Author Terry Pratchett in UK Alzheimer’s plea
LONDON (Reuters) - Top-selling author Terry Pratchett will deliver a petition to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday calling for an urgent increase in funding for dementia research.
Pratchett, 60, creator of the “Discworld” series, revealed last December he had been diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
“I am appalled that research into Alzheimer’s and related diseases, which affect 700,000 people in the UK, currently receives just 3 percent of government medical research funding,” he said in the petition.
“I strongly urge the government to increase funding for dementia research as a matter of urgency.”
Around 20,000 people have signed the petition which has the backing of over 100 leading scientists, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust said.
Pratchett, who is Patron of the trust, said the world faced a “tsunami” of Alzheimer’s and other dementia diseases.
“I intend to scream and harangue while there is time,” he said.
“The strain on carers and their support is bad enough now — before very long the effects on the health service and society itself, will be unbearable.”
The trust said dementia costs the British economy 17 billion pounds ($26.03 billion) a year.
“If scientists could work out how to delay the condition by five years, we could halve the number of people who die with dementia,” said its chief executive Rebecca Wood.
The government says it will continue to invest in Alzheimer’s research and that it has spent 29 million pounds studying dementia and related neurological conditions in the 2006-2007 financial year.
Last month, the publicly funded Medical Research Council and the independent Wellcome Trust announced 30 million pounds of funding for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.
(Reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by Steve Addison and Paul Casciato)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Related Posts:
By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - A U.S. recession could cut AIDS funding and impede the drive to find a vaccine for the disease, a senior official with a group spearheading vaccine research said on Tuesday. The United States is the center of AIDS vaccine research. Its government contributed $659 million, or 69 percent of the
Full Post: U.S. downturn could hurt AIDS vaccine drive: group
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government needs to step up funding for cancer research, which has stagnated this decade, as part of an effort to make beating cancer a national priority, a presidential advisory panel said on Thursday. The three-member panel that advises President George W. Bush on cancer-related matters issued a report detailing
Full Post: U.S. panel urges more cancer research funding
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brain scans of people with an abnormality that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease are strengthening the notion that greater education levels somehow protect against this common form of dementia. People with more education did better on memory and problem solving tests than others with similar amounts of brain plaques related
Full Post: Education blunts effects of Alzheimer’s: study
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LONDON (Reuters) - Mentally demanding jobs and more education appear to protect people from the memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease, Italian researchers said on Monday. The findings bolster the previous research about Alzheimer’s and other forms of brain impairment, said Valentina Garibotto of the San Raffaele University and Scientific Institute and the National Institute of
Full Post: Education protects against Alzheimer’s impact
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Amy Norton NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older adults who smoke may face an elevated risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests. In an analysis of two dozen previous studies, UK researchers found that older adults who currently smoked were at greater risk of Alzheimer’s than were non-smokers. When the results of the studies
Full Post: Alzheimer’s risk upped in senior smokers