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FASEB Thanks President Obama for
Continuing to Support Increased Investments in
Research
In late October FASEB
wrote to President Barack Obama thanking him
for his continued commitment to increasing federal
investments in research. The letter was
prompted by a speech the President gave at
Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New
York at the end of September. In his
speech, Obama said “We must also strengthen
our commitment to research, including basic
research, which has been badly neglected for
decades. The fact is, basic research may not pay
off immediately. It may not pay off for years.
And when it does, the rewards are often broadly
shared, enjoyed by those who bore its costs but
also by those who did not.” Obama also
reiterated his desire to increase the national
investment in research and development to a full
three percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic
Product.
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FASEB and Other
Organizations Oppose Great Ape Protection Act
FASEB joined a number of other scientific
societies, research institutions, and patient
groups in opposing the Great Ape Protection
Act of 2009 (H.R. 1326). In a letter sent
to all members of the House, the groups pointed
out that the “bill would halt ongoing biomedical
research into such diseases as hepatitis C for
which no other animal model exists.” The
legislation would prohibit all invasive research
with great apes, including blood draws and
tissue collection. Co-signers of the letter also
expressed concern that the bill could interfere
with ongoing veterinary research using great
apes designed to benefit the animals themselves.
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WMD Biosecurity Bill Moves Out of Senate Committee
The Senate Homeland and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC) passed S 1649, the
Weapons of Mass Destruction Prevention and Protection Act, out of
Committee on November 4th. The bill, which would increase laboratory biosecurity
and controlled pathogen regulations, was originally considered for markup last
week, but was held up for lack of a quorum. FASEB
expressed a number of concerns about the legislation to the Committee,
including provisions shifting authority for
biosecurity regulations to the Department of
Homeland Security, the creation of potentially
redundant rules and regulations, and a proposal
for increased U.S. activity in international
biosecurity regulation.
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NIH and AAAS Host Meetings on Use of Electronic
Health Records in Research
During the week of October 26, 2009, independent meetings were held across
Washington, DC discussing the use of electronic health records (EHR) for
research. On October 26, the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS) and the Food and Drug Law Institute cosponsored a colloquium,
titled “Personalized Medicine: Planning for the Future”. Half of the first
day was devoted to “Health IT and Personalized Medicine.” On October 30th, the
National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) sponsored a meeting titled, “Widening the Use of Electronic Health Record
Data for Research.” Participants discussed research opportunities and strategies
for using EHR data for research.
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