Raymond,

Outstanding post!  If we could somehow persuade everyone with Parkinson's to
read your message, I believe half the battle would be won.

I realize you have plenty on your plate, but want to repeat my offer to
help.

George L. Bousliman
 -----
From: "Raymond Barglow" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 2:24 AM
Subject: Iraq and Parkinson's research -- an important connection


> In the past few days, there have been several messages posted to this
> group about the war in Iraq.
>
> At first glance, these messages seem completely irrelevant to our
> concern in this group, which is Parkinson's disease.  And so one wants
> to say: hey guys, let's stay on the subject, OK?
>
> But actually, Parkinson's and the war ARE related.  Let's explore the
> connection.
>
> The message below, sent out to our group yesterday, reports a 9 million
> dollar grant to a university in Florida to fund biomedical research to
> find a cure for Parkinsons.   This is good news.  But it isn't enough.
> Our country should be making a greater committment to finding cures for
> conditions like PD.
>
> The problem is that our nation has finite resources, and with so many of
> them going toward miilitary purposes, we can hardly expect there to be
> adequate funding of the research we need to cure Parkinson's in a timely
> way
>
> As you may know, the Bush administtration is not only spending hundreds
> of billions of taxpayers' dollars to build more lethal weapons systems,
> but is also literally buying political and military support for the war
> against Iraq throughout the world.  The biggest aid deal is being
> offered to Turkey.   The offer on the table has been 15 billion in
> aid--$5 billion in grants and $10 billion in guaranteed loans--in
> exchange for Turkey's agreement to host US ground troops for an invasion
> of northern Iraq.
>
> Let;s consider just the 5 billion dollars in grants that have been
> offered to Turkey (little of which is likely to trickle down to actually
> help the Turkish people).  That is enough money to fund 500 well-endowed
> biomedical research projects (at $10 million per study) to find cures
> for diseases like Parkinson's, juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer's, MS, ALS
> and related conditions that affflict so many millions of people
> worldwide, young and old.   Our dedication to eradicating disease would
> help to transform the way that people in other parts of the world view
> our nation.
>
> Let's suppose that we were to take just 10 percent of the $5 bilion
> being offered to Turkey -- 500 million dollars -- and devote that to
> finding a cure for PD.  There is every reason to believe that this
> research effort would find a cure within a very few years.
>
> Is it being selfish to prioritize curing diseases over preparations for
> war such as buying Turkey's support?  I don't think so.    Our support
> of promising biomedical research is motivated not only by our desire to
> relieve the suffering and save the lives of ourselves and our loved
> ones, but also to help millions of people with conditions like
> Parkinsons whom we do not personally know .  We don't want them to have
> to go though the difficulties that we have experienced -- as persons
> with PD or as famliies and friends of someone with this condition.
>
> We know that cures can be found.  In the domain of stem cell research
> alone, it has already been estabglished that embryonic stem cells can
> generate dopamine-producing cells in rats that reverse Parkinson's
> symptoms.  This research path, together with other research
> explorations, would have an excellent chance of coming up with a cure
> for Parkinson's very soon, if the research were adequately funded.  The
> 500 millions dollar figure cited above would be more than ample.  In a
> few years,  the one million or so  Americans with PD could be greatly
> helped or cured.
>
> Ironically, it is quite possible that a war against Iraq will fan the
> flames of anti-Americanism worldwide, thereby making us more, not less,
> vulnerable to terrorism in the future. And it's widely agreed that North
> Korea, for example, poses a much greater danger to world peace than does
> Iraq.   The only antidote is to work with other nations to build an
> international framework of law to resolve human conflicts in a
> non-violent manner.
>
> It is true that the potential war against Iraq is partly about securing
> oil supplies in the region.  And indeed, if "all goes well" with the war
> (which may still result in the maiming and death of tens of thousands of
> Iraqis, many of them children), we may save, let's say, a quarter of a
> dollar on each gallon of gas.  If you have Parkinson's, or know someone
> who does, please ask yourself if the tradeoff is worth it.
>
> How can we get the word out about the crying need for medical research
> to address curable diseases?  One of our problems is that the war
> advocates are more visible than we are. And they've wrapped themselves
> in Old Glory (with all due respect to Brian, whose sincerity is well
> known to people in this group).  For me however, the greatest
> representatives of our American ideals are people like Jonas Salk, who
> developed a vaccine for polio -- or Dr.  Paul Greengard, who will help
> to advance the Florida Parkinson's research discussed in the news item
> below.  But Dr. Greengard is not going to get the publicity that the war
> mak.ers receive.
>
> As for PD patients and their supporters -- folks, we aren't all that
> visible either!
>
> We can change that.  Let's work alongside people like Michael J. Fox and
> Christopher Reeve to put a human face on the need for research.   There
> are effective biomedical research advocacy groups out there, including
> the ones that I work with: http://www.stemcellaction.org and
> http://www.sabr.us.    It strikes me that this is a good way to help our
> nation live up to its highest values of  respect for life and the
> alleviation of unnecessary suffering.
>
> Raymond Barglow
>
> > The following article appeared in the March 4, 2003 edition of the
> > Orlando Sentinel (Florida)
> > The University of Miami received a $9 million grant to study brain
> > cells. (by Nancy McVicar, Florida correspondent.)  MIAMI - The search
> > for a cure for Parkinson's disease, which strikes one of every 100
> > people over age 60, got a $9 million boost Monday in a gift from the
> > National Parkinson Foundation to the University of Miami School of
> > Medicine.
> > Dr. Abraham Lieberman, medical director of the foundation and a
> > professor of neurology at  the medical school, said the money will be
> > used to hire top scientist in Parkinson' research.
> > "They are charged with recruiting topflight scientists to come to
> > Miami, and to provide the laboratory space for them.  The University
> > of Miami already has good people in Parkinson's research and we have a
> > strong clinical program," Lieberman said.
> > Dr. Walter Bradley, professor and chairman of the department of
> > neurology at UM, said the money will be spread over five years - $1.8
> > million per year. The first step will be to hire a world-class
> > scientist to be the program director, who will hire 10 other
> > researchers.
> > On Tuesday, Dr.  Paul Greengard, who won the  2000 Nobel Prize for his
> > work in neurobiology, will visit UM to suggest a list of scientists
> > who might be recruited.  An estimated 55,000 Floridians have
> > Parkinson's, a progressive neurological disease that most commonly
> > develops between the ages of 55 and 65 causing difficulty in
> > initiating movement, slowness of movement, muscular stiffness and
> > tremors.
> > The disease develops when a small group of dopamine-containing neuron
> > in part of the brain stem deteriorate.
> > Bradley said laboratory research will examine why brain cells die in
> > Parkinson's disease, and will expand on related discoveries in
> > molecular genetics.
> >
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