Gulf War Vets Push for FY13 GWI CDMRP, Funding Begins with a Bang By Anthony Hardie

[*GG*]

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

WHAT IS THE GOAL?

The overall goal is to develop effective treatments for the officially estimated one-quarter million veterans of the 1991 Gulf War who are still suffering from chronic multi-symptom illness, commonly know as Gulf War Illness, more than two decades later.

These veterans were directly impacted by a veritable toxic soup of hazardous exposures during the short but intense war, and deserve every bit as much help as veterans as our nation is giving to those who suffer wartime and other service-related amputations, PTSD, and traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?

You can email, call, or write your elected Congressman/Congresswoman in the U.S. House of Representatives.

If you do, request that he or she sign on to the Kucinich-Roe Dear Colleague letter supporting the FY13 Defense Appropriation for the Peer Reviewed Gulf War Illness Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

Many Members of Congress have an option to submit your comments from a quick form right on their webpage, which will come up after you enter your zip code in the top righthand corner of www.house.gov. You can also use this as a quick way to find out who is your Representative in the House.

AT WHAT LEVEL SHOULD THE FUNDING BE SUPPORTED, AND WHY?

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.) is requesting $25 million for FY13 for the GWI CDMRP, which coincides with the $25 million recommended in an April 2010 letter by the IOM Gulf War and Health committee chair and in the November 2008 report of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses (RAC-GWVI).

Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.) is co-leading the effort to support the GWI CDMRP, calling for House Members to support this important program. This dovetails with the request of many of the nations largest veterans service organizations in their FY13 Independent Budget (p. 128).

WHEN CAN I DO THIS?
Now, beginning March 1, 2012

WHEN IS THE DEADLINE?
Soon.

IS THERE A SIMILAR EFFORT IN THE SENATE?

A similar effort in the Senate is currently under development, and should be made public soon.
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ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
HASNT ENOUGH ALREADY BEEN SPENT ON GULF WAR RESEARCH?

According to the November 2008 RAC report (p. 292):

As pointed out in the Committees 2004 report, if progress in the Gulf War research effort were to be measured by the number of dollars spent, or the number of projects funded, it might be argued that the federal government has mounted an impressive research effort on behalf of ill Gulf War veterans. But the Committee is committed to assessing federal Gulf War research in terms of its scientific merit and progress made in improving the health of ill veterans. Although substantial funding has been allocated for studies identified as Gulf War research by federal agencies since 1994, the Committee has identified significant problems related to the effective use and management of these funds.

A January 2012 RAC staff analysis found that very little of the funding designated by VA officials as Gulf War Research was actually related to GWI or even specific to Gulf War veterans.

WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT THE GWI CDMRP?

The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP), a Congressionally directed activity funded under the U.S. Department of Defense, has a comprehensive website on the GWI program at: http://cdmrp.army.mil/gwirp .

The CDMRP also publishes an overview of the program in its GWIRP program booklet.

IM A MEDICAL RESEARCHER, WHEN WILL RESEARCH FUNDING BE AVAILABLE?

The CDMRP provided a GWI research program pre-announcement on Jan. 27, 2012 to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications for FY12 funding.

According to the CDMRP, FY12 GWIRP program announcements and general application instructions for the following award mechanisms are anticipated to be posted on Grants.gov in February and March 2012 and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released.

http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2012...or-fy13-gwi-cdmrp-funding-begins-with-a-bang/

 

[*GG*]

I think this would be a good thing to support, because it might help our cause in the future!

GG

PS Short hand on what to do:

If you do, request that he or she sign on to the Kucinich-Roe Dear Colleague letter supporting the FY13 Defense Appropriation for the Peer Reviewed Gulf War Illness Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

Many Members of Congress have an option to submit your comments from a quick form right on their webpage, which will come up after you enter your zip code in the top righthand corner of www.house.gov. You can also use this as a quick way to find out who is your Representative in the House.

 

[Foggy]

While my heart goes out to GWS sufferers, it's only been 'around' for 20 years, ME's been around for 75+ years. I've read other articles about GWS saying these ex-soldiers have been suffering long enough and that there should be now better treatment for them - why is the attitude so markedly different to the rest of us ME CFS sufferers? It strikes me as a double standard.

 

[justinreilly]

Thanks ggingues. I emailed my rep on this, ME and Lyme and had my parents and brother do so also. All three diseases have been intentionally mishandled by CDC and NIH and are very similar, perhaps subgroups of one another. I just finished reading Vaccine A on GWI and the lies, deception and abuse of patients are just as shocking as in ME. I think sticking together is good for all of us.

 

[*GG*]

Thanks, hopefully others will do likewise, but not sure many people are seeing/doing anything in this regard, hopefully the vets are good at this sort of thing?!

GG