“Psoriasis Cure Now,” a nonprofit patient advocacy organization, has launched a micro-Web site, www.StimulateResearch.com, to help everyday Americans interested in medical research be heard in the stimulus debate that has been dominated by powerful lobbyists and special interests. The Web site allows people to write their lawmakers urging them to make biomedical research a meaningful part of any stimulus bill that emerges in the coming days. The nearly $1 trillion bill sweeping through Congress could crowd out medical research funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for years to come.
“This is the fastest I have seen Washington allocate $1 trillion in my quarter century following politics,” said Michael Paranzino, president of Psoriasis Cure Now. “It seems to have caught the patient advocacy community flat-footed. But medical research is every bit as ’shovel ready’ and ’stimulative’ as Austin’s proposed Frisbee golf course or the projects Chicago won’t even disclose. Dollars wasted now will not cure cancer, arthritis or psoriasis tomorrow. Our Web site lets Americans concerned about curing disease make sure medical research is not neglected as the final stimulus package is hammered out in the coming week.”
The House-passed stimulus bill includes a few billion for NIH (much of it to build new buildings), and the current Senate version includes $10 billion for NIH over two years. But a bipartisan group of Senators is looking to cut more than $100 billion from the current version, and the House-Senate Conference Committee is expected to make significant additional revisions, meaning the fate of medical research is highly uncertain. For the last five years, NIH funding has been stagnant, with thousands of well-designed and ’shovel ready’ grant requests by scientists from all 50 states being held up by a lack of funding.
Psoriasis Cure Now takes no position on whether the stimulus bill should pass or fail; rather, it is pointing out that spending $1 trillion in lobbyist-driven spending now could mean that vital NIH research could be starved for years to come. Its www.StimulateResearch.com site is designed to give everyday Americans a chance to be part of this debate as well.
“Silence may be golden when it’s time for my kids to go to bed, but silence by patient advocates is definitely not golden during this stimulus debate,” Paranzino added. “The asphalt lobbyists, the honey bee lobbyists, the state politician lobbyists — all are out in force, seeking parts of the one trillion dollars in play. It’s essential that people who want cures for AIDS, MS, autism, heart disease and diabetes be heard as well. StimulateResearch.com lets us be heard.”
Category: Psoriasis Cure Now, Psoriasis Research, Public policy issues
Tags: NIH
