More than six million Americans suffer from blindness or severely impaired vision, and many of those are understandably often in need of government assistance.
U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA-02) in May introduced H.R. 2620, The Faster Treatments and Cures for Eye Diseases Act, which would create ‘Eye Bonds’ to help fund research for treatments and cures to a wide range of vision-related conditions. Much research in the field has gone under-funded in recent years, a dilemma that Bishop hopes to remedy.
The bill has the support of some of the most well-respected vision-research groups, including the Foundation Fighting Blindness, National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research, and Blinded Veterans of America.
The Foundation Fighting Blindness this week honored Bishop with its Visionary Award, honoring him for authoring legislation that if passed could help millions of Americans suffering from impairing conditions.
Said Bishop on the award; “Earlier this week, I humbly accepted the Visionary Award from the Foundation Fighting Blindness for introducing the Faster Treatments and Cures for Eye Diseases Act. There is so much promising research on treatments for blindness, but it sits on shelves waiting for private investors to put it into practice. The Faster Treatments and Cures for Eye Diseases Act creates Eye Bonds that fund this research, so it is no longer collecting dust, but instead changing lives.”
The bill would support research for a variety of conditions, including glaucoma and sickle-cell anemia retinopathy. It would also support veterans suffering from severe vision trauma, one of the most common injuries for veterans returning from service.
The legislation has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where if approved it could make its way to a vote on the House floor later this year.
