This spring, I introduced the "Health Care Worker Needlestick Prevention Act of 1999", a bill to reduce the risk of bloodborne diseases from accidental needlestick injuries sustained by thousands of health care workers every year.

More than 800,000 needlesticks from sharp products are reported each year. Yet even that large number is considered to be underreported. Through December of 1998, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documented 54 cases of occupational HIV transmission to U.S. health care workers.

Health care workers shouldn't have to risk their lives while saving the lives of their patients. The technology exists today to prevent the vast majority of these injuries. Safe needle devices are used in some facilities across the country, but our bill would make use of safe technology the norm rather than the exception.

Last year, California became the first state to pass a law to protect health care workers from accidental needlesticks. The "Health Care Worker Needlestick Prevention Act" is modeled after that law. It amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) to require that employers utilize needleless systems or other engineered safety mechanisms to prevent the spread of bloodborne pathogens. The bill also includes an exception process, since these products may not be appropriate for all medical care settings.

In other provisions, the legislation enhances current needlestick reporting requirements and establishes a national clearinghouse to collect data on safe technologies and which will serve as a resource for employers by designing a training curriculum for selection and use of these devices.

Safe needle technology should be the law of the land. One life lost to infection from a needlestick injury is one too many. With the bipartisan support of my colleagues, we can take this important step to improve safety for our nation's health care workers.

For additional information, please call 510-494-1388 or go to the Web at http://www.house.gov/stark/documents/106th/needlestick99.html