[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 14, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H11301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  WHITTEMORE PETERSON INSTITUTE SCIENTISTS DISCOVER SIGNIFICANT LINK 
                        BETWEEN XMRV AND ME/CFS

  (Ms. BERKLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, a recently identified retrovirus called 
XMRV has been linked to the debilitating neuroimmune disease that 
affects more than 1 million people in the United States. Scientists 
from the Whittemore Peterson Institute, located at the University of 
Nevada, Reno, and their collaborators from the National Cancer 
Institute and Cleveland Clinic have discovered a retroviral link to 
chronic fatigue syndrome. This is a major breakthrough in understanding 
the origins of this debilitating disease.
  I rise in order to congratulate Harvey and Annette Whittemore. Ms. 
Annette and her husband, Harvey, have a daughter that was diagnosed 
with chronic disease syndrome. They have worked tirelessly and 
relentlessly to fund and ensure that they can find a cure to this 
disease.
  I rise also to tell people that the money to purchase the equipment 
used to discover this medical breakthrough was funded by an earmark by 
the United States Congress. This is a good expenditure of taxpayers' 
dollars and will ultimately save millions of our fellow Americans' 
lives.
  I congratulate the Whittemores and the institute. I look forward to 
working with them, not only to identify and isolate this enzyme that 
causes this disease, but to actually cure it.

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