Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready asked Washington State lawmakers last Thursday to mandate emergency access to businesses' private restrooms for sufferers of Crohn's and related disorders. McCready himself suffers from Crohn's disease, the painful gastrointestinal disorder that can make finding restrooms an extremely imperative and often embarrassing task.

"Imagine the worst diarrhea you've ever had, and then times it by 10, with a knife in it," McCready told the Associated Press, after testifying in front of Washington state lawmakers. "You have maybe a half-a-second to find out where a bathroom is."

"I was in the middle of a solo and it hit, and I can't go anywhere because I'm playing in front of 20,000 people," McCready explained. "So I just let go. I went back stage and cleaned up, because the show must go on." McCready said another attack happened just before he took the stage during a Pearl Jam/Rolling Stones concert, leaving him rushing for a portable toilet.

The proposal would require retailers without public restrooms to allow people with inflammatory bowel diseases to use employee restrooms, provided an identification card or a letter from a doctor or nurse is shown. Illinois, Michigan and Texas have similar laws on the books. Statistics show nearly 30,000 people in Washington are affected by inflammatory bowel disease.

McCready insisted the law is needed because many business owners are insensitive to the needs of people who have diseases like Crohn's. He also said there are a number of businesses he won't patronize because they've denied him emergency restroom access in the past.