Section 18881.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a degenerative disease of the motor nerves that causes progressive weakness of all voluntary muscles. People with ALS become unable to move, swallow, speak, and breathe without assistance, usually remaining fully aware of what is happening to them and their families.

(b) ALS is a fatal disease. There is no cure and only one drug therapy, which allows the patient a month or two more of life. Most ALS patients die within two to five years of symptom onset. Every 90 minutes someone is diagnosed with ALS and every 90 minutes someone dies of the disease. ALS knows no racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic boundaries, often striking people at midlife and at the height of family and financial responsibilities.

(c) The devastating physical, emotional, and financial effects caused by the progression of ALS and the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week caregiving required impact not only the patient, but the entire family. ALS is a family disease and the need for research is dire.

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this article, to establish a systematic program to conduct research regarding the cause, cure, and prevention of ALS. The outcome of this research may have direct effects and consequences on the development of a comprehensive system that may identify the cause, cure, and prevention of ALS, as well as improving the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of victims of ALS. This program shall award grants to eligible physicians, hospitals, laboratories, educational institutions, and other organizations and persons for the purpose of enabling organizations and persons to conduct research.

(Added by Stats. 2011, Ch. 711, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2012. Repealed on or before January 1, 2016, as prescribed in Section 18886.)