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Excerpt from the December 1996 Parkinson's Action Network "Action Reporter", an Advocacy Report for the Parkinson's Community- In the final week of the Presidential election campaign, a member of the Parkinson's research community met President Clinton and planted the Parkinson's issue in his mind enough that he referred to it later in his "stump speeches" throughout the day. Dr. Curt Freed, Director of the Neurotransplantation Program for Parkinson's Disease at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, was part of the crowd at a Clinton/Gore campaign event at Denver's Stock Show Auditorium. After President Clinton's speech, Dr. Freed waited in a "ropeline" crowd five people deep as the President shook hands and exchanged remarks with the throng. As he shook hands with the president, Dr. Freed took the opportunity to thank him for reversing the policy of the Reagan and Bush Administrations by lifting the federal ban on fetal tissue research. Apparently Dr. Freed had quite an impact. As President Clinton retold the story of their meeting at subsequent campaign stops. In remarks rebroadcast on both C-SPAN and National Public Radio, the President told crowds of supporters how he had "met the Denver professor who did the first fetal cell transplantation to treat Parkinson's disease, and with fire in his eyes said he thought they might soon be able to cure this dreadful disease." "We're gone whip Parkinson's disease!" later press accounts quoted the President "bellowing to a crowd" in Oakland, Calif. According to the stories, he cited his 1993 lifting of the ban on scientific study using fetal tissue as a positive factor. One thing you have to say about Dr. Freed--he makes a good impression! Parkinson's Action Network 800-850-4726 Headquarters: 818 College Ave., Suite C Santa Rosa, CA 95404 phone 707-544-1994 fax 707-544-2363 email: [log in to unmask] Washington, DC office 601 13th St. NW., Suite 310 Washington, DC 20005 phone 202-628-2079 fax 202-628-2077 Brad Udall, Chair Joan I. Samuelson, President John L. Dodge, Treasurer Bonnie K. Mioduchoski, Administrator Michael Claeys, Community Coordinator The Action Reporter is a free publication of the Parkinson's Action Network, a non-profit charitable foundation for a cure for Parkinson's. Use of this material in other publications is welcomed. We ask that the Network be identified as the source of the material, and notified how, when and where the material is used. Simply call 800-850-4726