[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 112 (Tuesday, August 3, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H6850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 ADDRESSING THE PROBLEMS OF HEPATITIS C

  (Mr. WEINER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WEINER. Madam Speaker, the Queens Courier, a distinguished local 
newspaper in New York, recently concluded in an exclusive study that 
they did in this edition that hepatitis C has reached near epidemic 
proportions in New York City and, in fact, in the Nation as a whole.
  The Queens Courier study actually does a great national service to 
bring our attention to what is an often and unrecognized epidemic: 
Nearly 4 million Americans have been affected by hepatitis C. As a 
result, there are almost 10,000 deaths every year in this country, and 
it causes over $600 million in medical bills in our country. This is 
indeed an epidemic, albeit a quiet one. This is particularly poignant 
to New York City, where there are so many immigrant communities.
  Now is the time for not only authorities in New York State, but the 
Center for Disease Control here in Washington, to finally recognize 
that hepatitis C has reached a crisis proportion. The Queens Courier 
has done a very important job by calling this to our attention. Now we 
in Congress have to take up this call and address the problems of 
hepatitis C.

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