>> host: looking at magazine articles here and today one is published on news week online saying alzheimer's is expensive, deadly and growing so where is the research money? joining us from new york is abigail jones a senior writer for news week who wrote this story. let's start ms. jones when who is getting alzheimer's disease is how is it growing. >> guest: those are two important questions. alzheimer's disease affects 5.2 million americans today. the majority of people that develop the disease are 65 and older and 4% develop early onset of alzheimer's disease much younger. there is not a single treatment that prevents, stops, slows or

reverses the damage. we are set to have as many as 16 millions with alzheimer's disease by 2015. >> and you sight that in your story. 4 million would grow to 16 million by 2050. >> advanced age is the major cause of the disease squaw we have a huge group of baby boomers reaching the age that is had onset. and you couple that with the factor there is not a single treatment out there to prevent, cure or stop alzheimer's disease. and you know there is a lot of other things going on that we will get to in the next 45 minutes around the lack of funding or less money going toward funding for alzheimer's

research compared to other diseases to help push along the research side of it. a lack of awareness. a hot of people associate it with grandparents and grandma lost her memory and started to f forget things. you don't just lose your wallet. you lose the ability to talk, walk, dress yourself, feed yourself, brush your teeth. and it is a fatal. there a lot of misconceptions out there and by raising awareness we can help raise families. >> host: here are numbers. five million americans are living with the disease and every 67 seconds.

we have a line for those impacted by there disease. and we have the lines otherwise divided for republicans (202) 585-3881 and (202) 585-3880 and all others 202-585-3882. abigail jones, you quote a doctor in your study and everyone said there is an impending crisis 20 years ago and what did they know and how did the medical community -- what did they do?

>> guest: research for alzheimer's is new. it has only come along in the last 30 years. the american cancer society celebrated its hundred anniversary and time is the last two or three decades. until recently the only way doctors could tell for sure if a person had alzheimer's disease and doing a little science for a moment you know alzheimer's develops when blacks -- plaques and tangles develop in the brain and affect the important work of the cells -- the only way doctors could tell this was through autopsy. it is only recently they have developed technology to look at spinal fluid and do brain scans and tell if someone while still living has those tell-tail signs of alzheimer's disease. that was a great breakthrough.

alzheimer's is complex and hard to understand. so for a disease that is hard to breakdown and figure out how it works much less how to prevent and treat it. >> host: how has research funding responded? >> guest: last year the nih dedicated $5 billion to cancer research, $3 billion to aids and $1 billion to diabetes. compare that to the over $500 million given to alzheimer's research.

take that $500 million and compare it to the fact the cost of alzheimer's in the united states this year is set to reach $214 billion and that doesn't include the $220 billion in unpaid their that family members and loved ones are providing to people with alzheimer's. so that funding cap is critical in terms of understanding where we are and finding a treatment and hopefully a cure. >> host: what about the attention that has been put on this issue? seth rogan testified about this. when someone like that goes to capital hill what does that do for research funding were the issue to put it at the forefront of american's minds? >> guest: as much as we may not

want to admit it but today marketing and famous people matter. having an actor like rogan going to washington, d.c. to advocate for alzheimer's was important. he was able to talk about something that is serious, hard and unwieldly to understand and injected levity and comedy and drilled down to the important issues which was the fact his mother-in-law was diagnosed with early onset in her 50's. and he said he had misconception thinking she would lose our wallet but she lost what makes us human: walk, talk, eat and care for yourself. cancer has many public faces

like angelin a jolie and michael j fox is doing the same for parkinson's. people forget after being diagnosed with alzheimer's. it is a harder mountain to climb up to the people who are accessible. >> host: i want to show video from the seth rogan testimony. we were there with cameras. it has been a poplar viewing on our website. a lot of people have gone to see seth rogan testifying and clips of that. here is a bit of his testimony. >> i came here for a few resins. one, i am a huge house of cards fan. [laughter] >> just marathoned the whole thing and had to be here. two is to say people need more

help. i have seen the massive amountl of financial strain this disease causes and if the american people every reject comedy like mine i will never be able to afford it. therefore i cannot imagine how people with limited income are doing this. alzheimer's and related dementia is the most costly disease in the united states. in a country you can get a taco made out of dorritos for $1.20 in this country. deaths from hiv, strokes and heart disease decline alzheimer's is increasing. 5 million americans have alzheimer's and in 35 years as many as 16 million will have the disease. the third reason i am here is to show people they are not alone. so few people share personal stories and have something to

