concerned. i think we will have to move to publicly financed elections to change this or we will have to go to a third or multiple party system to make a difference in our world as far as working people are concerned. host: thanks for all your phone calls today. we will continue with your comments and questions tomorrow on "washington journal." joining us from afghanistan will be better to do general gary -- brigadier general gary patton. at 8:30 eastern time, republican pollster frank luntz will talk about the latest numbers for 2011. juan williams of the fox news will be with us as well. thanks for being with us. happy holidays. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

>> coming up shortly, a forum on alzheimer's disease which affects 5.3 million people. the british youth parliament debates tuition costs and the afghanistan war. also, fcc event on teens and technology, including driving while texting followed by supreme court case to decide whether an arizona school credit violates the separation of school and state. this weekend, saturday and some

become interviews from london. the labor party is public health, diane abbott under government plans for budget cuts as well as for expenses as a minority in parliament. sunday, comparing the british and american forms of government. this saturday and sunday night at 8:00 on c-span. >> alzheimer's disease affects 5.3 million people and is the seventh leading cause of death. the senate aging committee of the form of the disease earlier this month. we'll hear from an assistant to help him a suspect in -- to from the assistant of health and human services. >> the meeting is called the order. called to order, and today we have a hearing on all himmer disease and its challenges.

as many of us know alzheimer's disease is an irreversible brain disease that destroys memory and thinking skills and the ability to carry out simple tasks. damage first strike the areas that control memory and problems and memory are the first symptoms noticed in early stages of al himmer disease. as it progresses to other areas of the brain, other problems develop as well as it affects the brain and robs the victims of their lives and dignity. it is fatal and estimated to be the 6th leading cause of death in our country. nih estimates that as many as 5 # -- 5.1 million have it today, and this is expected to grow to 13.5 million by 2050. these numbers give an incomplete snap snapshot.

it is the advancecare taking with those requires places a heavy, financial and emotional burden on the family. the complicions related to alzheimer's have to work outside their home to earn a living while monitoring and treatment for family members living with the disease. for many adults known as the sandwich generation, they are dually responsible for caring for their aging parents and also caring for their children. alzheimer's has a devastating impact on the economy as well. it is estimated the cost for those caring for those with alzheimer's exceeds $72 billion a year. these costs remit the burden on medicare, medicaid, private insurance care giving and out out-of-pocket expenses for

families. until we cure alzheimer's it's imperative our health care system provide support for families caring for loved ones with the disease. the affordable care agent that we passed earlier this year establishes the community assisted larry king living program. this legislation provides medicare beneficiaries with free annual wellness visits which may crease the detection of cognitive impairment enabling families to plan for better re needs. this ensures those living with preexisting conditions will not have to worry about insurance coverage discontinued or denied. in the future whether families are the summit of triumph or tragedy is dependent on the innovaon and new drugs being investigated in laboratories across our nation, and today we'll hear from the national

institute they are doing to better understand, diagnose, and treat the disease. the objectives have focused on supporting early drug discovery and drug compounds for alzheimer's therapy. we'll hear about major diseases in the critical path institute to apply regulatory science to strengthen our ability to treat diseases like alzheimer's, and time lee we'll hear from the al himmer's association aut the key research they are supporting as well as their initiatives and resources that help to support day-to-day care taking of individuals with alzheimer's. many of the members of this committee has been touched by alzheimer's and examine the disease. i want to highlight our full committee. i think he is going to be able

to come today, but he informed, basically he is been touched of course by his late mother's own struggle with the disease and for that and a lot of reasons, he's a leader in congress and chairs the congressional caucus on alzheimer's disease. he may join later, but i do want to mention him today. now i'll recognize our ranking member mr. gingrich. >> thank you, and thank you for your patients today. the witnesses will testify as we hear from them and this presents a looming threat to the health of our nation and the numbers is as many as 5 million have this dreaded disease, and the scientific community is in agreement these numbers increase significantly in the coming years as our society ages. according to the united states census bureau, the number of

