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How CPR Makes a difference

The National Center for Policy Research for Women & Families focuses on a wide range of topics that promote the health and well-being of adults and children. Here is a brief summary of the activities that we are currently most involved in.

Educating Policy Makers

    The highlight of our public policy work in 2001 was the Senate Policy Forum on Women and Families, held in the U.S. Senate on March 15, 2001. We focused on three timely issues: child abuse, school violence, and the impact of tax cuts on women and families. The forum featured three new women senators [Jean Carnahan (MO), Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY), and Debbie Stabenow (MI)] and was moderated by Judy Woodruff, CNN Anchor and member of CPR’s advisory board. In addition to the three senators, experts on the three topics shared their views and discussed their latest reports, including Dr. Marisa Reddy from the Secret Service, Dr. Diane DePanfilas from the University of Maryland, and Frank Sammartino from the Urban Institute.

    The standing-room only crowd included members of the press, staff from congressional offices and Washington-based advocacy groups, and former and current officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

    CPR plans to hold Congressional policy forums and staff briefings on an ongoing basis, including policy forums on blind adults in the U.S. and on breast cancer.

Breast Cancer

    Dr. Diana Zuckerman, CPR’s president, wrote a scientific review about informed consent for cancer patients on the topic of unnecessary mastectomy, which was published in the fall 2000 Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association. The article pointed out that many women with early-stage breast cancer are not getting the information they need to help them decide between breast-conserving surgery and mastectomy. In addition, because of the lack of research, they also have limited information about the potential risks of different types of reconstruction.

    On December 14, 2001, CPR will hold a national one-day conference on breast cancer, entitled "Using Research to Inform Patients of Breast Cancer Surgery Options." The conference will be held at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We will bring together a group of experts representing health professionals, researchers, and patient advocates, to develop strategies to increase the likelihood that women who are newly diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer will be accurately informed about their surgical options (and related treatment such as radiation).

    The conference is funded by several HHS agencies: the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Office on Women's Health of the Public Health Service, the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women's Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Service Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Reconstruction and Augmentation

    CPR provides timely, objective information about breast implants to women and their families, health care professionals, researchers, and the media.

    For example, Dr. Patti Lieberman, Staff Scientist, wrote an article about the effects of breast implant surgery on the ability of mothers to breastfeed their babies, which was recently published in Nursing Family Magazine    Dr. Zuckerman wrote an article about the safety of breast implants for the online health website, Healthology.com. In addition, Dr. Zuckerman’s article on the risks of silicone gel breast implants for mastectomy patients was published in MAMM, a magazine for women with cancer. Dr. Zuckerman had the privilege of introducing Rep. Roy Blount (R-MO) and Rep. Gene Green (D-TX) when they had a press event about their Breast Implant Research and Information Act in front of the Capitol in June 2001.

    Many other articles about augmentation and reconstruction are posted on our two web sites: www.center4policy.org and www.breastimplantinfo.org.

Blind Adults and Children

    With the support of the Aid Association of the Blind in Washington, DC, CPR is completing a landmark study about the lives of blind adults and children. The report will provide information that can improve policies and programs for blind individuals across the country. This project will provide essential information about the causes of blindness and the lives of those who are legally blind – information that can be used to improve current services, prepare for future needs, and to more effectively advocate on their behalf.

    CPR will release the report at an event on Capitol Hill, and widely disseminate the information through websites and newsletters of various local and national organizations that are interested in the blind.

Domestic Violence and Child Abuse

    CPR has started to work with the Junior League on its three-year domestic violence project, entitled "The Volunteer Village: Building Community Response to Domestic Violence and its Effect on Children." The project will include a small, national conference in November 2001, with experts convening to discuss how Junior League volunteers can most effectively work in their communities to help improve how children are protected when their mothers are victims of domestic violence. CPR will evaluate the project.

    In June 2001, CPR provided training on how to influence policy makers to members of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) at their annual meeting. APSAC members are professionals who provide services to abused and neglected children, and conduct research aimed at understanding and preventing child abuse. CPR also initiated APSAC’s first national lobby day, arranging meetings for more than 60 members with their senators and congressmen, and assisting with those Capitol Hill visits.

Smoking among Women and Girls

    To address concerns raised by the Surgeon General’s Report on the increase in tobacco use by women and girls, CPR is launching a new anti-smoking initiative. This project, Women Speaking Out on Smoking, is designed to generate and coordinate anti-tobacco information and advocacy among national women’s and girls’ organizations.

