on TFAH's Web site at www.healthyamericans.org. The report was supported by a grant from RWJF.

Rankings of CDC Funds for States (Based on Fiscal Year 2008)

1=Most funds; 50=Least funds. Funds are listed on a per person basis.
The national average CDC funding is $17.60 per person.


1. Alaska ($52.78); 2. Vermont ($35.15); 3. Wyoming ($32.43); 4. Rhode Island ($32.09); 5. New Mexico ($30.94); 6. South Dakota ($29.12); 7. North Dakota ($27.45); 8. Hawaii ($25.55); 9. Delaware ($24.98); 10. Montana ($24.33); 11. Maine ($23.53); 12. Maryland ($22.92); 13. West Virginia ($21.78); 14. New York ($21.39); 15. Washington ($21.34); 16. Louisiana ($21.25); 17. New Hampshire ($21.07); 18. Idaho ($20.97); 19. Massachusetts ($20.85); 20. Nebraska ($20.54); 21. Mississippi ($20.04); 22. Nevada ($19.67); 23. Arkansas ($19.19); 24. Oklahoma ($19.10); 25. North Carolina ($19.00); 26. South Carolina ($18.69); 27. Georgia ($18.68); 28. Connecticut ($18.63); 29. Colorado ($17.92); 30. Arizona ($17.30); 31. Texas ($17.16); 32. Alabama ($16.95); 33. Illinois ($16.66); 34. Iowa ($16.37); 35. Oregon ($16.33); 36. California ($15.94); 37. Michigan ($15.76); 38. New Jersey ($15.75); 39. Utah ($15.73); 40. Minnesota ($15.66); 41. Kansas ($15.14); 41. Missouri ($15.14); 43. Wisconsin ($14.97); 44. Tennessee ($14.96); 45. Pennsylvania ($13.99); 46. Kentucky ($13.94); 47. Florida ($13.29); 48. Virginia ($12.88); 49. Ohio ($12.76); 50. Indiana ($12.74).

*Regions are based on the U.S. Census Bureau definitions. Midwestern states include: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Northeastern states include: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Western states include: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Southern states include: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Washington, D.C. was not included in the analysis.

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