Bill Text: CA ACR25 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Chaptered

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Bill Title: Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2009-04-16 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 15, Statutes of 2009. [ACR25 Detail]

Download: California-2009-ACR25-Chaptered.html

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BILL NUMBER: ACR 25	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  15
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  APRIL 16, 2009
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  APRIL 13, 2009
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 26, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Miller

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2009

   Relative to Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 25, Miller. Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week.
   This measure would proclaim the 3rd full week in September in each
year as Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week, and would urge
California residents to observe the week with appropriate activities
and programs.



   WHEREAS, Mitochondria are the power plants in every cell of a
person's body and create more than 90 percent of the energy needed by
the body to sustain life and support growth; and
   WHEREAS, Mitochondria may not function correctly due to genetic
defects or damage caused by drugs or destructive molecules known as
free radicals; and
   WHEREAS, When mitochondria fail, cell injury and cell death
follow, and, if the process is repeated throughout the body, whole
systems begin to fail; and
   WHEREAS, Mitochondrial diseases can cause isolated symptoms, such
as seizures, low blood counts, blindness, deafness, dementia, heart
failure, and progressive muscle weakness, but more often they cause
failure of several organ systems in sequence; and
   WHEREAS, Mitochondrial diseases can affect any person at any age;
and
   WHEREAS, It is estimated that every 30 minutes a child is born
that will develop a mitochondrial disease before he or she reaches 10
years of age, totaling 4,000 children each year; and
   WHEREAS, At least one in 200 individuals in the general public
have a mitochondrial disease that may lead to another disease; and
   WHEREAS, It is believed that mitochondrial diseases are
underdiagnosed because mitochondrial disorders mimic other diseases
and the diagnosis process itself is difficult and time consuming,
having only been first diagnosed in adults in the 1960s and first
diagnosed in children in the 1980s; and
   WHEREAS, Research has consistently shown that mitochondrial
dysfunction is at the core of many very common illnesses and chronic
conditions of adulthood, including, but not limited to, Alzheimer's,
dementia, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease,
osteoporosis, and cancer; and
   WHEREAS, Currently no cures or effective therapies exist, but
early diagnosis can help a patient and his or her family use proper
medication and nutritional supplements to improve the quality of
life, and even to prolong life; and
   WHEREAS, It is imperative that the federal government make
research for mitochondrial diseases a priority and fully fund
research initiatives to find a cure; and
   WHEREAS, It is appropriate that all California residents be better
informed about mitochondrial diseases and their impact; now,
therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims the third full
week in September in each year as Mitochondrial Disease Awareness
Week, and California residents are urged to observe the week with
appropriate activities and programs; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.