[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 620 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 620
Designating the week of September 14-20, 2008, as National Polycystic
Kidney Disease Awareness Week, to raise public awareness and
understanding of polycystic kidney disease, and to foster understanding
of the impact polycystic kidney disease has on patients and future
generations of their families.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 23, 2008
Mr. Kohl (for himself and Mr. Hatch) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Designating the week of September 14-20, 2008, as National Polycystic
Kidney Disease Awareness Week, to raise public awareness and
understanding of polycystic kidney disease, and to foster understanding
of the impact polycystic kidney disease has on patients and future
generations of their families.
Whereas polycystic kidney disease (known as ``PKD''), one of the most prevalent
life-threatening genetic diseases in the United States, is a severe,
dominantly inherited disease that has a devastating impact, in both
human and economic terms, on people of all ages, and affects equally
people of all races, sexes, nationalities, geographic locations, and
income levels;
Whereas this devastating disease comes in 2 hereditary forms, with autosomal
dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) affecting 1 in 500 worldwide,
including 600,000 PKD patients in the United States, according to
prevalence estimates by the National Institutes of Health;
Whereas families in which 1 or both parents have ADPKD have a 50 percent chance
of passing the disease on to each of their children;
Whereas autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD), a rarer form of
PKD, affects 1 in 20,000 live births and too often leads to death early
in life;
Whereas parents who carry the gene for ARPKD pass on the disease to 25 percent
of the children the parents conceive;
Whereas, in addition to patients directly affected by PKD, countless friends,
loved ones, family members, colleagues, and caregivers must shoulder the
physical, emotional, and financial burdens that polycystic kidney
disease causes;
Whereas polycystic kidney disease, for which there is no treatment or cure, is
the leading genetic cause of kidney failure in the United States and the
fourth leading cause overall;
Whereas the vast majority of polycystic kidney disease patients reach kidney
failure at an average age of 53, causing a severe strain on dialysis and
kidney transplantation resources and on the delivery of health care in
the United States, as the largest segment of the population of the
United States, the ``baby boomers'', continues to age;
Whereas end stage renal disease is one of the fastest growing components of the
Medicare budget, and polycystic kidney disease contributes to that cost
by an estimated $2,000,000,000 annually for dialysis, kidney
transplantation, and related therapies;
Whereas polycystic kidney disease is a systemic disease that causes damage to
the kidney and the cardiovascular, endocrine, hepatic, and
gastrointestinal organ systems and instills in patients a fear of an
unknown future with a life-threatening genetic disease and apprehension
over possible genetic discrimination;
Whereas the severity of the symptoms of polycystic kidney disease and the
limited public awareness of the disease cause many patients to live in
denial and forego regular visits to their physicians or to avoid
following good health management which would help avoid more severe
complications when kidney failure occurs;
Whereas people who have chronic, life-threatening diseases like polycystic
kidney disease have a predisposition to depression and the resulting
consequences of depression due to their anxiety over pain, suffering,
and premature death;
Whereas the Senate and taxpayers of the United States desire to see treatments
and cures for disease and would like to see results from investments in
research conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and from
such initiatives as the NIH Roadmap to the Future;
Whereas polycystic kidney disease is a verifiable example of how collaboration,
technological innovation, scientific momentum, and public-private
partnerships can generate therapeutic interventions that directly
benefit polycystic kidney disease sufferers, save billions of Federal
dollars under Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs for dialysis,
kidney transplants, immunosuppressant drugs, and related therapies, and
make available several thousand openings on the kidney transplant
waiting list;
Whereas improvements in diagnostic technology and the expansion of scientific
knowledge about polycystic kidney disease have led to the discovery of
the 3 primary genes that cause polycystic kidney disease and the 3
primary protein products of the genes and to the understanding of cell
structures and signaling pathways that cause cyst growth that has
produced multiple polycystic kidney disease clinical drug trials;
Whereas there are thousands of volunteers nationwide who are dedicated to
expanding essential research, fostering public awareness and
understanding of polycystic kidney disease, educating polycystic kidney
disease patients and their families about the disease to improve their
treatment and care, providing appropriate moral support, and encouraging
people to become organ donors; and
Whereas these volunteers engage in an annual national awareness event held
during the third week of September, and such a week would be an
appropriate time to recognize National Polycystic Kidney Disease
Awareness Week: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) designates the week of September 14-20, 2008, as
``National Polycystic Kidney Disease Awareness Week'';
(2) supports the goals and ideals of a national week to
raise public awareness and understanding of polycystic kidney
disease;
(3) recognizes the need for additional research into a cure
for polycystic kidney disease; and
(4) encourages the people of the United States and
interested groups to support National Polycystic Kidney Disease
Awareness Week through appropriate ceremonies and activities,
to promote public awareness of polycystic kidney disease, and
to foster understanding of the impact of the disease on
patients and their families.
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