Proclamation 6451—National Scleroderma Awarness Month, 1992

Schleroderma is a painful, disfiguring, and sometimes life-threatening disease that can strike individuals of any age or background, although it occurs predominantly among women in the prime of life. Individuals who have this disease experience hardening of the skin caused by excessive accumulation of the structural protein collagen. Scleroderma also affects the blood vessels and immune system and can impair the function of the kidneys, lungs, heart, or gastrointestinal tract.

Although the cause of the disease remains a mystery, scientists and physicians are gaining a better understanding of scleroderma. For example, researchers have found that the activity of endothelin, a newly discovered proteinaceous substance produced by blood vessels, appears to link two important and otherwise distinct features of scleroderma: constriction of small blood vessels and overproduction of collagen. Blood vessels of patients with scleroderma commonly contract for extended period sof time, thereby reducing the flow of oxygen to vital body parts and damaging their ability to function normally. This finding and others offer new opportunities to develop more effective treatments for scleroderma. Today, many dedicated men and women are working together through governmental, scientific, and voluntary health organizations to seize such opportunities. Their efforts are grounds for hope.

In order to enhance public understanding of scleroderma and to emphasize the need for continuing reasearch, the Congress, by House Joint Resolution 445, has designated June 1992 as "National Scleroderma Awareness Month" and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this month.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim June 1992 as National Scleroderma Awareness Month. I encourage all appropriate government agencies and the people of the United States -- in paticular, members of the media and the scientific and health care communities -- to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities that will enhance public awareness of scleroderma and the importance of research on this disease.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of June, in the year of our Lord ninetten hundred and ninety-two, and of th Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and sixteenth.

GEORGE BUSH