seniors age 65 and older will actually double to about 72 million in the next 20 years as these baby boomers alleach retirement age. however, as later others will testify, the generation bind them, generation x, the folks born between 1965 and 1980 is a significantly smaller generation than the baby boomers, so why is it comparison significant for the hearing today? as this disease requires monitor ing, the role of the care giver falls to our family members as we all know. an estimated 11illion americans provide 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care annually

for people, usually their loved ones, with alzheimer's and other dementias. the disease also requires large amounts of medical care in addition to in-home and community based services. this high use of medical services results in substantial cost to the federal government, states, employers, and indeed families. if the number of alzheimer's patients indeeds doubles over the next 20 years as many predict it will, we could be facing a health care crisis if the numbers of family care givers decline and have the costly care for the patients ultimately shifts to paid health care professionals. alzheimer's disease is a personal issue for me. my wife's mother was a very healthy and vibrant 88-year-old woman. she didn't hear very well. i think she loved tt, but she was active. she loved to watch sports.

she spent time in her room every day watching baseball. her husband, bill, actually played baseball for the new york giants in the 1940s and laura picked up her love of the game from her husband. watching baseball was her favorite pas tim and spring training kept her warm all winter long. she was then diagnosed with alzheimer's and the woman we know and love was gone forever. gone was the activ 88 and instead was a woman trapped in her body unable to enjoy the compass of these golden years. i can't begin to describe how emotionally druttive this diseasefuls not only for my mother-in-law, but my entire family. there are many stories lik this one that help underscore the importance of finding a cure.

today there's no known treatments to prevent, cure, or delay alzheimer's. the five drugs approved by the fda are shown successful in reducing the symptoms of the disease, but much more needs to be done to utimately fiend a cure, and so with that thought in mind, i'd like to welcome our witnesses here today. specifically i'm interested in hearing from dr. marc cantillon, the executive director of medical diseases and as he'll touch on in his testimony, the goal of his organization is to promote a forum for scientists from the fda, academia, and industry to evaluate innovative testing methods for the drug and use development. as we've hrd, pharmaceutical drug development benefits from industry and the fda. to the fda's credit they

recognize this fact in many areas including antibiotic and drug development something on which this subcommittee will be advancing little pieces of legislation in the 112th congress. as a representatives of the citizens of georgia, i believe the government worked best when it processes are constantly scrutinized and reformed when necessary to ensure they work as efficiently as posble. that theory applies to coress in the white house, but government agencies as realm. flfer, i hope to -- therefore, i hope to learn more about this phrase "applied regulatory science" during the question and answ portion of the hearing and how it might improve patient access to quality care. mr. chairman, thank you for scheduling this hearing today, and with that, my time is expired,nd i will yield back. >> thank you. >> oh, mr. chairman, i did want to ask for unanimous consent to submit for the record our actual

subcommittee ranking member that comes out of john hopkins, evidence for neurorow plays tisty in older adults if there's no objection. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> next for opening statement the gentlewoman from california, our vice chair. >> thank you for holding this, the final health committee of the 111th congress, and i want to thank you for your wonderful services as chairman over the last four years. alzheimer's disease is a very topical subject for thisearing because the challenges faced by patients and loved ones are reflective of the challenges we face throughout our health care system. long term, these are some of the challenges which fit with alzheimer's so well. long term care availability and its cost.

respite care, inadequate work force, and research for better treatments and a cure. now, that's just touching the surface of the many challenges that we face with this and so many othe chronic conditions, but frankfully, the -- thankfully the new health care law provides much needed relief for many of these concerns. one of these is the new long term care insurance option. there's also medicare prescription cost relief, and there's opportunities for training the next generation of health professionals in addition the cure's acceleration network along with what our chairman mentioned as the class act, and, of course, weave a lot more that we should undertake now within the framework of the new legislation. some of these other steps we can take such as passage of legislation that i'm prat to sponsor in the national alzheimes act you're addressing today in your

