Election Good For Autism/Breast Cancer Research

There are two bills that have been stuck in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. These bills would fund research into the causes of autism and the causes of breast cancer, including any enviornmental causes for the two conditions.

Both of these bills already have enough supporters from both parties in the House to assure their passage. The only reason they haven't already been passed is because "Smokey" Joe Barton is the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and he has blocked both of the bills from being reported out of the committee.

Barton is the front-man for corporate polluters in Congress. He has fought pollution restrictions for years, and is evidently afraid that these studies may find that his polluting clients may be at least partially responsible for causing autism and/or breast cancer. That is why he has blocked the bills.

The election results changes the picture radically. When the new Congress convenes, the Democrats will be in the majority and Barton will no longer be a committee chairman. Both of the bills should be easily passed.

The new Energy and Commerce Committee will probably have as its chairman, Rep. John Dingell [D-Mich.]. This will mean a 180 degree shift in the committee's focus. Where Barton was focused on protecting the polluters, Dingell is much more concerned with protecting the enviornment. The 2005 League of Conservation Voters rating of the two congressmen displays the difference between the two. The LCV, an enviornmental group, has rated Dingell at 89 out of a possible 100. Their rating for Barton was 0.

A new wind is blowing in Washington, and it is one that will be much more friendly toward enviornmental concerns.