Mark Leahey
The medical device industry is warning that new rules in an amendment to a U.S. House of Representatives bill reauthorizing funding for the Federal Aviation Administration could have a serious impact on timely access to pacemakers, stents and glucose monitors.
The Medical Device Manufacturers Assn. issued a statement opposing an amendment filed by Rep. Bob Filner (D-MA) to the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011. Filner’s amendment would limit the transportation of lithium batteries on airlines.
The FAA reauthorization bill, filed by Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), is designed to roll back funding of the FAA to 2008 levels, or just under $15 billion a year.
“MDMA opposes language that would significantly limit the transportation of lithium batteries on aircraft. There is no evidence to suggest that medical devices containing lithium batteries will cause undue safety concerns during air transport,” MDMA president Mark Leahey said in prepared remarks. “This amendment will only have a disproportionate impact on patients relying on timely access to medical technologies and add unnecessary costs to the innovators who develop them. Patients in critical need of life-saving medical technologies cannot afford the delays that this amendment will bring.”
The industry council, which represents more than 200 small to mid-sized medical device manufacturers, isn’t alone in its opposition of some of the language contained in the bill. Pacemakers, defibrillators, spinal cord stimulators, portable oxygen concentrators and blood glucose monitors all rely on lithium batteries to function properly.
House Democrats oppose the bill outright, saying it would limit collective bargaining rights and that budget cuts ultimately “would have dire consequences for the nation’s infrastructure, jobs and the economy. … Every $1 billion of federal investment in infrastructure creates or sustains approximately 35,000 jobs.”
Lawmakers have filed nearly 50 amendments to the bill, with 33 of them slated for debate on the House floor today.