    CPR will work on its own and with its partners to develop strategies that will change attitudes towards smoking and tobacco, change the popular images of women and girls who smoke, and work to strengthen efforts to decrease exposure to tobacco for girls and women. We will reach out to the media, and educate policy makers, opinion leaders, and the public.

Early Puberty

    CPR is very concerned that so many young girls are starting puberty at the ages of 7, 8 and 9. We are focusing our efforts on understanding the possible causes, and the consequences for these girls. In February, Dr. Zuckerman spoke at a Washington, DC breakfast news event about early puberty sponsored by Environmental Media Services. CPR’s views were included in articles by Cox News Service, Inter Press Service, ReutersHealth, Newsday, and abcnews.com. Other panel members included one of the foremost researchers on the subject, Dr. Marcia Herman-Giddens, and John Peterson Myers, president of the W. Alton Jones Foundation and author of Our Stolen Future, a book about endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment.

    Dr. Zuckerman wrote an article, "When Little Girls Become Women: Early Onset of Puberty in Girls," for the Winter 2001 issue of The Ribbon, a nationally distributed newsletter of the Cornell University Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors.

Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI)

    SPSSI is a nonprofit organization of psychologists and sociologists who work on social issues such as discrimination, violence, work/family conflicts, and sex differences. CPR will help them make the transition from their former headquarters in Ann Arbor to Washington, DC.

    The goal for CPR is to help other professionals use and interpret their research to improve public policy. We expect this partnership will also improve our network of psychologists and sociologists who do research that is relevant to issues that we care about, such as juggling work and family, women's body image, and welfare reform.

Welfare Reform

    Dr. Zuckerman was guest editor of the December 2000 issue of the Journal of Social Issues that focused on welfare reform. The articles in the journal describe how domestic violence, disabilities, and lack of education or work skills make it difficult for welfare mothers to find and keep jobs. Dr. Zuckerman is also author of three articles in this issue.

    Welfare reform legislation is up for renewal in FY 2002, and CPR has already begun to provide research-based information to policy makers.

Social Security

    Dr. Zuckerman’s op-ed, "Social Security: A Safe Harbor in a Stormy Economy," was published in The Las Vegas Review Journal,The Elyria Chronicle Telegram, and other Knight Ridder publications in April, 2001. We have received a number of letters from individuals in response to the op-ed, including a letter praising it from Representative Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Dr. Zuckerman is frequently interviewed by the press on this topic; recent talkshows include Bev Smith on National Urban Radio Network and Armstrong Williams on "TalkAmerica" and his TV program "On the Right Side."

Work/Family

    Many women and men face enormous pressures as employees and family members. As career opportunities and expectations have expanded, concerns about child development and safety have contributed to concerns about how to "have it all" and "do it all." CPR addresses the needs of working parents by providing accurate, objective information about issues such as new research on children’s brain development and the risks and benefits of child care, and by providing information about "family friendly" employment policies.

Youth Today

    Translating research information to make it useful to the public is one of our major goals. Dr. Zuckerman writes a monthly column for Youth Today, a national newspaper for youth workers. The column that summarizes new research findings regarding youth in easy-to-understand language.

Other Activities

• CPR is a member of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
• CPR has met with FDA officials and other public health groups to encourage better warnings for children and pregnant and nursing women about the risks of methyl mercury in certain fish, such as fresh tuna, swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and tilefish.
• Dr. Zuckerman serves on the National Cancer Institute (NCI) scientific advisory committee for its studies of breast implants, and in the Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities (CARRA) program. The CARRA program is designed to increase the involvement of those affected by cancer in NCI activities.
• Dr. Zuckerman is on the Advisory Board of SAFER, a coalition of college groups aimed at preventing rape and other violence against college women.
• Dr. Zuckerman serves on the national steering committee of Girl Neighbor Power (GNP), a Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies initiative that uses a preventive and health promoting approach to help 9-14 year-old girls make responsible and healthy choices that will impact the rest of their lives. The GNP coordinates a national consortium of experts, develops a Youth Advisor Network, compiles a compendium of effective strategies and programs, and provides technical assistance to colleagues around the country working on youth issues.

