Memo to Congressman James Walsh

On behalf of the estimated one hundred and eight thousand New York residents
with Parkinson Disease we urge you to consider supporting the Morris Udall
Parkinson's Disease Bill when offered for Congressional consideration on
April 9, 1997
I was advised in preparation for our meeting by your aide (Martha) that you
could not support medical research legislation unless it contained a
provision excluding Federal Research Funds for use in fetal research projects.
During the last several  years Congress has passed laws severely limiting
the procedures associated with fetal tissue research.  These laws provide
for fines of up to $ 10,000.00 and/or periods of incarceration  for  a
violation of  their terms.    Furthermore there are provisions in those Laws
that forbid  contact with a pregnant woman to solicit the donation of an
aborted fetus until after the  woman has finalized her decision to under go
an abortion. A donor may not be advised of the identify of the party
receiving the donated fetus nor may she be paid for the donation.
These provisions clearly remove any incentive for a pregnant women to elect
to have  an abortion and in fact would mitigate against  the decision to
provide fetal cells for Parkinson's Disease research..
A comparison of the period when the Federal Ban on fetal research was in
place  with periods of legal research demonstrates that the ban had no
impact on the number of abortions performed.
Last year the Senate voted unanimously to pass the Morris Udall Research
bill.  Two hundred and forty-one Congressmen, more then enough to pass the
Bill, cosponsored the Morris Udall Bill thus indicating that the bill would
have passed if it had been brought to the floor for a vote. From this strong
demonstration of support for our cause it would appear that no attachment of
a fetal research rider would be acceptable or have any chance of passage
into law as attached to the research bill.
Based on statements by Researchers  and Scientists the Parkinson Disease
Community feels that the passage of the Morris Udall  Parkinson's Research
Bill has the potential to dramatically effect the economic  cost to society
and to find a cure or new medications to alleviate our suffering from this
dreaded illness.   It has also been suggested that the product of these
research funds can be applied to uses in the other neurological disorders
effecting our population.
The Parkinson's Action Network has estimated that the cost to society
through the Social Security Trust Funds, private disability  and medical
insurance approaches forty billion dollars a year. Just think of the
tremendous savings that could be realized if we could work to the age sixty
seven and continue to make contributions to the Social Security Trust Funds
instead of becoming an early recipient of those funds.
Attached to this letter are some brief illustrations from young people
contracting Parkinson's disease at an early age. Parkinson's Disease was
once thought to be an old age disease but the mean age of diagnosis is
declining and now stands at age fifty seven. I have also included some
examples from the internet of the havoc this disease visits upon ourselves
and our families for your consideration.
You have the power to do so much good to help us ameliorate this misery. How
can I go back to the eighty families in our support group and my friends on
the interment and tell them as a matter of consciences you would not help
us. Perhaps you could consider this issue  with Senator D'Amato who has a
strong   anti abortionist voting record and who has now  agreed to be an
original cosponsor of the new bill.
The Morris Udall Parkinson's Research Bill is about finding a cure for
Parkinson's Disease and should not be a forum to arbitrate the abortion
issue. Please let the abortion issue stand on its own two feet which is a
task which more and more of us can not perform. Your refusal to help is
tantamount to consigning us  and future generations to the slow shuffle to
the wheel chair the nursing home and to a vegetative status until death
beats at our door.
I pray that you will reconsider your position and that God will soften your
heart to help us in our moment of need.
Thank you for the audience today and for listening to our cry for help.
Respectfully submitted by the Syracuse Parkinson's Disease Support Group.
Leader      Marion Diehl       315-687-3621
Assistant   Dale Severance   315-682-3161
On behalf of those who can no longer speak for them selves.


Up all night to get this far and i have run out of steam.  Sorry this and
attached stories the best i coul do on short notice after calling everyone
to not come to meeting

Dale