Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 106 Part 1.djvu/196

 106 STAT. 164 PUBLIC LAW 102-284—MAY 14, 1992 Public Law 102-284 102d Congress Joint Resolution May 14, 1992 To designate the month of May 1992 as "T^ational Huntington's [S.J. Res. 251] Disease Awareness Month". Whereas twenty-five thousand Americans are victims of Huntington's disease, a fatal, hereditary, neurological disorder; Whereas an additional one hundred and twenty-five thousand Americans have a 50-percent chance of inheriting the gene responsible for Huntington's disease from an affected parent and are considered to be ^t-risk" for the disease; Whereas tens of thousands of other Americans experience the destructive effects of the disease, including suffering from the social stigma associated with the disease, assuming the difficult role of caring for a loved victim of the disease, witnessing the fprolonged, irreversible physical and mental deterioration of a oved one, and agonizing over the death of a loved one; Whereas at present there is no cure for Huntington's disease and no means available to retard or reverse the effects of the disease; Whereas a victim of the later stages of Huntingdon's disease invariably requires total personal care, the provision of which often results in devastating financial consequences for the victim and the victim's family; Whereas recent advances in the field of molecular genetics have enabled scientists to locate approximately the gene-site responsible for Himtington's disease; Whereas many of the novel techniques resulting from these advances have also been instrumental in locating the gene-sites responsible for familial Alzheimer's disease, manic depression, kidney cancer, and other disorders; Whereas increased Federal funding of medical research could facilitate additional advances and result in the discovery of the cause and chemical processes of Huntington's disease and the development of strategies to stop and reverse the progress of the disease; Whereas Huntington's disease typifies other late-onset, behavioral genetic disorders by presenting the victim and the victim's family with a broad range of biomedical, psychological, social, and economic problems; and Whereas in the absence of a cure for Huntington's disease, victims of the disease deserve to live with dignity and be regarded as full and respected family members and members of society: Now, therefore, be it

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