awareness proclamations
A proclamation is a public announcement made by elected officials at a local, state, or national, level, which is used to recognize a topic of importance to the constituents of those officials.
Since 2004, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation and its community members have obtained “Mesothelioma Awareness Day” proclamations for September 26 from both their local and state-level executive government branches as well as the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.
While the legislative branch on the state and federal level can pass laws marking permanent proclamations, depending on legislative agendas, that isn’t always possible.
Currently, states with permanent proclamations passed into law by their legislative branches include Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia.
Generally, it is much easier and in many ways better to request annual proclamations from executive branches at the state and local levels because those are done annually and keep the topic fresh in everyone’s mind. Here, we offer a step-by-step guide for how to do so.
Get Started
The process is easy!
1
Sign up to be the representative to obtain a proclamation in your state.
Look through our list of states below, find your state, and see if your state still needs a representative. If so, reach out to Melissa Gerard at [email protected] to sign up as your state’s representative. She will send you all the information you need to get your state’s proclamation.
2
Submit a request
Follow the steps in the link Melissa will send you for your state (each state handles proclamations a little bit differently, but most require the submission of a web form). Make sure to email us to let us know when your submission is complete.
3
Download the sample proclamation template
To make it easier on government offices, we drafted a sample of the proclamation here. You can download it or copy/paste it (see below) and send it with your request. States sometimes edit the text we provide, but they are always grateful for not needing to do it from scratch.
Information by state
Click and expand your state to find out if someone has already signed up as the representative.
Proclamation template
Download a pdf of the template here, or copy/paste the text below.
Whereas, mesothelioma is an aggressive and incurable cancer that affects the linings of the lungs, abdomen, or other organs; and (1)
Whereas, mesothelioma is most often associated with exposure to asbestos; and (2)
Whereas, asbestos was heavily used in the military, shipbuilding, manufacturing, industry, and construction of virtually all office buildings, public schools and homes built before 1980, and has been recognized as the worst occupational health disaster in U.S. history; and (3)
Whereas, asbestos continues to be present in such structures to this day; and (4)
Whereas, there is no safe level of asbestos exposure; one fiber at one time can be enough to cause mesothelioma; and (5)
Whereas, because of occupational, military-related, household, or incidental exposure, and the latency of this disease ranging from 10-50 years between exposure and disease development, tens of millions of Americans are now at risk for developing mesothelioma, including first responders from Ground Zero in New York City on and after September 11, 2001; and (6)
Whereas, the 5-year survival rate is only 12%; and (7)
Whereas, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation was formed to eradicate the life-ending and vicious effects of mesothelioma, and progress is finally being made in developing effective treatments for the disease; and (8)
Whereas, Mesothelioma Awareness Day would raise public awareness of the disease and of the need to develop effective treatments for it. (9)
Now, therefore, it is resolved that September 26, 2025, be hereby proclaimed Mesothelioma Awareness Day.
- Malignant Mesothelioma—Patient Version – NCI and Malignant Mesothelioma Treatment – NCI
- Malignant Mesothelioma—Patient Version – NCI
- pdf and A Short History of Occupational Safety and Health in the United States – PMC
- Asbestos and Your Health | Asbestos and Your Health | ATSDR
- RoC Profile: Asbestos; 15th RoC 2021 and Asbestos – Overview | Occupational Safety and Health Administration and A Short History of Occupational Safety and Health in the United States – PMC
- A Repeat Call for the Banning of Asbestos – PMC
- Survival Rates for Mesothelioma | American Cancer Society
- Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, Inc. – GuideStar Profile and Mission Statement » Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation
- Mesothelioma Awareness Day » Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation
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