Lyme disease legislation, get involved.

Hello again friends,
I have inserted this excerpt from am e-mail I received from Lymeinfo.net. Here is a chance for all of us to be hard and help to get some worthwhile legislation passed. There is a sample letter included to make it easy for you to get involved. Believe me, your voice does make a difference.

Be well,
Richard


From Phyllis Mervine, California Lyme Disease Association:
Please use the phone/fax numbers below and get this letter, or a similar
one, off to as many of the subcommittee members as possible. Send a few
every day! Feel free to modify my letter.

Please let us know when you do anything so we can get some action going
among ourselves and inspire others to pitch in. This bill will not pass
without a massive effort - massive means small effort by MANY people,
rather than GREAT effort by a few. This is one time that NUMBERS MATTER.
Do your bit!
- Thank you Phyliss!

SAMPLE letter For You to Send to Support HR 741

Dear Congressman or Congresswoman __________:

I am writing to ask you to support HR 741, the Lyme and Tick-borne
Disease Prevention, Education, and Research Act of 2007. It is a
companion bill to S 1708

HR 741 recognizes Lyme disease as a serious and debilitating illness,
often misdiagnosed and under-reported. The CDC admits that only 10
percent of cases are reported. A Georgia study found that only one case
in FORTY is reported. In 2005, the CDC reported 23,305 cases. This means
that at least 233,050 cases occurred and probably more than 40 times
that many, or 932,200 cases. That does not count thousands of cases
never reported at all – cases misdiagnosed as MS, ALS, juvenile
rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and many others,
and cases undiagnosed because of the insensitivity of the tests (which
miss almost half the cases). Tickborne diseases are costing this country
billions a year but most of the epidemic is hidden because of misdiagnosis.

People who are not diagnosed and treated properly become chronically ill
and are as disabled as people with congestive heart disease.

HR 741 establishes a Tick-Borne Diseases Advisory Committee and calls
for improvements in three broad categories – diagnostic tests,
surveillance; prevention – and for clinical outcomes research. The bill
authorizes an additional $100 million over five years to accomplish
these activities.

Please ask Chairman Pallone for a hearing on HR 741. Lyme disease is a
nationwide health problem that needs and deserves serious efforts to
contain it and prevent it. Over 90 Lyme disease patient groups support
this bill.

Sincerely yours,

- -

First # is phone, second is FAX. Call and speak to the health aide or
even better, fax a letter.

*Majority Members (Democrats)*

Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) [Chairman] 202-225-4671; 202-225-9665
Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) 202-225-3976; 202-225-4099
Edolphus Towns (D-NY) 202-225-5936; 202-225-1018
Bart Gordon (D-TN) 202-225-4231; 202-225-6887
Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) 202-225-8104; 202-225-8890
Gene Green (D-TX) 202-225-1688; 202-225-9903
Diana DeGette (D-CO) 202-225-4431; 202-225-5657
Lois Capps (D-CA) 202-225-3601; 202-225-5632
Thomas H. Allen (D-ME) 202-225-6116; 202-225-5590
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) 202-225-2906; 202-225-6942
Eliot L. Engel (D-NY) 202-225-2464; 202-225-5513
Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) 202-225-2111; 202-226-6890
Hilda A. Solis (D-CA) 202-225-5464; 202-225-5467
Michael A. Ross (D-AR) 202-225-3772; 202-225-1314
Darlene Hooley (D-OR) 202-225-5711; 202-225-5699
Anthony Weiner (D-NY) 202-225-6616; 202-226-7253
James D. Matheson (D-UT) 202-225-3011; 202-225-5638

*Minority Members (Republicans)*

Nathan Deal (R-GA) [Rankiing Member] 202-225-5211; 202-225-8272
Ralph M. Hall (R-TX) 202-225-6673; 202-225-3332
Barbara Cubin (R-WY) 202-225-2311; 202-225-3057
Heather A. Wilson (R-NM) 202-225-6316; 202-225-4975
John B. Shadegg (R-AZ) 202-225-3361; 202-225-3462
Stephen E. Buyer (R-IN) 202-225-5037; 202-225-2267
Joseph R. Pitts (R-PA) 202-225-2411; 202-225-2013
Mike Ferguson (R-NJ) 202-225-5361; 202-225-9460
Mike Rogers (R-MI) 202-225-4872; 202-225-5820
Sue Myrick (R-NC) 202-225-1976; 202-225-3389
John Sullivan (R-OK) 202-225-2211; 202-225-9187
Tim Murphy (R-PA) 202-225-2301; 202-225-1844
Michael Burgess (R-TX) 202-225-7772; 202-225-2919
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) 202-225-2811; 202-225-3004


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