Invited Meetings and Speeches

    On December 4, 2000, Dr. Zuckerman was an invited speaker at a conference jointly sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The conference focused on the lack of research information about the risks and benefits of medications that are approved but have not been tested on pregnant women. Dr. Zuckerman was on the keynote panel, where she represented the consumer’s point of view.

    On December 12-13, 2000, Dr. Zuckerman and Dr. Patti Lieberman participated in a meeting sponsored by the President’s Task Force on Environmental and Safety Risks to Children. The purpose was to discuss the need for a longitudinal study of environmental effects on child health and development, including social as well as physical environmental factors.

    On December 13, 2000, Dr. Zuckerman attended the FDA Commissioner's first Consumer Roundtable discussion, where she spoke about direct-to-consumer advertising. CPR will partner with other advocacy organizations to try to follow-up on this issue.

    On January 22, 2001, CPR hosted an informal meeting with other national advocacy organizations about shared policy goals. Representatives from 11 organizations attended, including the Society for Women’s Health Research, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the National Women’s Health Network, the National Black Women’s Health Project, the American Psychological Association, the National Women’s Law Center, the Center for Women Policy Studies, NOW, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Older Women’s League, and the Children’s Environmental Health Network.

    On April 11, 2001, CPR co-sponsored a briefing in Washington, DC on the Surgeon General’s report on the effects of smoking on women and girls, initiated by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. Approximately 100 representatives from the health community and women’s community attended.

    On April 18, 2001, Dr. Zuckerman participated in a Women’s Health Dialogue, sponsored by the Office of Women’s Health of the FDA. Participants included the Commissioner of the FDA, other FDA officials, and heads of women’s organizations.

On July 2, 2001 Dr. Zuckerman participated in a meeting of the heads of several consumers’ organizations with the Acting FDA Commissioner and other FDA officials.

Media

    CPR continues to enjoy an impressive presence in the media. Press coverage for a recent 6-month period includes:

Breast Cancer and Reconstruction

The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Washington Post
abcnews,com
Fox News
MAMM
Newsday
United Press International
The Palm Beach Post
Glamour
McCall’s
healthscout.com
MSNBC.com
Live morning TV in London
The Guardian (UK)
The Mirror (UK)

Early Puberty

abcnews.com
Cox News Service
Dayton Daily News
Inter Press Service
Newsday
ReutersHealth newswire

Pregnancy and Medication

USA Today
Associated Press
The Houston Chronicle

Social Security

Fox News
KPFA (radio)
On the Right Side (Armstrong Williams, TalkAmerica radio and TV)
The Chronicle Telegram (OH)
The Las Vegas Review Journal
Pacifica
Public radio

Politics/Misc Topics

Sky News TV (London)
Pacifica Radio (children’s health as an election issue)
Fox News (media violence)
National Journal (work/family)
Voice of America (work/family)
Self (health and politics)

The Public

    Providing information to the public is one of CPR’s primary goals. In addition to the media, we provide information to the public through our website. CPR is a frequently used source of information; traffic on our main website (www.center4policy.org) has increased in the last few months; we now receive approximately 2,500 hits most weekdays.

    An analysis of our website’s statistics for November 2000 found that there were a total 46,378 "hits" (requests) for that month. A description follows:

    Individuals from colleges and universities accounted for more than 4,300 (9.3%) of the 46,378 requests for information. Approximately 100 institutions of higher education and medicine visited CPR’s website in November. These institutions include the Mayo Clinic, New York University (Medical), Harvard, Stanford, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Duke, MIT, University of Chicago, Baylor, Rutgers University, Tulane, Mt. Holyoke, Pepperdine, Eastern Mennonite University, BYU, Southern University and A&M College, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Southwest Missouri State University, and the University of Rochester.

    Government agencies also visited our website. These include the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, the Social Security Administration, NASA and virtually all branches of the U.S. military, including the Navy, Army, and Coast Guard.

    The November statistics reflect a number of requests from organizations, including the Association of Junior Leagues, the YMCA, Arizona Counselors Association, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), Southeast Alabama Medical Center, Washington Research Library, Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), and the Louisiana Research Center for Educators (LRCE).

    Finally, CPR had visitors from coast-to-coast and abroad. Web visitors were from South Africa, Hungary, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Japan, and Finland. Individuals who worked in city government were from New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Providence, RI, San Diego, Phoenix, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, Tacoma, WA, Memphis, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Wailuku, HI.

    We have not yet analyzed the use of our new web site, www.breastimplantinfo.org.