1025 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 1120

Washington, DC 20005
ParkinsonsAction.org
info@ParkinsonsAction.org
202-638-4101 | 800-850-4726

Chief Executive Officer

Ted Thompson, J.D.

Board of Directors
Ronald H. Galowich, J.D., Chair
Edward L. Weidenfeld, J.D., Vice
Chair
Greg Wasson, J.D., Secretary
Douglas L. DuMond, Treasurer
Robin Anthony Elliott
Parkinsons Disease Foundation
Col. Karl E. Friedl, Ph.D., Ret.
David R. Higgins, Ph.D.
Robin Katsaros
Clarence T. Kipps, Jr., J.D.
Morton Kondracke
Zachary T. Levine, M.D.
Daniel M. Lewis, J.D.
Monnie Lindsay, J.D.
Joyce A. Oberdorf
National Parkinson Foundation
Cheryl Lynn Prescott
Karl A. Robb
Israel Robledo
Todd Sherer, Ph.D.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
for Parkinsons Research
Anne J. Udall, Ph.D.
Carol Walton
The Parkinson Alliance
& Unity Walk

Honorary Council
The Honorable Frank C.
Carlucci, Chair
The Honorable Bob Dole
J. William Langston, M.D.
The Parkinsons Institute
Davis Phinney
The Davis Phinney Foundation
for Parkinsons
The Honorable Janet Reno
Cokie Roberts

May 18, 2015

The Honorable Tom Udall

United States Senate
531 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable David Vitter

United States Senate
516 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators Udall and Vitter,

Thank you for your leadership on issues important to the 500,000 to 1.5 million
Americans living with Parkinsons disease. I write on behalf of the Parkinsons
Action Network (PAN) in acknowledgement of your efforts to update and reform
the Toxic Substances Control Act (P.L. 94-469).
PAN is the unified voice of the Parkinsons community advocating for better
treatments and a cure. In partnership with other Parkinsons organizations and our
powerful grassroots network, we educate the public and government leaders on
better policies for research and improved quality of life for Americans living with
the disease.
Parkinsons, the second most common neurodegenerative diseases in the United
States, is a chronic, progressive disorder for which there is currently no cure or
treatment that slows or stops its progression. Studies suggest that the onset of the
disease, combined with certain genetic predispositions, may have a strong
environmental exposure component, but continued research is needed to establish
precise and conclusive links. In November 2014, the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health held a joint planning conference on
this issue, emerging with a commitment to advance initiatives examining toxic
exposures and Parkinsons disease. Also, the Neurotoxin Exposure Treatment
Parkinsons Research program at the Department of Defense has been the leading
research mechanism in evaluating external factors and the development of
Parkinsons in our military personnel.
While PAN does not have an official position on the various provisions of the Frank
L. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (S. 697), we are appreciative
and supportive of its broader goals and intentions to modernize the oversight of
environmental exposures and hazardous chemicals in the United States. As the
Parkinsons community works to better understand the environmental factors of
the disease, it is critically important to have a regulatory framework in place that is
inclusive, protective, and flexible to meet growing environmental challenges that
promote public safety and preserve public health.

The Parkinsons community is grateful for your bipartisan efforts. Thank you, and
please feel free to contact Jamie Tucker, senior government relations manager, at
jtucker@parkinsonsaction.org with any questions.
Sincerely,

Ted Thompson, J.D.

Chief Executive Officer
Parkinsons Action Network