PUBLIC LAW 101-294—MAY 17, 1990 104 STAT. 193 Public Law 101-294 101st Congress Joint Resolution Designating May 1990 as "National Digestive Disease Awareness Month". May 17, 1990 [H.J. Res. 453] Whereas digestive diseases rank third among illnesses in total economic cost in the United States; Whereas digestive diseases represent one of the Nation's most serious health problems in terms of discomfort and pain, personal expenditures for treatment, working hours lost, and mortality; Whereas twenty million Americans suffer from chronic digestive diseases; Whereas more than fourteen million cases of acute digestive diseases are treated in this country each year, including one-third of all malignancies and some of the most common acute infections; Whereas more Americans are hospitalized with digestive diseases than any other type of disease; Whereas digestive diseases necessitate 25 per centum of all surgical operations; Whereas digestive diseases are one of the most prevalent causes of disability in the work force; Whereas, in the United States, digestive diseases cause yearly expenditures of over $17,000,000,000 in direct health care costs and a total annual economic burden of nearly $50,000,000,000; Whereas more than one hundred different digestive diseases, and other disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, each cause more than two hundred thousand deaths each year; Whereas there has been interest on the part of the research community in the causes, cures, prevention, and clinical treatment of digestive diseases and related nutritional problems; Whereas the people of the United States should recognize prevention and treatment of digestive diseases as a major health priority; Whereas national organizations, such as the Digestive Disease National Coalition, are committed to increasing awareness and understanding of digestive disesises in the health care community and among members of the general public; Whereas the National Institutes of Health, through the National Digestive Disease Information Clearinghouse and the National Digestive Diseases Advisory Board, is committed to encouraging and coordinating such educational efforts; Whereas the National Digestive Disease Education Program is a coordinated effort to educate the public and the health care community on the seriousness of digestive diseeises and to provide information relative to the treatment, prevention, and control of digestive diseases; and Whereas May 1990 marks the eighth anniversary of the National Digestive Disease Education Program: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That May 1990 is designated as "National Digestive Disease Awareness Month", and the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation call-
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