PRINTER'S NO. 443
No. 38 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY GEORGE, THOMAS, DeWEESE, CAPPABIANCA, LYNCH,
YOUNGBLOOD, McILHATTAN, CORRIGAN, READSHAW, BELARDI,
ROBINSON, WOJNAROSKI, M. COHEN, CRUZ, HERMAN, CAWLEY, ALLEN,
COSTA, LAUGHLIN, SURRA, FRANKEL, TIGUE, T. STEVENSON, MELIO,
TRELLO, ROONEY, KENNEY, SOLOBAY, M. BAKER, SAINATO, WALKO,
HENNESSEY, DERMODY, STABACK, L. I. COHEN, LEDERER, BELFANTI,
HORSEY, CALTAGIRONE, SHANER, JOSEPHS, KAISER, COY, HERSHEY
AND DeLUCA, FEBRUARY 5, 2001
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,
FEBRUARY 5, 2001
A RESOLUTION
1 Memorializing the Congress of the United States to increase
2 funding for research to find a cure for type 1 diabetes.
3 WHEREAS, There are more than 16 million Americans affected by
4 diabetes and the World Health Organization estimates that number
5 will nearly double to 30 million by 2025; and
6 WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
7 refers to diabetes as the "epidemic of our time"; and
8 WHEREAS, Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death,
9 killing more than 162,000 people each year; and
10 WHEREAS, There are 800,000 new cases of insulin-dependent
11 diabetes diagnosed in the United States each year, and of those
12 cases, approximately 10% are children 18 years of age and
13 younger who are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes; and
14 WHEREAS, The incidence of type 1 diabetes is increasing most
1 rapidly in children younger than six years of age; and
2 WHEREAS, Diabetes is the leading cause of disability and
3 reduces life expectancy by 30% while life expectancy has
4 increased for other diseases such as cardiovascular disease and
5 stroke; and
6 WHEREAS, Children and young adults with type 1 diabetes face
7 a lifetime of daily insulin injections and the possibility of
8 early complications whose severity will likely increase with
9 duration; and
10 WHEREAS, In the United States alone diabetes costs $138
11 billion annually, which represents one out of every $7 spent on
12 health care; and
13 WHEREAS, The current Federal budget for diabetes research
14 represents less than one-half of 1% of the annual cost of
15 diabetes to the United States economy; and
16 WHEREAS, If 1¢ of every dollar spent per year on diabetes
17 were donated to the effort to fund a cure, the diabetes research
18 budget would grow by $1.5 billion; and
19 WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States created the
20 Diabetes Research Working Group (DRWG), which is the first
21 congressional research group to focus on a specific disease and
22 to be charged with developing a plan to identify the research
23 needed to prevent and cure diabetes; and
24 WHEREAS, DRWG has developed a comprehensive and important
25 plan that identifies unmet research opportunities and has
26 unanimously concluded that the current funding level is far
27 short of what is required to make progress on this complex and
28 difficult problem; and
29 WHEREAS, Improvements in technology and the general growth in
30 scientific knowledge offer unprecedented opportunities for
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1 advances that might lead to better treatments, prevention and
2 possibly a cure; and
3 WHEREAS, Many scientific opportunities are not being pursued
4 due to insufficient funding, lack of appropriate mechanisms and
5 a shortage of trained researchers; therefore be it
6 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
7 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania memorialize Congress to increase
8 funding for research to find a cure for type 1 diabetes, which
9 affects 2 million children in the United States; and be it
10 further
11 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
12 the presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each
13 member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
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