relate to. if me and my wife saw someone talking about this we might feel less alone. the american people whisper alzheimer's because the government does. a whisper is better than silence but it isn't enough >> host: that was seth rogan talking on capital hill. and abigail jones is here. she wrote an article on the disease. what impact has he and others had on the amount of research money? >> guest: it is probably too soon to tell in the weeks pasted since the testimony. but he has -- passed -- a huge empath in the conversation -- impact -- around alzheimer's. if you use twitter or facebook

he blew up the internet. i have been working on this for a couple months and i take up and the topic of the article is plastered on over the internet. diagnose of alzheimer's is no more important or cease serious or devastating than anyone else's diagnose but seth has the ability to call attention to the numbers he is talking about. and between 2000-2010 the number of deaths from cancer and heart disease decrease while at the same time the number of deaths due to alzheimer's disease increased 68%. 68% between 2000-2010 and that is a staggering enough and another piece of evidence to support the fact that the funding dollars need to grow.

>> reporter: seth rogan tweeted this out: after a while two senators were at the hearing. very symbolic of how congress deals with the issue. at the beginning you hear the democratic from iowa saying this is the sixth hearing his committee has held on the issue abigail jones? >> guest: seth got to the heart of the issues felt generally. a few of the doctors i interviewed talks about how alzheimer's disease is whispered about. it is the silent epidemic no one is talking about. there has been work done in the last few years. the national alzheimer's project act was passed in 2011 and created a national plan with the

goal to treat and prevent alzheimer's by 2025 so that is important to note. and in january of this year alzheimer's funding received an additional funding of $122 million. there have been steps in the right direction but the additional $122 million is a step but not the leap forward that, you know, the napa council said we need $2 billion to reach our goal of prevention and treatment by 2025. >> host: gale is up. democratic caller. go ahead. >> caller: i am a nurse of 41 years and work with alzheimer's victims. alzheimer's is not really an old age disease. those of us working in the

profession know. this disease starts as early as 30. i am going to put a famous name on the disease. rita heyward was one of the first diagnosed. there are several stages and the latter ones show up more. one reason i see as a nurse that is causing a death rate and booming rate is because a lot of times when people come up with symptoms they are going to primary care physicians who are not really the ones that you need to sought out to seek the proper care for this disease. we as nurses remember when someone is thought to have alzheimer's disease they have to be seen by a neurologist because

a person who understands the brain can pinpoint what is going on and give the proper medication. i am finding people taking loved ones to primary care positions and putting them -- physicians and on psycho tropic medication and creating more problems and this is the reason for the detect rate. there is major side effects of the psychotropic medications that don't treat the disease of the alzheimer's person. >> host: we will have abigail jones respond. >> guest: thank you for calling in. something you said in terms of the age alzheimer's affects people. i think it is important. it is not just an old person's disease and the trajectory by the time someone is diagnosed they can live 4-8 years and some as many as two decades. that is a long time.

the disease isn't just difficult on the person who has it but his or her loved ones, family and caregivers. a lot of family members become the primary caregiver and they can experience anxiety, depression, isolation. one of the things i wrote about in my article is a film called the genius of marion. it was the first thing that turned me on to this topic. it follows the story of pam white. a wife and mother in the suburbs of augusstin who was diagnosed h early onset of alzheimer's at 61. the film is made by her son and follows not only the aftermath on pam herself but her family.

