The ice bucket challenge has raised an impressive amount of money –13.3 million for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gerig’s disease). While I don’t slight this level of funding, more research may take place if there was more funding at the federal level instead of money going to a bloated defense budget. It would behoove the participants of the ice bucket challenge to monitor how the national budget is being spent and advocate for a substantial increase in NIH funding. Especially since an audit of the department of defense reported by the New York Times found 70 billion dollars in waste. Additionally, since the NIH budget is around 30 billion and the money used to support ALS research is around 40 million, doubling the NIH budget would increase funding to find cures for a whole host of life threatening diseases in addition to ALS.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:03:29 +0000
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