The FAIR Foundation is dedicated to fair and equitable distributions of Nation Institutes of Health (NIH) research funds for all diseases, including the sixteen that kill more Americans than AIDS.

10/05/04

The Honorable Joe Barton, Chairman
House Committee on Energy and Commerce
2125 Rayburn Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable James Greenwood, Chairman
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation
U.S. House of Representatives
2436 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representatives Barton and Greenwood:

Thank you for your excellent efforts to insure that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) uphold the highest ethical standards possible and that outside consulting income arrangements are not responsible for favoritism in research allocations.

The AIDS death rate in California's newly infected patients has plummeted 97%[i] and the AIDS death rate in the entire USA for all patients has fallen over 80% yet AIDS still receives 10%[ii] of the entire NIH disease research allocation. This is troubling when, for example, diabetes kills more Americans than AIDS and breast cancer combined, yet the NIH is spending $80 on research for each diabetic [iii] versus $3,084[iv] on each AIDS patient. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) kills almost a million citizens compared to 16,371 for AIDS [v] yet only $40 is spent on each CVD patient. Hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) are more prevalent than HIV/AIDS, yet the NIH is spending only $8,000 and $10,833 per HBV and HCV death respectively compared to $179,000 per AIDS death. [vi]

Although not solely a research expense, it cannot go without mention that since the onset of AIDS, the US government has spent approximately 150 Billion dollars on all AIDS programs.[vii]

On behalf of our 27-member Board of Directors and thousands of our supporters nationwide, including many Texas and Pennsylvania constituents (some are listed below), we at The FAIR Foundation are respectfully requesting that your committee specifically investigate the outside income of every NIH official involved in AIDS funding decisions as well as the consulting records obtained from any drug companies involved with the production, research or distribution of AIDS drugs both within the USA and globally. The purpose of such an investigation would be to clarify if outside income arrangements are partially responsible for the bias that has led to such disproportionate HIV/AIDS funding by the NIH.

We thank you for your attention to this matter.

Gratefully,

Richard Darling, DDS: 2003 National Public Citizen of the Year [viii]
President and CEO: The FAIR Foundation, a national movement to reverse inequities in research
funding distributions by the National Institutes of Health
Founder: The Coachella Valley Hepatitis C, Liver Disease & Transplant Support Group [ix]
Board of Directors: United Organ Transplant Association
Ambassador: OneLegacy, a transplant donor network
Author: Coma Life, an autobiographical memoir of life "within" coma and survival over hepatitis C
induced liver cancer, three liver transplants, heart attack, diabetes [x]

CC: Subcommittee Members; Staff Directors

[i] http://www.fairfoundation.org/quiz/quiz.htm
[ii] http://www.fairfoundation.org/nih.htm
[iii] http://www.fairfoundation.org/factslinks.htm
[iv] http://www.fairfoundation.org/update.htm
[v] http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1402/table7.htm
[vi] http://www.fairfoundation.org/factslinks.htm
[vii] Kaiser Foundation:
http://www.kff.org/hivaids/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=33622
[viii] http://www.fairfoundation.org/misc/naswannouncement.htm
[ix] http://www.fairfoundation.org/support_group_files/desertsunbrian.htm
[x] http://comalife.org/

To insure privacy, The FAIR Foundation member names that accompanied this letter are not included on this website.