A 90-minute session to discuss changing the name of "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" has been added to the AACFS meeting in Boston (Cambridge), Massachusetts. The session will be held on Monday evening, October 12, from 6-7:30PM, and will be co-sponsored by the CFIDS Association.

The results of the session will then be presented to the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Coordinating Committee, created by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala. The Committee will be meeting the next day, at the Cambridge Hyatt Hotel where the AACFS meeting will be held.

The session will be chaired by Dr. Anthony L. Komaroff, co-organizer of the AACFS meeting. It will be open to anyone attending the meeting who wishes to listen. In order to allow the greatest number of individuals an opportunity to present their thoughts, the session will be organized in the following way:

2. Each presentation should provide proposed SOLUTIONS (a proposed new name, or a process for developing a new name), and not simply point out the inadequacies of the current name.

3. Any person - PWC, clinician, researcher - can apply to speak. People who wish to give a presentation must send a note indicating their wish to speak, but NOT including the statement they would make. Notes should be sent to the following address by Monday, September 21, 1998:

AACFS Meeting
222 Rock Island Road
Quincy, MA 02169-3841
Fax # 617-472-5157.

Each note must contain the address or fax # where the individual can be reached, to inform them of whether or not they were selected.

4. On Tuesday, September 22, 1998, a lottery drawing will be held in Boston. Each person's request to speak will have been placed inside a sealed, blank envelope. The first 12 envelopes pulled out of a basket will be opened to reveal the identity of the speaker. People will be selected to speak in the order their envelope was pulled. Five additional envelopes then will be pulled: these individuals will be chosen as alternate speakers, if any of the first 12 individuals are unable to come.

5. Since some people who wish to speak may not be able to attend, we will be able to show 5-minute audio- or videotapes from those who are chosen by lottery to present.

6. Each speaker will be required to submit a written copy of their brief remarks on October 10, the first day of the meeting. Dr. Komaroff will enter these comments into the record of the CFS Coordinating Committee meeting the next day, to help the Committee consider if it wishes to make formal recommendation.

7. In order to be sure that all speakers selected by the lottery have their chance to speak, each speaker will be strictly limited to 5 minutes. A timing device will sound a buzzer when 5 minutes has elapsed. If any of the selected speakers and alternate speakers cannot make the session at the last minute, the time they would have been given will be used for discussion.