RECOGNITION OF MYALGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS

Early day motion 1599, tabled 23 July 1998 by Anthony Wright (Labour). Signed by 68 members.

That this House welcomes the recent speech by the Government's Chief Medical Officer, Sir Kenneth Calman, in which he recognises that ME is a real entity, distressing, debilitating and that it affects many people; moreover applauds the Government's intention to set up a working group to examine ME, and cautions that this group should include representatives from a broad cross section of interest groups and medical expertise and have the power to question and influence current thinking on the disease; and congratulates the efforts of Blue Ribbon for the Awareness of ME, FoT (fighting for the truth), the ME Association and the other organisations that have worked so hard to highlight the plight of ME sufferers and to bring about the more enlightened approach the Government and the Chief Medical Officer have adopted.

Signatures by party: Labour 48, Liberal Democrat 12, Labour/Co-operative 4, UUP 2, Plaid Cymru 1, Scottish National Party 1.