Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Mammography Quality Standards Reauthorization Act of 2002. This is a companion measure with my esteemed colleague, Senator Mikulski, who introduced an identical bill in the Senate yesterday. In 1992, Senator Mikulski and I introduced the original Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA). The primary objective of this law is to ensure that mammography is safe and reliable and that breast cancer is detected in its earliest, most treatable stages. The Act was reauthorized in 1998 and now it is time for us to reauthorize it again.

We have a breast cancer epidemic in this country. An estimated 203,500 new invasive cases of breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the United States this year alone. Every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, and every 13 minutes a woman dies from this disease. This year in my home state of Michigan, about 6,500 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and the disease will kill 1,600.

It is simply not enough to have mammography screening facilities; we must demand and ensure that these facilities are responsible, reliable, and precise. MQSA requires that the FDA establish quality standards for mammography equipment, personnel, and practices. These standards apply to the following people at the facility: the technologist who takes the mammogram, the radiologist who studies the mammogram, and the medical physicist who tests the mammography equipment. All of these people must have special training and education, and must meet continuing education and experience requirements.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this important and beneficial bill which will help to ensure that women receive improved, accurate, and complete information with regard to their mammography screening. High quality mammography, while not a perfect tool, is currently the best available tool for the early detection of breast cancer and MQSA provides our best assurance of that quality.