Friday, July 25, 2008

You Can Help Secure $15 million for MS Research

More than 60 members of the House of Representatives have signed on in support of an increased investment of $15 million for multiple sclerosis research. On Wednesday, July 30, the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee will meet to decide whether MS will receive this funding.

If your Representative serves on this committee, it's important that they hear from people like you who support this effort. Click here to check.

Take action by calling your Representative's Washington, D.C. office to talk about this issue. Call the Capitol switchboard at 1-800-828-0498 to be connected or visit www.house.gov for their contact information.

You can use these talking points and background when you speak with your member of Congress:

  • As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I'd like to ask for your support for $15 million for MS research funding in the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).
  • 63 of your colleagues have sent a letter to the Appropriations Committee asking them to support this request.
  • [Share how MS has impacted you personally]
  • Preliminary evidence suggests that Gulf War veterans could have an increased risk of MS.
  • More than 28,000 veterans being treated in the VHA are living with a diagnosis of MS. A recent study in the Annals of Neurology identified more than 5,000 cases of MS among U.S. veterans that were deemed "service-connected."
  • A study found an unexpected, doubling of MS between 1993 and 2000 in Kuwait, which suggests a potential environmental trigger for MS because of exposure to neurotoxins such as burning oil fields and poison gases.