STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

                            IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
                        JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 1993

                             SENATE RESOLUTION

                  MEMORIALIZING THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS
                  OF THE UNITED STATES TO DIRECT INCREASED
                     FEDERAL FUNDING TO RESEARCH CHRONIC
                       FATIGUE SYNDROME AND TO DEVELOP
             EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS AND A CURE FOR THIS DISEASE

     Introduced By: Senator Rhoda E. Perry, Democrat, District 03,
                    Providence
     Date Introduced:
     Referred To:

  WHEREAS, Chronic fatigue syndrome (also known as Epstein-Barr syndrome and
chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome is a recent discovered illness for
which there is no known cure or effective treatment; and

  WHEREAS, Recent biomedical research has identified chronic fatigue syndrome
as a serious illness which affects a number of the systems of the human body
including the immune system; and

  WHEREAS, The syndrome is characterized primarily by chronic debilitating
fatigue and many influenza-like symptoms and is often accompanied by a variety
of cognitive dysfunctions; and

  WHEREAS, More serious and longer-lasting neurologic impairments, including
seizures, psychosis, and dementia, have also been observed in some of these
patients; and

  WHEREAS, Victims of this syndrome often experience symptoms of sufficient
severity to legally qualify them for Social Security Disability; and

  WHEREAS, There is an urgent need to expend the public health response to
this disease, which has been identified in every State, and which the Centers
for Disease Control has called an emerging epidemic; and

  WHEREAS, Estimates of the afflicted range as high as one-and-one-half
percent of the populace, or approximately 3,750,000 individuals; now
therefore, be it

  RESOLVED, That this senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations respectfully memorializes the President and the Congress of the
United States to direct increased federal funding to research chronic fatigue
syndrome and to develop effective treatments and a cure for this disease, and
be it further

  RESOLVED, That the secretary of state be and she hereby is authorized and
directed to transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the
President and Congress of the United States.