As a neurologist and Director of the Spinal Cord Injury/Dysfunction Service and the Multiple Sclerosis Center at the St. Louis Veterans Administration Hospital and longtime volunteer with the Gateway Area Chapter of the National MS Society, I am intimately familiar with the realities of living with multiple sclerosis. That is why I am very pleased to announce that $4.5 million has been appropriated for continued MS research through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. The research being conducted by this program is funded through the Department of Defense and will serve to benefit the 28,000 veterans living with MS, as well as every other life touched by the disease.
This is an excerpt from a December 31, 2009 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Read the full Letter to the Editor.
4 comments:
Always great news to see increased research into MS .. best wishes, KB
Great work by everyone from the home office, to chapter offices, advocates, activists, volunteers, and all the professional organizations and individuals that supported our cause. We must continue to build on our momentum!
I am glad for the funding of MS research. However, I find it very disturbing that this research is controlled by the military. Why isn't the money going to CDC or DHHS. These are our premier medical research agencies. I want the military to focus on defending us from an enemy abroad. I don't want the military involved in peaceful pursuits like MS research. The military budget is too big. We need to make sure that research on MS takes place in the proper government agencies.
Hannah, I would tend to agree with you, but imagine the problem has to do with the fact that the research involves medical records held by the department of defense. I don't think it's a good idea for the government to pass around personal medical records between departments.
For that same reason, I don't think the MS Registry, as currently conceived, is a good idea at all. If a private non-profit wants to set up such a registry (and the cost is minimal), that's fine. But sharing one's personal medical history with any branch of the federal government -- even one as reputable as the CDC -- is a dangerous thing to do. Trusting the government is like sleeping with an elephant. He's just likely to roll over in his sleep and crush you. Ooops. Sorry.
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