Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Prevention, Education, and Research Act of 2011

[LDog]

Sen. Richard Blumenthal [D-CT] has sponsored S. 1381: Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Prevention, Education, and Research Act of 2011, a bill to provide for the expansion of Federal efforts concerning the prevention, education, treatment, and research activities related to Lyme and other tick-borne disease, including the establishment of a Tick-Borne Diseases Advisory Committee. Originally written by Senator Dodd, it currently has co-sponsors representing New England states.

Story: http://www.lymedisease.org/news/lyme_disease_views/772.html
Legislation: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s112-1381

I urge you to write your elected representatives. Here's some words you made appropriate as you see fit:

Senator ,


I am writing to urge you to give your full support to S. 1381: Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Prevention, Education, and Research Act of 2011.


This is a bill to provide for the expansion of Federal efforts concerning the prevention, education, treatment, and research activities related to Lyme and other tick-borne disease, including the establishment of a Tick-Borne Diseases Advisory Committee. Originally written by Senator Dodd, it is currently sponsored by Senator Blumenthal


Lyme disease is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected black-legged ticks. Early signs of infection can commonly be mistaken for other illnesses, and may include a rash and flu-like symptoms such as fever, muscle aches, headaches, and fatigue. If diagnosed early, Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics. However, the severity of untreated Lyme disease can have devastating effects: if treatment is not administered in a timely fashion, victims can develop severe heart, neurological, eye, and joint problems.


Add to this the schism within the medical community as to testing, treatments, even the very cause of chronic symptoms, and you have an environment in which many people do not receive appropriate care.


We need this act to become law.


I would hope that you would offer to co-sponsor this bill due to the very high incidence of Lyme disease in Western Michigan. This area has a particularly dense population of deer ticks, and is a documented high risk area for contracting Lyme disease:


http://www.michigan.gov/em​ergingdis...00.h​tml


This is personal for me as my sister, another resident of Holland, suffers from the devastating effects of undiagnosed, chronic lyme desease.


Very Respectfully,
W. Garlinghouse

[DaveSail]

This site can answer almost all questions :

http://www.lymepa.org/

This booklet can be downloaded and printed , or ordered at cost :

http://www.lymepa.org/html/the_basic...scription.html

I waited too long to treat Lyme I didn't know I had . Now , I
have it for life , with very unpleasant effects ! David V. Webber

[Wise Old Owl]

Sorry Willy although I share your pain with Lyme which I have had several times, And I have had one round of Rocky Mountain Tick Fever, and I too have preached about the need to spray up with DWO the best product ever to prevent it. Some of you might remember the large hole in the nutsack thread made by ticks last year.....


I do not share your need to post politics here on WB.... It's just one opinion, teachers in HS should already be pushing the education already... Why do we need a law? I don't get it.... We need Senators to fix the current problems and the economy what-ever side your on.

[Wombat Farm]

I"m gonna have to agree with WOO...there are too many laws already (everywhere in the modern world)...I know two people in NH who have Lyme disease so far this year and it's not because they don't know about it. Of course they know...just about anyone who lives in a tick infested area does. What people have to do is be diligent about checking themselves after being outside. I'm not keen on doing widespread spraying either but if you want to spray your own yard, that's an option (I've never considered doing that). Nature is doing what nature does....taking the opportunity to reproduce.

[Pedaling Fool]

The OP hasn't posted a "political" post. He's simply asking us to support a piece of legislation that does affect hikers. Not saying I agree with it, haven't really read it, but it's not a political post.

[LDog]

My biggest concern is not the education of the public, but the education of the medical field. There is so much dissension in the ranks, that those of us at risk may not get the care that we need. At the same time, it is not going to provide pharmaceutical companies with an opportunity for blockbuster drugs, and so little-to-no private research is going to be done. I understand that these days the question of the role of government is a hot button issue, but, as John said, this is a subject that affects us.

[Jonnycat]

As with most other acts of law, 90% of the money spend will end getting wasted in the Federal beaurocracy. There are MUCH better ways to educate people about the need for early detection than pissing yet even more money away that we just don't have.

Life is dangerous, and it is not the responsibility of every tax payer in this country to pour money into a bloated system to inform people of what they should already know.

[The Solemates]

stupid. this is why our country is going down the drains. wasting money on stupid bills like this. money that could have been well spent getting us out of debt, building up defense, protecting our borders, etc

[Snowleopard]

The law does not appropriate any money. On these sorts of advisory boards, the non-government employees often receive only travel expenses to meetings and often put in months of work. My boss was on a committee like this and half a dozen people in our lab each put in a a month or more of research and writing without reimbursement to support his participation. The charge to the advisory committee is to offer advice on interagency cooperation, setting priorities. If the people appointed do a good job, the result will be more effective use of tax expenditures.

Read the legislation and you'll see that it's pretty non-controversial.

[Jonnycat]

Well that doesn't sound so bad then.

[The Solemates]

Well that doesn't sound so bad then.

Except when you realize what the 'travel expenses' entail.

[rambunny]

Watch "Under My Skin" a documentory.As someone with chronic Lyme-ANYTHING that would prevent someone from having this,or educating the medical community-or changing how the politics of insurance co.'s &the people in their pockets on the medical side,would be life changing for many who suffer daily.Thank you for pointing this out.