Hi folks,
I spent the better part of today on the Internet -finally there is some
information available on the budget. In addition to the site Phil
mentioned, the Conference agreement is also available now in HTML format,
which I found faster and easier to browse through than the PDF format. It
is available at http://icreport.loc.gov/icreport/omni7.html
I found one reference to Parkinson's research (although there may be
more that I missed; there is no index or table of contents yet.) It is
listed in the section for the NIH Office of the Director. It states:
"The conference agreement supports the fiscal year 1999 funding level
proposed in the NIH budget documents for Parkinson's Disease. Consistent
with the enactment of the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research Act of
1997, NIH is expected to utilize resources for research focused on
Parkinson's disease such as where the principal focus of the research is
the cause, pathogenesis, and/or potential therapies or treatment for
Parkinsons's disease."
That's it! No dollar amount was specified. What NIH budget documents are
they talking about? What does "consistent with the Udall Act" and "the
NIH is expected to utilize" really mean? If anyone has a better
understanding of what this, I'm sure we'd all like to know. I'll be going
through the NIH site to see if there is more information there.
The section of the Conference Agreement related to the NINDS stated:
"The conference agreeement includes $903,278,000 for the NINDS as
proposed by the Senate instead of $851,066,000 as proposed by the House.
The Institute is encourgaed to expand efforts in the area of epilepsy
research, specifically for intractable or uncontrolled epilepsy.
Progressive supranuclear plasy is a rare but distinct neurodegenerative
disease affecting approximately 10,000 or more patients. The Institute is
urged to support research in this area through all avaliable mechanisms
including the testing of neurotrophic factors that delay disease
progression."
Blurry-eyed and confused,
Linda Herman
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