LETTERS: CUTS AFFECT VITAL MEDICAL RESEARCH

To the editor:

Two years ago, Congress imposed financial caps on what could be spent in every area of our government. The goal was to decrease our budget deficit. But the budget caps are having an unintended side effect: Key priorities are being sacrificed, in spite of a reported budget surplus. Especially tight budget caps have hit the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees that fund research at the National Institutes of Health. In the House and Senate, these committees have received nearly a $9 billion budget cut. Currently, NIH only has the budget to fund one of every three research opportunities. These are opportunities to treat and cure diseases that afflict millions of Americans. The effects of cuts caused by budget caps are several and they are profound: * Instead of investing in promising heart and stroke research, enrollment in clinical trials to test new treatments may have to be curtailed. * Instead of exploring ways to re-grow brain tissue after a stroke, these exciting discoveries may have to be delayed, or even lost, because of limited resources. * Instead of refining imaging techniques that can detect a heart attack before it happens, many people's conditions will continue to go undiagnosed. Cardiovascular diseases and stroke claim the lives of more than 960,000 Americans each year, making them the No. 1 and No. 3 causes of death combined. The American Heart Association joins more than 250 organizations in urging Congress to adjust the budget caps to accommodate compelling national needs in the areas of education and health, including biomedical research. We urge local citizens to call or write their U.S. representatives and senators and tell them to remove budget caps from biomedical research funding.

JIM BLAINE M.D.

American Heart Association Volunteer

Springfield, Mo.