>> host: we are showing the viewers a little bit of this film. who is featured in this? talk about this more. where does it start and how does it track the development of the disease? >> guest: alzheimer's disease can feel so enormous and unwieldy. this film brings you inside the ever day, hour to hour, day to day experience of a family. you know the family could be my family or any of yours out there listening to this conversation. the film begins in the very early stages of pam's diagnoses. it doesn't hide anything. you go with pam and her husband, ed, to the doctor. you witness those conversations and see her talking with her other son about the medication

the doctor gave her. she doesn't want to take the medication and forgets she has alzheimer's disease sometimes. what the film does is it humanizes what this experience is like for the person with the disease and the people caring for her. >> host: we have a tweet from a viewer who tweeted you as well saying my sister-in-law as alzheimer's in stage six. it is an emotional time and draining. explain the stages of alzheimer's. >> guest: yes, alzheimer's as i said a person can live 4-8 years which is a long time and up to as many as 20. it starts as forgettinforgettin. the changes at first in the book from the couple were almost

unnoticeable. her cooking was off, getting lost to places she knew how to get to and those changes started to multiple. in pam's case her mother had died of alzheimer's disease at the age of 89. so there was a first degree relative who had the disease at an older age. and pam is a good example to talk about her ability to walk and move and dress herself changed. as i said before this disease is fatal and i think that is something that people don't often understand and the affects on caregivers are many and can be extreme. >> host: as part of the spotlight in the magazine series we are talking about an article by abigail jones about alzheimer's disease. jean tweets in with people being

misdiagnosed with alzheimer's whether -- when -- they have having strokes? talk about the prescription drugs available. >> guest: that is a good question. i will preface with the fact i am a journalist not a doctor or scientist but i will share what the doctors and scientist told me. but the first sign of defense is talking to your doctor and going to the alzheimer's association. alz.org. they are a wonderful and very important organization with outreach, support groups, education, 24-hour call in line that is free seven days a week where you can get answers to the questions. those are important resources to know about in terms of better understanding diagnose,

medication and treatment. something that the doctors spoke about is the fact that when someone is diagnosed with alzheimer's the further along it gets doesn't mean the person is immune from other illnesss strokes for example or anything else and part of the challenge is diagnosing the other diseases on top of alzheimer's. often time they will take medication to address agitation which is a common side effect of alzheimer's disease as well as other underlying medical conditions and juggling that group of medications can be hard. you are right. i am not sure what the answer is but i know there are experts and doctors out there who can speak to it. >> host: another tweet from a viewer. my mother is in her fifth year of alzheimer's and my grandfather died of it as well. joanne abilene, texas.

what is your story? >> caller: my mother died of alzheimer's and my sister has it right now. i have cancer. and our situation was or is so bad -- was so bad, that i would rather die of cancer right now than have to go through alzheimer's. it is just -- she has been saying it has been a dreadful disease in our family. and we have not had the resources that so many people have to do other things. we have to go with whatever we can get. >> host: and joanne talk about the resources that are needed. the money and time. >> guest: well you have don't have money to hire someone to come in and be with someone, of course, the family has to do that. but then if you cannot do either one of those things that person is put into a nursing home and

then the care in many nursing homes are not -- is not -- what it should be. you know, it is so bad that the people at the nursing homes do as much as they can for the patients but it is just going from bad to worse. >> host: abigail jones? >> guest: thank you for sharing your story. i am so sorry to hear what your family has gone through and i am sure all of us listening are feeling the same way. you are touching on something that affects so many families out there and that is the challenge of figure out how to care for your loved one when it is so expensive and the disease is complicated and there is no treatment or cure. nursing homes are the answer for

many families who have loved ones with alzheimer's disease. the alzheimer's association puts out a report every year with their annual facts and figures. the new report came out in the within the month and one of the stats said that when they interviewed people more people were afraid of dying or -- i don't remember the exact numbers but developing alzheimer's disease than they were of cancer and other illnesss -- illnesses. this disease is one people are whispering about but people are fearing it. the idea of an illness where you lose yourself is terrifying. >> host: amy is next. your mother has alzheimer's? >> caller: my mother died a year

ago and had alzheimer's. first, abigail thank you for writing the article. my mother actually died from acce sepisis and taking a medicine that burned a hole in her figure. so the people dying from alzheimer's is under. her dementia meant she didn't take her medication with food and it essentially burned a hole in her stomach, caused the bleeding and. so the dementia from alzheimer's caused her to mistake her medication even though it says s sepsis on the death papers. the nih 20 years ago rather than

do independent research was coupling with pharmaceutical companies and people who had a financial stake in developing pharmaceuticals wheith the research money from the nih. this has led to a lot of research being geared toward finding a cure or test or something to do with diagnosing or treating alzheimer's that will give them financial gain. i think there is a problem in that it will only cause you to look at certain areas to research. if it isn't viable or gives you a good return you will ignore that area of research.

i want to reiterate the support for the caller from florida and the nurse who said part of the problem is the primary care physicians lack of knowledge. i had to argue with my mother's primary care physician in a small massachusetts town for several years before he would recommend she see a neurologist and kept telling my mother her memory problems were part of aging. i said this isn't a problem of forgetting your nouns. she calls me several times a day to tell me the same thing. that is not a problem of

forgetiforge forgetting your nouns or the keys. i said this is more serious and he kept arguing saying it wasn't. so the lack of knowledge of primary physicians, the first people to say a patient who may have this, there is a problem and needs to be educated and a broad outreach to bring them up to speed. >> host: all right, amy. abigail jones? >> guest: thank you for calling in and sharing those insights. to respond it a couple things. the death of your mother -- in the beginning, there was a study that came out saying alzheimer's is the cause of far more deaths than goes reported. alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death but it maybe the cause of death for much, much

higher. so the challenge around reporting deaths is now one that is bubbling up in the news so hopefully the numbers change. and to your later point about the lack of awareness and i cannot speak to doctors but i would hope most and assume that most are knowledgeable about alzheimer's but what you say knows to the cultural misc misconception about alzheimer's. i interviewed the chair of the advisory council of napa and he said decades ago it was the c-word, not even cancer, and a lot of great work and research and education has been done to

raise awareness and alzheimer's is caught in the c-word moment. a lot of work has to be done to raise awareness. family, spouses, educators and doctors and everyone out there to better help understand what the warning signs are. what the genetic possibles are and what you can do to live a healthy lifestyle to try to prevent it. >> host: michael on twitter wants to know who are the biggest funders of the research outside the federal government? >> guest: that is a great question. i don't know the answer to it. but i will direct you to the alzheimer's association. they have a robust amount of information not just on warning signs, stages of the disease, but on trials that are going on,

on funders and on how all of that works. >> host: and the website for the alzheimer's association is arv.org. ron from vermont who is a democratic caller. >> caller: i have a son with schizophrenia and he is cured through more a bowl connection. i am wondering if more alzheimer's -- it must take years and years to develop and i believe if you look at russell lock who is a neuro surgeon who is retired. he believes it is just a body burden of neuro toxins that we take in through, you know, air and pollution and our food and gmo and things like that.

and the earlier one ingest these things a person's epigenetics change and genes switch on and off. if you get that condition early enough before you have children then you pass that on to your children. i guess my bottom line is you need to eat well and take care of yourself in the early stages of your life. i believe that is why we are having growth in all of these neuro logical diseases. >> host: abigail jones? >> guest: thank you for calling in. one of the things doctors talked

to me about is what is good for your heart is also good for your brain. a healthy diet. getting regular exercise. doing mental exercise. social engagement and these are all things done throughout your life that will help your brain stay healthy. on the flip side, obesity, smoking, high cholesteral -- these are things that put your heart and brain at risk. >> host: john in lincoln, nebraska. >> caller: i would like to say i think it is very under reported. my grandpa died in 1981 and they called it dementia and i am sure it was alzheimer's. and now my mother has been diagnosed and she is fading away. they don't have no cure or nothing for it. it is just tearing us a part. my dad passed away and now my mom is all by herself.

it is just tearing the family up. >> host: john, i am so sorry to hear about your father and now your mother. abigail jones, he said there is no cure, when you talk to the doctors, do they say there could be a cure? >> guest: yeah, john, i am deeply sorry and saddened to hear about your family. every doctor and researcher i interviewed is doing this work because they believe there is an answer. whether it is a treatment to prevent and slow the development of the disease, to cure it, they believe that that is out there and it is going it take the hard work and it is going to take more dollars and raising awareness. you know, john, i think the experience that you are having is one that is so many people out the are having. just to go back for a moment to

the film, the genius of marion, one thing that everybody in the family talked about was the process of creating this film and getting their story out there has been helpful to them. they have been able to reach out to other people in their situation just having that kind of social support and having people whether they are friend or strangers show up and say, you know, i'm sorry you are going through this, here is my story. these things make a huge difference. families, caregivers feel isolated. even the best of friends don't know how to respond and sometimes it is easier to do nothing and that is what the folks at the alzheimer's association have talking about in terms of support groups,

educational tools and helping the person with the disease but creating a strong support group to the family. >> host: abigail jones, do the doctors or agencies researching this, do they put a timeline on drugs for combating or slowing it down or curing it? >> guest: you know, no, not that i am aware of. in any of my conversations did anyone say in this many years we will have an answer. again, you know napa set 2025 as the goal for effective treatments and prevention but a lot of work has to be done to get there. but the fact that goal is out there is important. it certainly with you know americans living longer than ever before we are getting good at treating other diseases.

with baby boomers aging we need to get good at treating alzheimer's disease. >> host: you mentioned a figure of people saying this much money is needed. what is that? >> guest: $2 billion is the number that napa, the advisory council feels they need to be able to be equipped to try to meet that deadline in 2025. $2 billion seems like a huge amount of money but compare it to, you know, the over $5 billion that went to cancer or the $3 billion that went to hiv and aids. a lot of doctors and researchers say they are not trying to take money away from other diseases but they need the same resources available to them to try to find treatments and preventions for alzheimer's.

>> host: aaron you are up next from maryland. independent caller. >> caller: i want to say my heart goes out to the previous caller. i have a lump as big as an apple in my throat. the previous caller mentioned 80% of your immune system is in your gut. i am a suffer of late-stage lyme disease and i read a lot of journals. you talked about alzheimer's as well. some of the surveillance and research they have done it seems like the emdemic areas where ms, als, and, autism and these people's brain they are finding what is responsible for lyme disease and other bugs.

you are talking about the research and diseases but what about the causes. someone is bit by a tick or mosquitos ten years before that and the process is activated in their body. >> host: here is another tweet. it would be interesting to know environmental chemicals affect on signal receptors. not only sort of the natural environment around us but the chemicals that are around us. >> guest: yeah, those are important questions. you know, i wish i had to depth and background to be able to answer them scientifically. what i can say is that, you know, the doctors i interviewed the main thing they talked about in terms of understanding how alzheimer's disease develops is back to the plaques and tangles

that develop in your cells is and brains. we will have them as we age but people with alzheimer's have more than anyone else. it might seem like a simple definition of the disease but just understanding that took time. that is how complex alzheimer's is. i cannot speak to environmental factors. i would say again alz.org is a great place to go to answer them. i can say there is a statistic i don't think we have discussed and that is by the time women reach their 60's they are twice as likely to develop alzheimer's disease as they to develop cancer. by the time a woman is 65 her lifetime risk of alzheimer's disease is 1-6. for men it is 1-9.

>> host: as you were talking about that i was on the alz.org website and disease facts and figure and women are at the epiicenter of the alzheimer's crisis. do they know why? >> guest: i think the numbers stand that 1-6 being twice as likey to develop alzheimer's than breast cancer are important. there is another whole side of this and we have not spent much time about this. that is the caregiving side. woman act as caregivers for those with alzheimer's far more than men. that means managing family finances, it means grocery shopping, preparing meals, finding doctors, overseeing treatment and everything that is involved in caring for a spouse, a family, loved ones, on top of caring for the person who is

sick. you know a lot of caregivers have to go part-time or leave their jobs all together if they can afford to do that at all. and that side of this is really important. it is one of the things that the genius of marion, the film, shines a light on. >> host: abigail jones, senior writer of news week, we have to leave it there as the house is coming in. thank you for talking to your viewers. >> guest: thank you for having me. >> we will talk to the business coordinator about her piece on the cost of raising a child in the united states and then we will talk about voter targeting in elections. we will take your calls on the release of a veteran's affair report that looks at va medical care in phoenix. "washington journal" live each

morning at 7 eastern on c-span. native american history and then live all-day coverage. saturday evening from bbc scottland a debate on ending political ties to england. and chief justice shares his approach to reading laws passed by congress. on c-span 2 friday at 8 p.m. in-depth with ron paul. and speakers and interviews and viewer call-ins on saturday. and then william burrows talks

to us. a nasamovie about the 1969 moon landing. ...

and the forgotten rights of the poor he talks about the failure of the united nations and other organizations to reduce global poverty since world war ii. the program is from the rand corporati i