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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Carraro

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1-26-06

HB

SHORT TITLE Breast Cancer Study

SB 208

ANALYST Collard

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$1,600.0 Nonrecurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to SB13, HB204, SB188

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Health (DOH)

Health Policy Commission (HPC)

SUMMARY

Senate Bill 208 appropriates $1.6 million from the general fund to DOH for the purpose of part-

nering with HPC and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNM) conducting

a study to review or determine the environmental and physiological impacts on the causation of

breast cancer.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $1.6 million contained in this bill is a non-recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 shall revert to

the general fund.

HPC indicates expenditures will include staff time for attending meetings and conducting re-

search, mileage reimbursement (if needed) to attend meetings, and any other administrative ex-

penses, but does not indicate a need for additional funding for this study.

Senate Bill 208 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DOH indicates this bill is identical to Senate Bill 387 from the 2005 Legislative Session. Al-

though Senate Bill 387 was not passed, its intent was included in the FY06 General Appropria-

tion Act with an appropriation to DOH in the amount of $300 thousand “for a breast cancer envi-

ronmental study.”

A Master Services Agreement (MSA) between UNM and DOH was executed on September 20,

2005 to conduct the breast cancer study. The scope of work includes: a scientific literature re-

view, an epidemiologic study of breast cancer trends in New Mexico, a pilot study of augmenta-

tion of the NM Breast Registry, a pilot case-control study of breast cancer tumor markers preva-

lence and survival in Hispanic versus non-Hispanic White women, and educational seminars.

DOH indicates this bill could extend and expand the study already in progress.

RELATIONSHIP

Senate Bill 208 relates to Senate Bill 13, and its duplicate, House Bill 204 that propose mammo-

gram services to low income women, as well as Senate Bill 188, which proposes mammogram

vouchers for low income women.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

HPC research indicates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that in 2004, an

estimated 215,990 new cases of invasive breast cancer would be diagnosed among women and

an estimated 40,580 women would die of this disease. Seventy-five percent of all diagnosed

cases of breast cancer are among women aged 50 years or older. The

American Cancer Society

estimates that 211,240 women will be diagnosed with and 40,410 women will die of cancer of

the breast in 2005.

State of the Evidence 2004” Details Environmental Links to Breast Cancer” reports:

This year 40,000 women in the United States will die from breast cancer—one death every 13

minutes. As many as half of all breast cancers occur in women who have no known risk factors

for the disease. Less than one out of every 10 cases occurs in women with a “genetic predisposi-

tion” for the disease.

Epidemiologists and other scientists increasingly believe many cases are linked to environmental

factors. Research indicates that breast cancer arises from four primary physiological events: ge-

netic mutation, altered gene expression, altered cell interactions, and exposure to agents that alter

the body’s natural production of estrogen and other hormones.

Not everyone exposed to a carcinogen will develop breast cancer. In fact, the development of

breast cancer and other cancers is a multi step process that most commonly results from more

than one exposure over time. Depending on the individual, cancer might develop after just two

exposures, perhaps only after dozens more, or may not develop at all.

Senate Bill 208 – Page

3

The effort to understand the major reasons for today’s high incidence of breast cancer has pro-

duced an ongoing, unsettled debate with differing findings in epidemiological and biological re-

search.

A significant body of evidence indicates, however, that exposure to synthetic chemicals and ra-

diation must be understood as contributing to the increased incidence of breast cancer.

ANA/yr