Proclamation 5833 --
National Scleroderma Awareness Week, 1988
By
the President of the
A
Proclamation
Scleroderma, which literally means ``hard skin,'' is
a painful and debilitating connective tissue disease characterized by excessive
deposits of collagen in the skin. The hallmark of this disease is skin
thickening, but scleroderma can also involve other
organs such as the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, heart, or kidneys. The
disease can begin at any age, but it usually affects people in their most
productive years, and women more frequently than men.
New
research findings and new approaches to diagnosis and treatment are being
developed to combat scleroderma. Research studies on scleroderma include investigations of various causes of the
disease, research on vascular alterations, research on regulation of collagen
synthesis, and development of diagnostic probes. Such fundamental research may
lead to new and improved treatment strategies that will effectively attack the
disease itself.
If
this work is to continue and we are to take advantage of knowledge already
gained, public awareness about scleroderma and about
continuing scientific research is crucial. Private voluntary organizations and
the Federal government are working together to achieve this goal.
The
Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 266, has designated the week beginning
Now,
Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the
In
Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the
Ronald
Reagan
[Filed with the Office
of the Federal Register,