Congressional Lyme Hearings to be scheduled

[Mort Zuckerman]

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Subject: Congressional Lyme Hearings to be scheduled

Date: Nov 26, 2008 4:25 AM

Of course, I will be on the new IDSA panel to ***make
sure all the data that IDSA refused to turn over to
Mr. Blumenthal is reviewed by the next IDSA panel,***
since I am eligible to be on the new panel, and in fact,
I am the chemist who solved both crimes:
the Dearborn Cryme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS9-B7G3Ha8
http://www.actionlyme.org/CRYMEDISEASE_CHP3_B.htm
http://www.actionlyme.org/DICKSON_FDA_SUBMISSION_FULL.htm
and the OspA/Pam3Cys Immune Suppression Cryme (not in Pam
Weintraub's book; thus, the rush to sell as many copies
of it before it is out of date):
http://www.actionlyme.org/PAM3CYS_IMMUNE_SUPPRESSION.htm

Kathleen M. Dickson
http://www.actionlyme.org
http://www.relapsingfever.org

======================================
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2008/11/lyme-disease-ta.html

November 24, 2008
Lyme Disease: Taking Shots at Shots

Congress is wading into the murky question of whether people with Lyme
disease should
get long-term antibiotics or whether the drugs harm more than help.
That issue,
which has been a never-ending source of friction among biomedical
researchers, will
get congressional hearings next year.

If there were a Nobel Prize awarded for disease-that-causes-the-most-
controversy,
Lyme disease would be a top contender. For years, the tick-borne
illness has been
the subject of vicious fights between scientists and patient advocates
over whether
long-term antibiotics can help. Many affected by the disease say yes,
citing waning
symptoms after treatment; many scientists say no, and several clinical
trials back
them up.

Now entering the Lyme fray is Representative Frank Wolf (R–VA), who
used to oversee
funding for the U.S. National Science Foundation and other science
agencies as a
powerful spending panel chair when Republicans controlled the House of
Representatives.
In September, he sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services,
demanding that it investigate the treatment guidelines of the
Infectious Diseases
Society of America (IDSA), which shuns long-term antibiotics. He has
also requested
that a congressional subcommittee hold hearings as soon as possible,
and the office
of Frank Pallone Jr. (D–NJ), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce
panel's
Subcommittee on Health, said they will occur next year. “We want an
independent
evaluation” of the treatment guidelines, said Wolf in an interview
with Science.
Patients “have lost confidence—some people are traveling for miles to
get treatment.”

“I don’t believe” the IDSA guidelines should be used, he went on, “but
I’m not a
scientist.” IDSA, no stranger to tumult, says it’s happy to cooperate
with any hearings
but stands by its recommendations. In fact, IDSA recently began
assembling an independent
panel of eight to 12 people to review its guidelines for Lyme
treatment. A spokesperson
told ScienceInsider, "We took this extra step to say, 'Okay [if] you
don't
believe us, let's put this out for review.' "

—Jennifer Couzin