I am forwarding this for a person at NIH who is involved in
designing and administering AIDS research and does not wish to be
named.
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Mr. Partridge and other list members:
although few individuals on this list or other individuals concerned
with health care in general would be opposed to this bill i would like
to call to your attention as aspect which i would urge you to consider.
unfortunately for the past several years funds for biomedical research
have remained largely static. as various specific interest groups
lobby for more research in a particular area funds are often 'ear-
marked' by congress and NIH is required by law to transfer funds from
areas already targeted for specific diseases to the currently most
politically active one. as an example i would cite the ear marking of
AIDS funds into the pediatric area of research when there were few
investigators exploring this area. funds were diverted from very good
research to an area of much lower quality just because the area of study
corresponded to a specific area very actively pursued by a small but
very polictically active minority.
i would suggest support of this bill but ONLY if a provision is
included that funds will NOT be diverted from other areas of biomedical
research currently used to fund diseases just as debilitating and
unfortunate as this one. remember: next year it may be the Parkinson's
pot of money which is targeted to add funds to another, more politically
supported disease. thanks for your consideration.
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any comments can be be sent directly to me and i will forward them.
_____ __ Harold Goldstein (embarrassed METS fan)
\_______| _) University of the District of Columbia
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