testimony including the national alzheimer's project, and so with the goal being that we can provide and develop a comprehensive strategy for how to address alzheimer's disease, how to continue as if of you have been doing over the past many years, so i do look forward hearing from our witnesses today about the latest in al himmer research and i understand there's break throughs that have gone through clinical trials and so forth and also what you see for usususus as guidance in thet congress as pressing needs that patients and so many of them in increasing numbers that their caregivers are going to experience. as also mentioned, there's probably not one person in the room who has not been touched personally by this devastating disease, and we need to know if crisis portion really in our society now, how best to quip ourselves and communities to cope with it, so i yield back

and look fward to today's hearing. >> thank you. i also wanted to thank you also as the vice chair. you've been tremendously helpful and so often giving insight on issues because of your practical experience also with a nurse in your [background background, so thank you. our next member for the opening statement is the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your leadership also on the 111th congress on this committee. the poet said that comparisons are odious and no one wants to have their trama compared to somebody else's. i think some exrairgses are useful. many impacts on folks but impacts in terms of the family. i think it's useful to point out we didn't really begin to marshall the nation's resources

until everybody knows somebody's who's been touched by cancer. i thi it's fair to say everybodnow knows somebody touched by alzheimer's and the impact it has on family d the communities of interest around family that is the hallmark of this dreaded disease. i think we can take inspiration by the fact that so many folks are impacted by this. i think it's important to point out also the cost of this disease. the uncompensated care and the out of pocket cost to the system isrowing in ways that i think compare very unfavorably to the other diseases we deal with at the social level. right now we spend $170-plus billion a year in compensated and uncompensated care. take in to account those who are not getting compensated at all for at all is out of our gross social product. it's costing colts over a

trillion dollars a year at current growth levels by the time we reach 2050. it's staggering on folks. the point is this is not only the right thing to do in terms of the quality of life affected by this, it's never been truer this is not the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do is use our resources in a managing way and preventing and treating this dreaded disease. with that, i look forward to hearing the testimony of our witnesses, and i thank you, mr. chairman, making this hearing a large iue that we've been dealing with for a long time. with that, i yield back. >> thank you. next the woman from the virgin islands. >> thank you, and thank you for the hearing. welcome to the folks here to testify, and thank you for not only taking the time to be here, but for the work you are all doing. i really appreciate the approach being taken to the devastating disease, a disease that's

devastating not only to individuals communities and potentially our country because it's a holistic approach in looking at research, but also the caregivers who are often forten. first, the cost of care. due to the cost of care, this bankrupts our health care system. it's estimated that $13.5 million americans will be suffering from alzheimer's and the cost will be as much as $1 trillion a year. second is the great discrepancy of the research and the funding where billions are spent compared to just over $400 million on alzheimer's. third, i want to call attention to the fact that racial and ethnic minorities are

disportioned. they are underdiagnosed compared to their white counterparts and also two other pieces of legislation to show that the national black caucus is really aware and engaged in the issue for several years. one is hr4123, the alzheimer's treatment and caregivers and support act and hr1122 the stce act. both of these bills like the others that are being mentioned in the testimonies will help to take the fight against alzheimer's several step forward and be a part of the solution. again, thank you mr. chairman, and thank you all for being here. >> i thank the gentlewoman, and next is the gentleman from pennsylvania, i mean from ohio, mr. space. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

today is my final hearing in commtee, and i wanted to first express my gratitude to mr. chairman and to chairman waxman aselas members on both sides of the aisle f their work in those profound issues of the day and even a generation. on things like energy, health care, transformation effects that the whole broad band era has brought to this country and our culture, and while we didn't accomplish everything that i think we set out to accomplish, we got a lot done, and there's a lot to be done. my district back in ohio is a very rural district. it's app ration ohio where people are good and work hard

and a lot of good things going for us back there, but there's a lot of challenges we have, and we share those challenges with the rest of rural ameca, and one of the things that you think about the committee, i think, is the affect that it can have on bridging the divide that exists between urban and suburb america and rural america and certainly the divide does exist when it comes to accesses education certainly with regard to accessing health care, and i encourage the committee to be every bit as ambitious in tackling some of those challenges in the upcoming session of congress. with respect to the issue of today, alzheimer's, the remarks of my colleague and friend from georgia, 172 --

