BILL NUMBER: SCR 43	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Strickland

                        APRIL 28, 2011

   Relative to spinal muscular atrophy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 43, as introduced, Strickland. Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Awareness Month.
   This bill would declare August 2011, and each August thereafter,
as Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) kills more children than
any other genetic disease; and
   WHEREAS, SMA causes degeneration in voluntary muscle movement for
those impacted by the disease, eventually impacting the ability to
walk, sit, crawl, stand, breathe, eat, and even swallow; and
   WHEREAS, One in every 40 people, or nearly 10 million Americans,
unknowingly carries the gene responsible for SMA. Few have any known
family history; and
   WHEREAS, SMA is a pan-ethnic disease that does not discriminate
based on race, ethnicity, or gender; and
   WHEREAS, SMA does not impact the mind. Children with SMA are
bright, sensitive, and playful in spite of their failing bodies; and
   WHEREAS, Most children impacted by SMA succumb to the disease
before their second birthday; and
   WHEREAS, There is currently no treatment and no cure for SMA, but
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) selected SMA as the disease
closest to treatment of more than 600 neurological disorders; and
   WHEREAS, The nation's leading researchers signed a statement
stressing that, with adequate resources, a viable treatment or cure
is attainable in as little as five years; and
   WHEREAS, SMA research is considered a "model" approach, with the
potential of benefiting millions of people impacted by other
diseases, including ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson'
s, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Fragile X, and Tay Sachs, among
others; and
   WHEREAS, Increased awareness of SMA will lead to increased
knowledge and increased support for both disease research and
families affected by the disease, hopefully leading to a cure; and
   WHEREAS, August has been declared as National Spinal Muscular
Atrophy Awareness Month in order to raise awareness and help promote
research into this devastating disease; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature declares the month of August
2011, and each month of August thereafter, Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Awareness Month; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.