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Dear Fellow List Members, Here's another possible sample letter which could with a little work be sent to a member of Congress. Actually, it is #4. Sincerely, Barb Brock Udall Shell # 4 This year, the budget for the National Institutes of Health is $13.6 Billion in contrast to the Pentagon's budget, which is $267.6 Billion. Where are our priorities when statistically it is far more probable that we, our children, and our grandchildren will be killed by the likes of cancer, heart disease, stroke, infectious disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease or AIDS than by a "foreign" enemy? What will be left to "defend" in just a few years when the Baby Boomers (in whom disease processes associated with advancing age have already begun) start to develop the symptoms of catastrophic illnesses such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's? We will be a nation of ill people and caregivers and our resources will be wiped out from the weight of our responsibility to citizens so afflicted. To remain a great nation we need strong and healthy citizens. According to a Duke University study, each Parkinson's Disease patient cost $25,000 in societal and family costs in 1994 dollars. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand the expense when multiplied by more than a million people who currently know they have Parkinson's Disease. The frightening thing, the thing about which you, a keeper of the nation's health and purse- strings, should be concerned is the people who have it but have not yet been diagnosed and the people in whom it is currently developing. This disease is so insidious that you or someone you love could have it and not know. We cannot afford not to fund the Morris K. Udall Act for Parkinson's Research and Education at the earliest possible date. An expenditure of $100 Million a year to save more than $25 Billion a year only makes sense. That it remains hostage in Appropriations is intolerable! You can help. Use your influence to do the right thing, to do the sensible thing. I urge you to do all in your power and more to fully fund the Morris K. Udall Act now. Do not succumb to talk of the ills of ear-marking because ear-marking is a way of life. You know well that it is done every day. The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives describes Parkinson's as "one of the brightest spots in brain research. It is thought that Parkinson's may hold the key to solving numerous other neuro-degenerative diseases. Please do the "stand up" thing. Help to appropriate the $100 Million dollars approved in the Morris K. Udall Act for Parkinson's Research and Education right away. I would appreciate hearing back from you in order that I may learn what you are doing to solve this important issue. Sincerely,