$172 billion a year, those are war-like numbers. in other words, those arethe kind of numbers you spend when you go to war. if you couple the amount of money that we're spending as a society on bees like alzheimer's with whate're spending on diseases like diabetes, cancer, and the list goes on and on, it soon reaches a trillion dollar level. in fact, alzheimer's alone by 2050 will reach that level, and we cannot sustain that as an economy. when john says it's not only the humane thing to do, it's the right thing to do. what he's saying is if it's not important enough to deal with these issues simply because of the mitigation of human suffering thatccurs as a result of these diseases, then certainly we should be able to

justify the ct, and like alzheimer's and diabetes and cancer, the answer from a congressional perspective is in medical research. we cannot simply rely upon the private sector to tackle these diseases. not simply becauseit's not the right thing to do, but we can't afford it. for every dime we invest in research, we will receive a return of dollars in the future, many dollars. i urge this committee and future efforts including these efforts with regards to alzheimer's to bear in mind the obligation we have as an institution, as a government, and the duty we have to our people to conquer these diseases through early diagnosis, advanced diagnosis, advanced treatment, andabove all, a cure. let's not forget cure. with that, again, thank you for

youreadership, mr. chairman, and it has been a pleasure rving on your committee. >> mr. chairman? >> yeah? >> can i have a brief point of personal privilege? let me first of a from my friend of ohio, mr. space, truly is my friend, we know that. indeed, we'll miss him. he's a great member with a great heart and the words he expressed to this committee indicate the type of person that he is, and in fact, we will miss you, and i really enjoyed serving with you and i hope to keep in touch, my friend. also, wanted to say to you, mr. chairman, and i say this on behalf of my colleaguesho i guess are on airplanes right now trying to get home to their families, and not the least to which would be ranking member john schmkis, we enjoyed serving under you on this committee, not

always agreeing on votes, but no one could be more agreeable when he disagrees, and mr. chairman, we respect you and hold you in high regard and look forward to serving with you in the 112th. >> well, thank you. i really appreciate that, and i want to say the same about you. i mean, you're input not only as physician, but just in general has been fantastic, and you know, i kind of wish that he was here today too because i wanted to say how easy it was to work with him in the last, i guess it'sot two years, it's a little over a year or so, and it is true. i think that even though we often disagree on issues, we have been able to work together on many issues, and it kind of bothers me sometimes when the media pays attention to the differences and doesn't highlight what bills we passed and worked on together and got signed into law that were very

important for the american people, so thank you. let me say about mr. space, i again, i know that i'm really going to miss him. he's really contributed a lot and has be a friend on many different issues so thank you, thanks so much. okay. we'll get to the panel. let me, let me welcome you first of all. we only have one panel today, so i'll introduce the members starting on my life is dr. marcelle morrison-bogorad who is directer of the division of neuroscience at the national institute of aging with the national institutes of health. next is mr. harry johns who is president and chief executive officer of the alzheimer's association, and then we have mr. eric hall who is president and chief executive officer o the alzheimer's foundation of america, and finally dr. marc cantillon, did i pronounce it right? it's french, okay. okay.

who is executive director of the coalition against major disease from the critical path institute and happens to be a constient, so i should know how to pronounce his name, so thankou in particular for being here today. weave 5 minute opening statements that become part of the record, and've of you can also submit other writis if you'd like. i will now recognize dr. marcelle morrison-bogorad. >> [inaudible] [inaudible] the national institute on aging of the nih. one of our responsibilities, so in this rard i want to tell

you of our 2009 cgressional mandateed -- [inaudible] i am retiring at the end of this year. -- [inaudible] >> thank you. >> the momentum is there and i believe my successor will have this joy. federal researchers, other scientific agencies, the private sector, and nonfor profit are collaborating as never before to solve the mysteries of this disease. for example, we have regular meings with each of the entities that will testify at this hearing. we have partnered with the alzheimer's association on many occasions, and ongoing is a joint venture on uating the definition of ad. the alzheimer's foundation of

