Published in the Asbury Park Press
By PATRICIA A. MILLER
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- A bill appropriating an additional $2 million for the massive study into higher rates of some childhood cancers here will be on President Clinton's desk shortly.
The Senate yesterday approved the money, as the House did last month, said Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, D-N.J., in a prepared release.
"Without continued funding for this study, the families of Toms River will never find the answers they need, nor the peace of mind they deserve," Torricelli said. "The funds allocated today will allow ATSDR to continue its efforts to get to the bottom of this troubling situation."
The money for the study was in limbo earlier this year, when Clinton's budget for fiscal year 1999 called for a $10 million cut in funding for the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, which has played a major role in the childhood cancer investigation.
The threat of cuts angered local, county and state officials, who urged the federal government to spare the money for the study.
"The federal government has stuck by their promise, through our representatives, to get the money needed to continue the study and try and get to the bottom of what the problem is," said Linda Gillick, who chairs the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster. "We can't move ahead if we don't have the money, can we?"
Congress in October 1997 approved legislation providing funding for the study, which was named the Michael Gillick Children Cancer Research Act. Gillick, 19, has battled neuroblastoma since infancy.
The bill, which totaled $5 million in appropriations, set aside $2 million for 1998, another $2 million for fiscal year 1999, which begins in October, followed by $1 million in fiscal year 2000.
Source: Asbury Park Press
Published: October 09, 1998
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