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Good News! Representative Chris Gibson's (R Kinderhook) bill, HR 789, now has a companion bill in the Senate. HR 789 would form a “working group” of federal agencies and citizen experts to coordinate federal research and policy priorities for Lyme disease and similar tick-borne diseases. We need to promote this bill by getting more sponsors from more states.
Legislation to involve private experts, such as SUNY Adirondack microbiology professor Holly Ahern, in advising the federal government on Lyme disease research and policy is gaining momentum this year with new companion legislation in the U.S. Senate, said Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook.
“In a world right now where the medical community is divided, how do we bring people together so that we help them (Lyme disease sufferers) get well?” Gibson said in a recent interview at SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury.
Legislation — HR 789 — that Gibson introduced and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, co-sponsored, would form a “working group” of federal agencies and citizen experts to coordinate federal research and policy priorities for Lyme disease and similar tick-borne diseases.
The panel would submit a strategic plan to Congress within three years of being established.
Congress would be able to nominate experts, such as Ahern, to the panel, he said.
Gibson theorizes the involvement of private sector experts on the panel would bring research to the forefront that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not using because it has not been published in medical journals.
“They’ve said, well, ‘Look, if the science pointed to it, we’d change the guidelines,’” he said in the interview May 9, when he spoke at a Republican Candidate Academy at SUNY Adirondack.
Since the federal government would be the sponsor of the reports, research — “good, bad or indifferent” — would be required to be made public.
“And when we get it published, we believe the truth will then reveal the existence of chronic Lyme and the requirement for the federal government to be involved in cures and solutions,” he said.
If the CDCP changes its guidelines for Lyme disease treatment, insurance companies, in turn, would cover the treatment, Gibson said.
The legislation passed the House without opposition last session, but did not pass the Senate.
This year, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
Gibson, in 2011, was successful in adding funding for Lyme disease research to a federal budget bill.
“This is an issue we’ve been working for since I arrived in the Congress. We’ve had some successes,” he said.
-------------------- KarlaL Posts: 694 | From New Lebanon, NY | Registered: Dec 2010
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Catgirl
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A step in the right direction! I will ask my senators to support this bill. Thanks Karla!
-------------------- --Keep an open mind about everything. Also, remember to visit ACTIVISM (we can change things together). Posts: 5418 | From earth | Registered: Mar 2011
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