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It was pointed out to us at the MJF Foundation forum this past June that stem cells would be useful in fighting other ailments than PD - or neurological diseases in general. Specifically mentioned, I remember, was heart disease. Sorry, list, but as far as number of people affected, we're small potatoes compared to these people. The number of people who have heart disease, who have a family member with heart disease, who have had a close relative die from heart disease, whose doctors feel they are candidates for heart disease, etc., is many times the number affected by PD. What is this group doing to further stem cell research? The principle under which PAN used to operate (and to a goodly extent still does) was that they used their limited funds to get the U. S. Government to spend money on projects many times that amount. I called it "amplifying" their money, as the output of money spent on Parkinson research as a result of PAN efforts was so much greater than the money input to PAN. We have a similar situation here, perhaps. We can all write and call and fax and e-mail our Senators and Representatives until we're blue in the face. Or we can explain to our friends at risk or with family at risk for heart disease how important stem cell research is to them - and get ten or twenty new people to write their Senators and Representatives. It seems to me as though the upcoming election in the United States could be a one-issue election for many of us: Gore favors funding stem cell research; Bush straddles the lines, at best. But if Bush were to favor stem cell research and Gore be against it, Bush would get my vote. Ditto for Senator and Representative and other races in the election. Only if the candidates were to substantially agree on stem cell research would I look at the rest of their platform. If more people become aware of the potential of stem cell research, it would help. If they let it be known that they too consider this to be a single issue election and that stem cells are that issue, it might change the attitudes and positions of our candidates. More important yet, it could affect the results of our election. There are so many people with so much in their lives to be gained from stem cell research - and what do they know about it? It would seem to be a good time to help our allies to spread the word about the potential of stem cells to their constituent groups. This could be another example of "amplification" of our efforts. What are our Parkinson's institutions and foundations doing about it? What tools do we have at our disposal specifically for this task? How can we work together to do something about it? Any ideas? Art