New Jersey Women’s Environmental Health Act

Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

After numerous fatal cases of breast cancer among New Jersey women, Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen introduced legislation to the New Jersey House of Representatives concerning the genetic and environmental causes of breast cancer. The bill stated that between 1989 and 1993, 8,378 women died from breast cancer in New Jersey. The act detailed the environmental research to be conducted by Rutgers University to find the causes in New Jersey associated with breast cancer. The bill also outlined the funding the university was to receive in 1998 and 1999 to conduct the research. The New Jersey Women’s Environmental Health Act was introduced on April 23, 1997, but has not been enacted.