§ 23-28.37-1 - Findings. - Rhode Island Statutes

SECTION 23-28.37-1

   § 23-28.37-1  Findings. – The general assembly finds and declares that, by reason of their employment,firefighters and emergency medical technicians are required to work in themidst of and are subject to exposure to infectious diseases, especiallyhepatitis B; that the U.S. center for disease control has estimated that twohundred thousand (200,000) persons in the U.S. are infected each year withhepatitis B, and of that number twenty-five percent (25%) become ill, tenthousand (10,000) require hospitalization, and five thousand (5,000) die; thatit is estimated that there are from five hundred thousand (500,000) to onemillion (1,000,000) infectious hepatitis B carriers in the U.S. of which up toeighty percent (80%) of chronic carriers are unaware that they have hepatitis Band are capable of spreading it; that there is no known cure for hepatitis B,and for firefighters, there is no way of knowing who among those being helpedat an accident or a fire is a hepatitis B carrier. The general assembly furtherfinds and declares that all the aforementioned conditions exist and arise outof or in the course of employment.