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First, let us introduce ourselves. We are John (48/2) and Donna Testa of
Rchester, New York. We have been on the list for a week now and enjoy
the variety of PD related topics that are dicussed.
We are in total agreement with the Gross' excellent posting.  We agree
that we must all work for passage of the Udall bill which will provide
funding that is desparately needed to advance all types of research. The
bill mentions no specific types of research (including fetal tissue),
and no advances will be made if there are restrictions added to it.
Simply the Udall bill is about getting our fair share of government
funding to research the causes and find a cure for PD. We can't allow
this bill to be side tracked by a group of narrow minded people.
Like Ivan Suzman, the posting arrived for us at an appropriate time. We
are part of a committee in our support group that is working to obtain
support for the Udall bill. Also, we are attempting to have New York
state and our county and city govenrments proclaim April as Parkinson's
Awareness month. Our committee met today to discuss the actions we are
going to take. On March 15 our support group and the University of
Rochester Mind Unit are going to hold a symposium. We are going to have
a table there with letters to our Congressmen and Senators for people to
sign. The letters will ask our representatives to co-sponsor the Udall
bill. We also are sending a letter to our local newspaper about the
Udall bill and Parkinson' Awareness Month. We would like to hear what
other support groups are doing around the Udall bill. Also, we could use
the assistence of other New York state support groups in writing to
Governor Pataki to have April declared Parkinson's Awareness month.