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DOCTOR-PATIENT
ALLIANCE FOR
RESPONSIBLE ASBESTOS-CANCER POLICY |
11818 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 200
Los Angeles, CA 90025 |
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Tel: (310) 622-4960
Fax: (310) 231-2131
www.drpatientalliance.com |
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February 17, 2006
The Honorable
Richard Durbin
332 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Re: SB 852; Thanks for Helping
Asbestos Cancer Patients
Dear Senator Durbin:
On behalf of the Doctor Patient
Alliance for Reasonable Asbestos Policy, we want to thank you for your
help in defeating SB 852 on the budget point of order. We support the
effort to provide swift and fair compensation to patients suffering
from serious asbestos diseases, such as mesothelioma. However, the
asbestos trust fund bill, as drafted, contained too many fatal flaws.
We hope that if another bill comes up
for consideration, you will continue to champion the rights of
seriously impaired asbestos patients. We do not know for certain if
there is an "asbestos litigation crisis" in this country. We are,
however, absolutely convinced that there is an asbestos health
epidemic in this country. Any future legislation must address the
long neglected imperative to resolve the public health crisis by
creating a medical research and treatment program for asbestos
cancer. Mesothelioma is an orphan disease. It remains under-funded
by the NIH compared to other cancers. Billions of dollars have been
consumed by litigation transaction costs. We believe mesothelioma can
be treated like other chronic diseases if all stakeholders --
manufacturers, the government, insurance, lawyers, drug companies and
patients -- would invest in research. Imagine how much longer
mesothelioma patients would be surviving today if we embarked on an
aggressive medical research program when the government first
regulated asbestos back in the early 1970s.
We are standing by to offer our medical
expertise on how best to fashion a conservative but promising medical
research program that will result in meaningful treatments that will
extend the survival of mesothelioma patients. Thanks again for your
courage, compassion and fiscal responsibility.
Respectfully,
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Robert Cameron, M.D.
UCLA Medical School
Los Angeles, California
Phone: (310).794-7333
rcameron@mednet.ucla.edu
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Harvey I. Pass, M.D.
NYU School of Medicine and
Comprehensive Cancer Center
Phone: (212) 263-7417
harvey.pass@med.nyu.edu
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Bret Williams, M.D.
Hillsborough,North Carolina
Phone: (919) 732-4656
will118w@pol.net
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PATIENT PROFILES
