Congressman Weldon Gives Keynote Address at Reagan Stamp Unveiling

FAIR: Congressman Weldon, we are honored that you have taken the time to educate our national membership on your views. Would you please tell our members and supporters a bit about yourself and why you became a physician and a Congressman?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: You have urged full Congressional support for Special Olympics Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations requests, and you were celebrated publicly by Special Olympics President and CEO Bruce Pasternack when he said, “We applaud Congressman Weldon for his support of Special Olympics, for his compassion for our athletes, and for his leadership on the issues faced by people with intellectual disabilities.” How did you become involved in supporting this praiseworthy cause that enhances the self-esteem of so many youngsters with orphan (rare) illnesses?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: There are over sixteen diseases [i] that now kill a million more Americans than HIV disease annually, yet HIV disease still receives ten percent of the entire National Institutes of Health (NIH) bio-medical research budget. In addition, there are over 6,000 orphan diseases [ii] that do not kill large numbers of Americans, but that cause great suffering and their NIH funding of $1.19 billion [iii] averages $200,000 per illness. Do you feel that this is fair and equitable for non-AIDS illnesses and what discussions have you had with the Subcommittee to reverse this situation?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: Have you had any support from other members of the Appropriations Subcommittee in reversing this imbalance, and what are the chances of action on this in the future? (Kurt, from my discussion with Congressman Simpson’s legislative health aide, Josh Heird, I learned that Congressman Simpson also believes HIV funding is disproportionate. Josh told me he was going to have “Mike” call Dr. Weldon on this issue. I am hopeful Dr. Weldon would be able to take this opportunity to identify Congressman Simpson and others who agree with him that HIV funding is now disproportionate.)

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: Now that the death rate from AIDS has plummeted throughout the USA, including a 97 percent drop in California's newly infected patient-deaths from just under 10,000 to 282,[iv] do you believe a portion of the bio-medical research budget that is allocated to HIV disease should go to non-AIDS illnesses, and would you opt to have Congress adopt a role in such a re-distribution or would you leave that up to the Director of the NIH, Elias Zerhouni, MD?

Congressman Weldon:

 FAIR: Although Dr. Zerhouni is Director of the NIH and its 27 Institutes and Centers, he is powerless to redirect HIV/AIDS funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to other Institutes involved with non-AIDS research. Do you think the NIAID and its Director, Andrew Fauci, MD, should have more power than Dr. Zerhouni over these NIH dollars? If not, what suggestions might be made to the Subcommittee to reverse this situation and give Dr. Zerhouni the ultimate say in where funding is to be directed?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: You joined with Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in introducing a bill that would give responsibility for the nation’s vaccine safety to an independent agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, removing most vaccine safety research from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Currently, the CDC has responsibility for both vaccine safety and promotion, which is an inherent conflict of interest increasingly garnering public criticism. With taxpayer dollars, the NIAID recently launched television commercials [v] in 14 U.S. cities that essentially lobby for preventive HIV vaccine research. We believe the known solutions to HIV disease (prevention & providing the existing HAART treatment), which have resulted in plummeting death rates in the USA, are sufficient and that to allow the NIAID to now spend its billions of dollars (annually) on vaccine research is unfair for non-AIDS illnesses and their research efforts. What is your position on this issue?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: We agree with statements by UNAIDS, [vi] Presidents Bush and Clinton [vii] that the solution to HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa is prevention education, including the ABC’s (Abstinence, Be faithful and wear a Condom), providing the existing HAART treatment and setting up infrastructures to deliver these remedies that have worked so well elsewhere. What is your position on global AIDS and the NIH’s argument [viii] that more AIDS research is needed to reverse the global infections?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: The man overseeing the $2.9 billion AIDS budget, Andrew Fauci, MD, recently said, [ix] "...the scientific advancements that have been made in HIV [research] are breathtaking [with] highly effective drugs to suppress HIV to the point where what was a death sentence in the early eighties to now having patients who look and feel well, who are leading very productive, very gratifying lives..." How would you use Dr. Fauci’s own words with the Subcommittee to begin the process of reversing the HIV/AIDS favoritism in funding?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: We applaud you for introducing legislation to end excessive medical malpractice lawsuits while at the same time ensuring that those with legitimate claims receive just compensation. One of our Board members, Art Curley, is a malpractice attorney who has been lecturing physicians and dentists for two decades on how to avoid such litigation. He recently spoke [x] at one of our Board of Directors meetings of how the favoritism in the legal system that has been given to HIV disease has constrained physicians and prevented them from making proper diagnoses. He urges changes to the laws so that physicians will again be in control, not the AIDS patient. What are your opinions on this issue?

