[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 41 (Wednesday, April 9, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page E616]]



          THE MORRIS K. UDALL PARKINSON'S RESEARCH ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. FRED UPTON

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 9, 1997

  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure and privilege today to join 
with Represenatative Henry Waxman and 106 of our colleagues in 
introducing H.R. 1260, the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research Act of 
1997. This legislation is designed to expand and coordinate research on 
Parkinson's disease to speed the discovery of a cure for this 
devastating disorder.
  The bill authorizes $100 million in fiscal year 1998 and such sums as 
may be necessary in fiscal years 1999 and 2000 to expand basic and 
clinical research, establish up to 10 Morris K. Udall Parkinson's 
research centers across the country, provide for a coordinated program 
of research and training with respect to Parkinson's disease at the 
National Institutes of Health, and establish a grant awards program to 
support researchers who demonstrate the potential for making 
breakthrough discoveries in Parkinson's.
  Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive disorder affecting 1 
million Americans. In its final stages, the disease robs individuals of 
the ability to speak or move. Although Parkinson's disease costs 
society an estimated $26 billion a year in medical and lost 
productivity costs--costs which will escalate as the baby boom 
generation ages--Parkinson's research is severely underfunded. The 
research funding level has essentially been flat for the past 5 years, 
averaging about $26 million a year, or only $26 per patient in direct 
research funding.
  I encourage my colleagues who have not already done so to cosponsor 
the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research Act and join us in the search 
for a cure for this devastating disease.

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