For bringing this article to the forum. I couldn't agree more with what was said. AS i lose my familiy, my life as it was, i remember being a drug researcher, not so many years ago. I was into central Nervous System research, and very briefly we had a "parkinsons program". What was it? It was an attempt to make an old agonist of the "Permax class" of compounds a bit better. An attempt to make it more stable from deactivation via liver passage and more penetrable to the CNS. THe whole thing would have added up to an agonist that was longer acting. Big fluching deal. We talked up the "project" like it held great potential, every monthly progress report began in a similar way. The reiteration of the statistics of PD and it's unmet needs and of course the grandiose potential of work yet to be done by us. Within four short months, the program was dropped because the powers that be could see no monetary potential in what we had developed so far, and so went on to something more "Sexy", such as "Eating disorders".
I know how the "system" works, i was part of it, a soldier down in the trenches. NOw, having a vested interest in getting better, that is , finding some relief from the ravages of PD, I see what is transpiring around us, and what i see is procrastination, false hype and "gerrymandering "of the scientists that could be useful in "making things happen" on the side of PD research. IT doesn't take a rocket scientist to "See" what's happening in the realm of PD research. So much of "our" resources are being wasted or "reassigned" into projects that will turn a bigger profit.
The foundation of the need for finding a cure for PD is a sound one . IT really does affect millions worldwide, and it really does linger on , and increase the chance that many of us will find our own cure for PD (if you get my drift). PD is living hell, a prison and a punishment that is far worse than a term spent in our houses of detention, and one for which we committed no crime to put us there.
I still see cells everywhere i look. Replacement tissue that can be bioengineered to do the job of curing PD. WHy no cells yet? what do we have to do to convince the research powers that be, that cell replacement in PD is a "no brainer".
Now, i have never minded dying. Every organism on planet Earth has to grow old and die, that is the natural scheme of things. But taking away any of the "right to human happiness" that is guaranteed in our constitution, by ignoring the honest search for A PD cure (as well as other severe life compromising diseases) is simply a mark of the failure of our society. We should have armies of trained men and women working to stop the horrible deaths from severe disease, that will become ever more prominent as our population ages, instead of sending them overseas to get killed in a war that never should have happened.
America is losing it's preeminance in the world. WE are entering a dark age, economically, socially and technically. Do any of or young ones pledge their hearts and souls to making things better for society here in America. or are they just Shanghighed (sp?) into thinking that they are protecting our freedom by killing thousands of innocent "other world" people who are in every way like us except perhaps in the way they dress or the color of their skin or the way they worship the God of all of us?
Time for some really soul searching questions, and real change in the way we serve society while in our own personal search for "the right to happiness". cs