PAN cannot comment as an org. because of their non-profit status prohibiting them from participating in political campaigns. They have passed this on and recommended reading their site. They have also helped to set up an interview in the DC area for local PAN state coordinators and have encouraged state coordinators to call their local news affiliates.
Educating Rush Limbaugh:
Co-Founder of Congressional Working Group
on Parkinson’s Disease Sends Right-Wing Talker
an NIH Primer on Parkinson’s
Limbaugh made wild accusations about Michael J. Fox yesterday
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, on his nationally-syndicated radio show, right-wing host Rush Limbaugh accused Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, of acting and exaggerating his symptoms in recent television ads for pro-stem cell research candidates.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14), who is a co-founder of the Congressional Working Group on Parkinson’s Disease, today sent Rush Limbaugh a manual written by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke entitled Parkinson’s Disease: Challenges, Progress, and Promise, so that the right-wing radio host can learn more about the devastating disease (http://maloney.house.gov/documents/health/parkinsons/102506LimbaughLtr.pdf ). Maloney also issued the following statement condemning Limbaugh’s accusations:
“It says a lot that Mr. Limbaugh would rather attack a man suffering from a debilitating disease than help attack the disease itself. Ridiculing Mr. Fox’s symptoms does not bring us any closer to curing Parkinson’s Disease, but supporting stem cell research would.
“It is highly ironic that Mr. Limbaugh, a renowned mouthpiece for the Republican Party, also attacked Michael J. Fox for exercising his right to support candidates in favor of stem cell research. Mr. Limbaugh probably realizes he’s on the wrong side of this issue and is desperate to divert attention.
“I hope that Mr. Limbaugh will take this as an opportunity to learn more about Parkinson’s Disease, its effects and the research being done to eradicate it. The report I have sent him contains some tremendously useful information.
“I applaud Michael J. Fox for his tireless work to eradicate Parkinson’s Disease and to promote stem cell research, even as he suffers the obvious effects of his condition. It is through his work and the work of people like him that we will eventually beat this disease.”
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Afshin Mohamadi
Communications Director
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14)