Fw: (Deadline extended) URGENT ACTION NEEDED!! Calls to House of Representatives needed ASAP!

[Linda J Herman <ljherman1@xxxxxxxx>]

Listmembers
If you haven't called your representative yet,  please make the call
today to sign letter to the Labor, Health and Human Services
Appropriations conference committee  in support of  the Parkinson's
Disease Research Ageneda. Read further for more information.

Questions? Call PAN at 800-850-4726
Thanks
Linda Herman

Forwarded from Parkinson's Action Network.:

<<Great work everybody!!!  We have new Members signing on everyday, but
we still have work to do!

 Extended Deadline: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th by 5:00pm EDT.

A new Dear Colleague letter is being circulated by the Congressional
Working Group on Parkinson's Disease and your Member of Congress needs to
sign on!

Please call your U.S. Representative and ask to speak to their Health
Legislative Assistant.  Ask them to join the Congressional Working Group
on Parkinson?s Disease in urging appropriators to include important
provisions in the Labor-HHS conference report that support NIH and the
Parkinson's Disease Research Agenda by signing on to the Dear Colleague
letter.

Please see below for the text of the Dear Colleague letter as well as a
list of Members who have signed on as of 9-25-03.

Please email or call with any questions.  Thanks so much for all your
help!

Together we can make a difference!!!

Thanks-
Laura Jane

Laura Jane Cohen
Director of Outreach
Parkinson's Action Network
ph: 202-842-4101 or 800-850-4726
ljcohen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



If you want to find out who your U.S. Representative is, please click
here 

Reps. Signed On As of 9-25-03:
Frost (TX),  Woolsey (CA), C. Rodriguez (TX), T. Udall (NM), McDermott
(WA), Waxman (CA), Baldwin (WI), Quinn (NY), McIntyre (NC), Rangel (NY),
McCarthy (NY), Reyes (TX), Tauscher (CA), D. Davis (IL), Deutsch (FL),
Schakowski (IL), Abercrombie (HI), Lee (CA), Cummings (MD), Gutierrez
(IL), Lofgren (CA), Evans (IL), Maloney (NY), M. Udall (CO), Frank (MA),
McNulty (NY), Green (TX), R. Kind (WI), Capuano (MA), Markey (MA), Filner
(CA), Van Hollen (MD), Payne (NJ), Turner (OH), Delahunt (MA), P. King
(NY), Watt (NC), Norton (DC), Tierney (MA), Kildee (MI), T. Davis (VA),
Langevin (RI), Kleczka (WI), Hall (TX), Bell (TX), Berkley (NV), DeFazio
(OR), A. Smith (WA), Berman (CA), Wexler (FL), Israel (NY), Slaughter
(NY), Wu (OR), Ross (AR), Eshoo (CA), Moran (KS), Jim Moran (VA), Nadler
(NY), and Price (NC).


Text of Dear Colleague Letter:

September 4, 2003

Support Critical NIH Funding for Parkinson?s Disease Research



?What neither doctor could give me?after uttering those two words,
Parkinson?s disease?was insight into the two words that were popping up
in my mind...NOW WHAT??

Michael J. Fox
University of Miami Medical School Convocation
May 10, 2003

Over one million Americans ? young and old, male and female ? suffer from
Parkinson?s disease.  This degenerative disorder attacks cells in the
brain, causing a progressive loss of muscle control, leading eventually
to paralysis and death.

But, it does not have to end this way. The National Institutes of Health
has developed a comprehensive agenda to aggressively pursue a cure for
Parkinson?s Disease.  This agenda deserves our full support in Congress.
Federal investments in medical research reap tremendous rewards. NIH is
without a doubt the foremost leader in Parkinson?s research. We must
continue to support the good work that they do.

Both the Senate and the House passed Labor-HHS Appropriations bills
include Parkinson?s Disease language.  Please join the Congressional
Working Group on Parkinson?s Disease in urging appropriators to include
both important provisions, specifically the Senate language requiring
that NIH follow the five-year Parkinson?s Disease Research Agenda (PDRA)
that it developed in 2000.  We further urge conferees to submit a report
to Congress on the steps they are taking to implement PDRA.

With increased NIH funding, in as little as 5-10 years, we may be able to
answer Mr. Fox?s question.  Now what?  A cure.  Please contact Mandy
Wimmer (Evans) at 5-5905 or Orly Isaacson (Maloney) at 5-7944 to sign
onto the letter.

Sincerely,



LANE EVANS          CAROLYN MALONEY           FRED UPTON
MARK UDALL
Member of Congress          Member of Congress        Member of Congress
      Member of Congress

(This is the letter that will ultimately be sent to the L-HHS conferees
with the signatures of all the members who have agreed to sign on)

Dear Conferees:

We respectfully request your continued support for biomedical research in
general, and Parkinson's disease research in particular.

As you may be aware, recent advances in Parkinson's disease research have
given us great hope that a cure is on the horizon.  The science regarding
Parkinson's has advanced to a stage where greater management and
coordination of the federally-funded research effort will accelerate the
pace of scientific progress dramatically and reasonably soon lead to a
cure.  In light of these developments, NIH has developed the five year
Parkinson's Disease Research Agenda (PDRA).

More than one million Americans suffer from Parkinson's disease.  NIH's
research agenda gives the best chance for scientists to achieve the
breakthroughs that will lead to effective treatments and eventually a
cure for these individuals.  Already, NIH's program is making
breakthroughs in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and serves as an
excellent example of the type of program that is moving us closer
everyday toward a cure for Parkinson's.

Both chambers saw fit to include specific, but different Parkinson?s
disease language in their respective Labor-HHS Appropriations bills.
Therefore, as both provisions have significant merit, please support the
inclusion of both the House and Senate language provisions concerning
Parkinson?s disease in the final conference report.  Specifically, we
support the Senate language requiring that NIH follow its own Research
Agenda that it developed in 2000. We further urge conferees to retain the
provision encouraging NIH to submit a report to Congress on the steps
they are taking to implement PDRA.

We encourage your continued support of the Parkinson's community.  Thank
you for your attention and consideration to this matter.

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