Governor Jack Markell has just signed Delaware's Breast Density Notification Act (SB 37) into law. Delaware becomes the 23rd state to enact such legislation. The law becomes effective 180 days after the Governor's signature.
Other states that have introduced bills in 2015 include Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and Washington.
On the federal regulatory level, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) anticipates issuing a Breast Density Reporting amendment to the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) as a "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" in 2015. On the federal legislative front, the Breast Density and Mammography Reporting Act of 2015 has been introduced in both the House (HR 716) and Senate (S 370).
"We applaud the hard work of Delaware legislators in advancing this bill into law. The good news is that 65 percent of American women now live in states with some level of mandatory breast density notification. The bad news is that 35 percent do not. We look forward to progress on the federal level which could create a national standard for the remaining 35 percent of women," says DENSE advocacy group cofounder JoAnn Pushkin.
For further explanation about federal efforts and for state-by-state legislative analysis, visit the "Legislation" tab at the new educational website DenseBreast-info.org.
States with breast density inform laws in order of enactment include Connecticut, Texas, Virginia, New York, California, Hawaii, Maryland, Tennessee, Alabama, Nevada, Oregon, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Arizona, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan, North Dakota and Delaware.
For more information: http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/EngrossmentsforLookup/SB+37/$file/Engross.html?open
