Congress has adopted a joint resolution declaring the week of October 19 National Gaucher’s Disease Awareness Week. The resolution was sponsored by Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D. Ohio) and Rep. Lawrence Smith (D. Fla.) to help bring public attention to the little known, but devastating genetic disorder.
Gaucher’s Disease afflicts approximately 20,000 persons in the United States and is most prevalent among Jews of East European origin, according to Michael Epstein, president of the National Gaucher Foundation.
The Washington-based foundation was founded in 1984 to initiate research programs aimed at development of a cure and treatment for the disease which is even more prevalent among Jews than the better-known Tay-Sachs Disease.
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