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HEY.....I'M JUST KIDDING ... but I got your attention! I attended the scientific lectures at the PAN Forum in Washington DC yesterday and was so impressed with the advances the Parkinson's Disease Research teams were making. They see the cure in 5-10 years but closer to 5 years IF THEY can get the research money they need. Scientists are lined up with promising studies and waiting in line for money to carry them out. Boy, wait until you hear about one carrier that the NIH researchers are going to use to get the repaired gene to the Parkie brain... Yesterday the leading researchers said that they were using the "HIV virus delivery system". They remove the "bad stuff" from the HIV virus, inject the gene into the virus and then inject that into the Parkie to deliver the gene therapy ... that will get the dopamine producing cells that recently shut down to produce the needed dopamine again. [Here again, research in one disease pays off with benefits to others diseases]. They said they were going to need us to be the ambassadors to reassure the Parkie community that this was the very safe part of the HIV virus and that it could in no way infect them with HIV-AIDS disease. They may perfect other delivery systems in the future but they have this one worked out for now. They have done a clever thing with this gene therapy. They have included a "off" switch in the gene in case something goes wrong and they want to turn the gene off. It's a safety measure built into the therapy. If for any reason they want to turn the repair process "off " , they just give the patient a dose of tetracycline and it turns the gene OFF! There will be human trials of many ideas once they fulfill all the FDA requirements, get FDA approvals and get the research money to start the trials. Many ideas are at varying stages of being refined and worked out. It's a brilliant and enthusiastic group of research scientists we have working in Parkinson's disease but the science is moving waaaaaay ahead of the funding. They showed us slides of research animals brains before and after techniques they have developed to replace the dopamine in the brain and the results were startling! We call could see the dramatic difference. They really can cure Parkinson's...they are right on the edge...they need to continue with SCNT research and get those FUNDS to pick up the pace of research in time for all of us to benefit. Again, we must call our Senators and House members and tell them that we want them to see to it that * NIH * FULLY * FUNDS * PARKINSON *RESEARCH * NOW ! AND to CONTINUE SCNT RESEARCH We can't hold back and just expect others do this calling and emailing. Anyone who is reading this email and has a US zipcode can do it. Numbers count. Ask if you don't know how to do it , ask if you don't know what to say but do it. The Senate will be voting on this bill ... our chance is NOW, don't let it slip away. Gail Vass ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn