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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. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: > signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn