[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 156 (Friday, October 31, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE 2D ANNUAL YOUTH CONFERENCE OF THE ASIAN LIVER CENTER AT 
                          STANFORD UNIVERSITY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 30, 2003

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition of the 2d annual Youth 
Conference on Asian and Pacific Islanders' Health being organized by 
the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University on November 7 through 
November 9, 2003.
  During this 3-day conference, more than 100 high school students and 
their families from throughout California will discuss a variety of 
health issues of particular concern to the API community. These issues 
include youth identity, teen smoking and cultural competency in 
medicine. A major issue to be addressed is the high vulnerability that 
Asian and Pacific Islanders have to hepatitis B and its related effect 
of liver cancer.
  The Asian and Pacific Islanders community comprise over 11% of my 
home state of California. Unfortunately, many Americans of Asian and 
Pacific Island background have no awareness of their heightened risk of 
acquiring hepatitis B. While the rate of hepatitis B infection for all 
Americans is less than .5%, for API Americans the rate is 7%--14 times 
higher.
  The symptoms of this illness are often not apparent to the individual 
until the irreversible effects of liver cancer become evident. This 
silent killer is often spread from unsuspecting mothers to newborn 
infants at childbirth. It is also spread through child-to-child 
infection as result of contact with skins sores, small breaks in the 
skin or such activities as sharing a toothbrush. Luckily, the spread of 
this awful disease can be prevented through a simple series of 
vaccinations. But, people need to be educated about the need for such 
vaccinations.
  A major goal of the Youth Conference is to create a cadre of 
emissaries to go out into the API community to increase awareness of 
this vulnerability to hepatitis B and liver cancer and to educate the 
populace on means of prevention and treatment. Many in the API 
community are not aware that there is a vaccine that offers full 
protection from hepatitis B. Many are not vaccinated because they 
simply are not aware of the problem. The unnecessary deaths from this 
disease must be stopped now.
  The Asian Liver Center has it right--increased knowledge is the key 
to prevention. I commend the students and their families for taking 
time out of their busy lives to become more knowledgeable about these 
important health issues and to help spread their knowledge throughout 
their communities. I also commend the staff of the Asian Liver Center 
at Stanford University for organizing this conference and for their 
mission of addressing the high incidence of hepatitis B in the API 
population through outreach, education and research. This program is 
clearly one that should be emulated by many other organizations around 
the country.

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