Science

Science legislation still on the table

SOME important bills related to science and technology await attention in House and Senate committees and on the spring 1982 calendar. A number of these, highlighted below, deal with controversial health, safety, environmental and criminal justice issues. (For summaries of bills involving science and technology which were passed by the General Assembly, see the September Science column, p. 32.)

Health

Should physicians be required to tell breast cancer patients of the different methods of medical treatment available? Do persons with terminal illnesses have the right to refuse life-prolonging treatment? These questions arise in connection with two bills.

S.B. 834, sponsored by Sen. William Marovitz (D., Chicago), would require the Department of Public Health to develop a plain-English summary of medically effective methods of treatment for persons with breast cancer. The summary would describe the medical procedures — including surgical, radiological and chemotherapeutic treatments — and inform the patient of the advantages, disadvantages and risks of each. Failure of a physician to give the summary to patients with breast cancer could result in disciplinary action by the department. S.B. 834 is in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Corrections Committee.

Rep. Harold Katz (D., Glencoe) introduced a bill concerning the rights of terminally ill patients which would create the Illinois Right to Die Act. H.B. 1 would allow anyone over age 18 to declare that, in the event of terminal illness, life-sustaining procedures be withheld or withdrawn if they would "only serve to prolong the dying process." The declaration could be revoked by the declarer at any time and would not be honored if the terminally ill person were pregnant. H.B. 1 is on the interim study calendar of the House Executive Committee.

Safety

At present, Illinois law contains no provision for the safety of a child in a motor vehicle. H.B. 608, sponsored by Rep. Lee Daniels (R., Elmhurst), would require the parent or guardian of a child under age five to secure the child in a U.S. Department of Transportation-approved restraint system. Violators could be fined up to $25 for the first offense and up to $50 for repeated violations. The bill is on the spring calendar in the House.

Persons who operate video display terminals, the television-like devices in wide use as word processor and computer terminal displays, would be given certain occupational safeguards under a bill sponsored by Rep. John Matijevich (D., Waukegan). H.B. 1725 would protect video display terminal operators by requiring that terminals be equipped with detachable keyboards (so operators won't have to always face the screen) and easy-to-use brightness and contrast controls. Other provisions of the bill stipulate that the heat generated by the terminals cannot be discharged within four feet of the work area of another employee; that annual employer-paid ophthalmological examinations must be given to terminal operators; and that 15-minute rest periods every two hours, indirect lighting, and adjustable tables and chairs must be provided. H.B. 1725 is on the interim study calendar of the House Labor and Commerce Committee.

Manufacturers of urea-formaldehyde foam insulation would be required to give a safety warning to consumers on the potential health hazards of their product if a bill passed by the House last spring survives. H.B. 276, sponsored by Rep. Dick Kelly (D., Hazel Crest), and currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee, would require a written warning on packages of the insulation. In addition, contractors who install the insulation would be required to have consumers sign a contract which contains the warning. The language of the caveat is contained in the bill and reads in part: "This product may release formaldehyde gas into your building over a long period of time. . . . Formaldehyde gas may cause eye, nose and throat irritation, coughing, shortness of breath, skin irritation, nausea, headaches and dizziness."

Energy and environment

Restrictions on the use of solar energy apparatus contained in deeds or contracts for property sales would be void if H.B. 1818 is enacted. The bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Diana Nelson (R., La-Grange), passed the House last spring. It is now awaiting consideration in the Senate Local Government Committee.

Disposal or storage of nuclear waste and radioactive by-products such as spent nuclear fuel would be restricted by H.B. 51, sponsored by Rep. Ray Christensen (D., Morris). Citing the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the bill would give the General Assembly and the governor, acting in concert, the authority to veto the construction or expansion of any spent fuel storage or radioactive waste site in Illinois, Furthermore, the bill would prohibit entirely the establishment of new sites or expansion of existing sites in certain areas, unless expressly authorized by the director of the Department of Nuclear Safety and the governor. Written authorization would be required if the site were within two miles of an active fault in the earth's crust, within 25 miles of a municipality of 40,000 population or more, or within 1,000 feet of an existing private or public well or surface watet used as a public water supply. H.B. 51 is on the interim study calendar of the House Energy and Environment Committee.

Beverage container litter is the subject of several bills. Two identical bills, H.B. 343, sponsored by Rep. Daniel Pierce (D., Highland Park), and S.B. 1098, sponsored by Sen. James Gitz (D., Freeport), would establish a 10-cent refund for beverage containers and ban metal beverage containers that have detachable parts for a 10-year period beginning July 1, 1984. Beginning July 1, 1994, additional provisions governing dealers, distributors and manufacturers would go into effect. H.B. 343 is on the interim study calendar of the House Energy and Environment Committee, and S.B. 1098 is in the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Energy Committee.

H.B. 1510, introduced by Rep. Ellis Levin (D., Chicago), would make it a "Business Offense" to sell, after July 1, 1982, metal beverage containers with a part that "is severable in opening." The bill is on the interim study calendar of the House Judiciary I Committee.

Criminal justice

When the legislature reinstated the death penalty in 1977, debate was revived over the most humane method of execution for persons sentenced to death. Even though no person has been executed since then, the debate has continued. S.B. 243, sponsored by Sen. John Grotberg (R., St. Charles), would require that persons sentenced to death be executed by a "continuous, intravenous administration of an ultrashort-acting barbiturate in combination with a chemical paralytic agent," instead of by electrocution. The bill is on the spring calendar in the House. A similar bill, H.B. 1165, sponsored by Rep. Kelly (D., Hazel Crest), would have given the defendant sentenced to death a choice between a lethal injection or electrocution; the bill was tabled in the House Judiciary II Committee.

John W. Ahlen is director of the Illinois Legislative Council Science Unit.

38 | November 1981 | Illinois Issues