A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate with respect to polio.

Mr. President, I rise to submit a resolution supporting global efforts to eradicate the scourge of polio from the face of the earth.

It was not so long ago that American parents were afraid to send their children to public swimming pools in the summer for fear that they would contact this deadly disease. More than 57,000 cases were reported in the United States in 1952. President Franklin Roosevelt, himself disabled by polio, established the March of Dimes in 1938 to find a cure for the disease. Sixteen years later, mass vaccination began, using a serum developed by Dr. Jonas Salk. Infections declined nearly 90 percent within three years. Routine administration of the Salk vaccine, and the subsequent oral vaccine developed by Dr. Albert Sabin, soon relegated polio to the history books in the United States and many other countries. The disease continued to take its toll, however, in those parts of the world where universal vaccination was beyond people's means.

In 1988, the World Health Assembly set a goal of eradicating polio worldwide by the year 2000. In that year there were an estimated 350,000 polio cases in 125 countries. The World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and Rotary International spearheaded a global campaign to eradicate polio, as smallpox had been eradicated in 1979. As a result of this campaign, the Western Hemisphere was certified polio free in 1994. The Western Pacific--including the world's largest country, China--followed suit in 2000.

But polio hung on in 10 countries in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, with 480 cases reported in 2001. Since then, Europe has been certified polio-free. But the disease has bounced back in India and Nigeria, and there were 1,462 cases reported in seven countries in 2002. The eradication target has been extended to 2005.

This resolution seeks to bolster the efforts of the WHO, UNICEF, CDC and Rotary International to eliminate this dreaded disease once and for all. It has been estimated that doing so would produce direct, global financial benefits of $1.7 billion a year mostly by eliminating the need for further vaccinations and their associated risks and would free millions from fear.

I especially want to commend the efforts of Rotary members worldwide, who have set a goal of raising $80 million this year for polio eradication. Rotary has committed more than $500 million to the campaign since 1988. This represents the finest spirit of community action to address global problems, harkening back to when American families collected dimes to wipe out polio in this country. I urge all my colleagues to emulate the spirit of the Rotarians by supporting this resolution.