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Ch. 512
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PARRIS N. GLENDENING, Governor
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Article - Insurance
Section 6-103.1
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1997 Volume and 1999 Supplement)
Preamble
WHEREAS, Each year some 10,000 Americans sustain spinal cord injuries
which typically result in some degree of paralysis; and
WHEREAS, The major cause of spinal cord injuries is motor vehicle crashes and
58 percent of the victims of those injuries are young people between 16 and 30 years
of age; and
WHEREAS, It has long been generally assumed that most persons who sustain
a spinal cord injury can be rehabilitated to some extent, but that damage to neural
tissue is irreversible; and
WHEREAS, The conventional wisdom concerning the successful treatment of
spinal cord injuries has changed dramatically in light of research in Great Britain,
Sweden, and the United States which demonstrates that there are no fundamental
biological barriers to repairing damaged spinal cord neural tissue and that the
possibility of effective regenerative therapies for human neural cell injury is no longer
speculation but a realistic goal; and
WHEREAS, There is more hope today than ever before that persons whose lives
have been devastated by spinal cord injury can see their injuries reversed to some
extent; and
WHEREAS, Most funding concerning spinal cord injury traditionally has been
for rehabilitation research rather than research for basic neurological tissue
regeneration with the objective of finding a cure for spinal cord injury; and
WHEREAS, Research concerning neurological tissue regeneration for spinal
cord injury can be facilitated and enhanced by establishing an administrative unit at
the State level with sufficient expertise, commitment, and funding to promote this
type of research with a focus on finding a cure for spinal cord injury, and
WHEREAS, Because driving at an excessive speed is a common contributor to
motor vehicle accidents, which in turn are the major cause of spinal cord injuries, it is
appropriate that individuals who are convicted of speeding violations bear some of the
cost of funding spinal cord injury cure research; now, therefore,
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:
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- 2743 -
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