Political Quotes

“I am honored to join my good friends Senators Snowe, Boxer, Feinstein, Murray, and Mosely-Braun in introducing the Women's Health Equity Act. This years' bill, composed of 37 separate bills, will improve the status of women's health in the areas of research, services and prevention. The package builds on past successes. It brings resources and expertise to bear on the unmet health needs of America's women. This bill sets an agenda. It's where women's health care needs to go as we enter the 21st century. There has been a pattern of neglect and a history of indifference to women's health needs. It's astonishing that between 1979 and 1986 the death rate from breast cancer was up 24 percent. No one knew why. Yet there was no research being done--the research community was ignoring this very significant problem. I worked with colleagues to change that by making sure that breast cancer research got its fair share of research dollars. I was frustrated when I found out that America's flagship medical research center, the National Institutes of Health [NIH], was supporting research that systematically excluded women. Less than a decade ago, only 14 percent of every research dollar was going to study the health problems of 51 percent of the American population. I wanted to change that. And I did. With the help of my colleagues, I was successful in setting up the Office of Women's Health Research at NIH. This office is turning these statistics around.”