42 U.S.C. § 247b–4 — National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities

(a) In general (1) National Center This section creates, inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (called "the Center" in this section). A director appointed by the CDC Director heads it. (2) General duties The Secretary must run programs to: (A) collect, study, and make available data on birth defects, developmental disabilities, and disability and health generally — including data on the causes of these conditions and on how common they are; (B) run regional centers doing applied epidemiological research on preventing these conditions; (C) give the public information and education on preventing these conditions; (D) research and promote prevention of these conditions and of secondary health problems among people with disabilities; and (E) support a National Spina Bifida Program to prevent and reduce suffering from spina bifida, the nation's most common permanently disabling birth defect. (3) Folic acid The Secretary must carry out the folic-acid program under section 247b–11 of this title through the Center. (4) Certain programs (A) Transfers All the programs and functions described in (B) below transferred to the Center once 180 days had passed after October 17, 2000. (B) Relevant programs The transferred programs and functions are ones that (i) relate to birth defects, folic acid, cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, child development, newborn screening, autism, fragile X syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, pediatric genetic disorders, disability prevention, or other relevant conditions the Secretary identifies, and (ii) were run through the National Center for Environmental Health as of October 16, 2000. (C) Related transfers The personnel working on those programs, and the money available for them, also moved to the Center once that 180-day period ended. This move did not change how long that money could still be spent, or what it could be spent on. (b) Grants and contracts (1) In general To carry out subsection (a), the Secretary may give grants to, and make contracts with, public and nonprofit private entities. (2) Supplies and services in lieu of award funds (A) If a grant or contract recipient asks, the Secretary may — subject to (B) — give it supplies, equipment, and services to help it do the funded work, including by lending it an HHS officer or employee. (B) When the Secretary does this, the Secretary must reduce the recipient's payments by the fair market value of what was provided, including the cost of the lent personnel, and then spend the withheld amount on those costs. (3) Application for award The Secretary may only make a grant or contract under paragraph (1) if the recipient submits an application in the form, made in the manner, and containing the agreements, assurances, and information the Secretary decides are necessary. (c) Biennial report Not later than February 1, 1999, and every second year after that, the Secretary must report to the House Committee on Commerce and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, covering the preceding 2 fiscal years. The report must: (1) give information on how common birth defects and developmental disabilities are, on the health status of people with disabilities, and on how much these conditions have contributed to infant mortality and affected quality of life; (2) break that information down for various racial and ethnic groups (including Hispanics, non-Hispanic whites, Blacks, Native Americans, and Asian Americans); (3) assess how effective different approaches to preventing birth defects, developmental disabilities, and secondary health problems have been; (4) describe the activities carried out under this section; (5) give information on people living with birth defects or developmental disabilities, on their health status, on any health disparities they face, and recommendations for improving their health, wellness, and quality of life; (6) summarize recommendations from all CDC-sponsored birth-defects research conferences, including ones about spina bifida; and (7) include any of the Secretary's recommendations about this section. (d) Applicability of privacy laws This section is subject to the Privacy Act, section 552a of title 5. All federal privacy laws apply to the data and information collected under this section. (e) Advisory committee Despite any other law, the members of the advisory committee appointed by the Director of the National Center for Environmental Health who had expertise in birth defects, developmental disabilities, and disability and health transferred to advise the Center instead, effective December 3, 2003. (f) Authorization of appropriations Congress authorized whatever sums were necessary to carry out this section for each fiscal year from 2003 through 2007.