Congressman Weldon:

Kurt, the following question is asked to give Dr. Weldon the opportunity to present the following information on your website here (if he so chooses to give this input): “Research using adult stem cells, which can be taken from adult tissue, does not require the destruction of a human embryo and has been used to treat people suffering from 72 diseases, including cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease.  In contrast, 25 years of ESC research in animals has produced zero medical treatments, clinical trials, or even a good animal model that holds promise for future human treatments. “

FAIR: You recently opposed President Bush’s recent veto of HR 810. Would you explain why?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: Previously the Centers for Disease Control announced [xi] that it wanted to test every pregnant woman in the USA for HIV, regardless of her risk profile or lack thereof. The CDC has now announced [xii] it wants to test everyone aged 13 to 64 in this country who visits a doctor, regardless of their risk profile. Do you feel this is an appropriate policy or one which will cause unnecessary expense and intrusion into the lives of citizens with no risk profile for HIV disease?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: You laudably introduced the Clinical Research Act of 2005 to address many of the problems confronting academic health centers as they attempt to leverage enormous biomedical research gains made in the past century and, in particular, in the last decade, by the vast investment of the U.S. taxpayers in the NIH. Today there are 2,620 HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials, [xiii] 290 for Alzheimer's Disease, 329 for COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and 366 for hepatitis C. We profiled [xiv] the Departments of Health in all fifty states and the District of Columbia and they report 11,825 deaths from HIV. One might compare that to the CDC’s numbers [xv] of five times that for Alzheimer’s and ten times that number for COPD. Indeed, hepatitis C is now identified in the Hepatitis C Epidemic Control and Prevention Act as the leading cause of death in patients co-infected with hepatitis C and AIDS. What are your thoughts on these disparities in the numbers clinical research trials at the NIH?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: We commend your “aye” vote that led to the passage of “The National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006,” on September 26. It is believed that this act will provide more transparency with the creation of a new, comprehensive electronic reporting system to catalogue the research activities of the NIH in a standardized format. Congressman Barton reports [xvi] that “One of the primary objectives of the bill is to get the politics out of research and let the experts at the NIH be the ones to decide their priorities, rather than have politicians tell them what they should be.” We support this effort, although it is difficult to see how NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, MD, can make changes to the NIAID AIDS budget if he cannot re-allocate funds. What is your position on the Act and its ability to reverse HIV/AIDS research funding favoritism?

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: The NIH has stated, [xvii] as a justification for large HIV funding, that such research is basic in nature and may lead to cures for other illnesses. Although “basic,” it still is focusing on HIV versus other illnesses. HIV researchers should be complimented on the secondary successes of their efforts such as Epivir for hepatitis B patients and Interferon for hepatitis C patients. However, we feel it is unfair to ask non-AIDS patients to wait for such byproducts of AIDS research and that it would be more appropriate to, for example, give the Alzheimer’s researcher the funds to study that disease. Indeed, he wants the Nobel prize for curing that illness, whereas the AIDS researcher is focusing on AIDS. What are your thoughts on the NIH's argument here for large HIV funding?

Congressman Weldon:

Kurt, I did not discuss FAIR’s efforts regarding organ donation with Stuart. One of our Mission Statements is “pre- and post-transplant care of patients, organ and tissue donor awareness and the need for new donor policies in the USA to reverse America's organ-donor crisis.” In the event Dr. Weldon would like to input on these issues, I am adding the following questions: 

FAIR: The organ-donor waiting list is now over 94,200 and growing rapidly. Clearly, altruism alone is insufficient as one patient dies every 90 minutes while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. We join with many eminent physicians and organ-donor advocates in a template letter [xviii] in supportive of pilot projects to test new organ donor policies such as Presumed Consent and Donation Benefits. What is your position on the need to test new organ-donor policies to increase organ recoveries and would you consider adding your name as a co-signer to this template letter? (Kurt, I included this last portion in the event Dr. Weldon would like to sign it. If not, we will simply delete it.) 

Congressman Weldon: 

FAIR: Recent LA Times articles [xix] have exposed lax oversight by the organization overseeing our country’s organ-donor network: UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing). “UNOS really can't police itself," said Dr. John J. Fung, director of the Cleveland Clinic's transplant center and a former UNOS board member (also a member of the FAIR Foundation Board of Directors [xx]). "Everybody is beholden." In addition, Senator Chuck Grassley said, "It's kind of like the fox guarding the chicken house….these folks have a short period of time to get their house in order or else they're begging greater government interference and enforcement." Do you agree with these gentlemen and will you support efforts by Senator Grassley to reverse UNOS’s insufficient policies. 

Congressman Weldon:

FAIR: We’d like to thank you, Dr. Weldon, for gracing our Newsletter with your views on these issues. Our CEO and Board of Directions join with thousands of members and supporters in all fifty states in giving you a standing ovation for your courage in speaking out for fairness for all Americans on these issues.

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