america and other organizations held briefings a coupleof weeks ago where richard, director of nia was asked to testify, and we work with the coalition against major diseases for the institute on matters related to innovations and use on clinical trials. the nia plans and manages an extensive program to better treat and ultimately a way to prevent alzheimer's. how do we do this? ll, from our alzheimer's summit in 2006, the 2010 state of the science conference from numerous specialized workshops, from programmer fields by our nia counsel every four years, we get input from all these sources and from the deciding the best way toes advance alzheimer's

research with our funding. for example, at the 2006 summit, it was recommended recognize families. we have since funded the international dominantly inherited alzheimer's network to study preclinical disease in these families. earlier this year, nih state of the science conference reported there was so far insufficient evidence that any behavioral interventions for or cognive decline were affective and that we ought to devote more resources to the questions. even before the report was finalized, we have stepped up our funding or clinical ials to get definitive evidence where there are not various exercise and cognitive interventions that

might impact age-related cognitive decline, impairment, and ad. now we are funding around 20 such trials. the alzheimer's disease near imaging initiative is another ample of our leadership. this is the ve successful public private partnership to identify bilogical and imaging markers for better way of monitori ad clinical trials and also identifying at risk people for the disease clinically. here we identified the process in a series of meetings bringing together all interested parties to discuss what initiative would be most useful for them for development in a precompetitive setting, and these discussions led to funding in 2004. the substantial financial

support from industry and from non -for profits. another aspect of our planning process is to ask our director for funds to specifically target new areas that neeto be developed. an example is our translational initiative. partly through these targeted funds, this important and innovative portfolio has dwroan to over 60 projects each aimed squarely at bringing a new drug to the stage where it can get tda approve for performing clinical trials. this is a particularly important area for us to develop as pharmaceutical companies are often unwilling to put moneys into the beginnings of the drug discovery process and

translational research. one reason that drug trials have not worked so far may be that the drugs are given too late in the disease to have any effect, but prevention trials to test those possibilities take a lot of money and time under current protocols. we are developing new methodologies and in the meantime, we have been able to fund a number of prevention trials by the simple way of adding cognive measures on to trials stted for other clinical conditions offered by other institutes, so it's a chp way to fund the trials. other therapies for alzheimer's are directed against unique aspects of the disease, and so for these more specialized

interventions, noia must continue to develop ad specific trials. we make difficult decisions all the time about where to put our resources. we do not he a crystal ball to tell us what approach will eventually payoff in relieving suffering from this frightening disease. we are committed to trying every promising avenue, and we will succeed. thank you. >> thank you very much. next is mr. harry johns. >> thank you very much, and good afternoon, chairman, distinguished members of the committee. i want to also thank ranking member and all of you for holding this hearing this afternoon. i'm harry johns, the president

and ceo of the alzheimer's association. it was created in 1980 and is the leading in care and support and in the funding of al himmer research as the largest nonprofitunder of alzheimer's research in the world. to do our job, we spend a lot of time listening. listening to people with alzheimer's, their caregivers, their families, to researchers, our many collaborators, and to hundreds of thousands of our advocates. we hear their stories and experiences, and they inspire us to go further faster, to provide better care, and ultimately the cure that we all seek. we listen to those families in your districts, and we listen to our own families. my moth had alzheimer's disease herself. any of us who have seen the disease up close don't want to

see it again for anyone, to have the disease or to be a caregiver. regrettably we know it will happen much more ahead of us. you know, the effects of alzheimer's as stated previously are truly devastating at the man level. in this country alone as previously referenced, we estimate actually there are abt 5.3 million people with the disease. 200,000 them are younger on set, younger than 65, and by the middle of the century, it could be as high as 13.5 million. today, if you do develop alzheimer's, we can say with certainty, absolute certainty, you'll die with the disease or of it. of the ten leading causes of death as previously mentioned, alzheimer's is now six,

alzheimer's is growing the most rapidly, a 50% increase between 2000 and 2007, the last year that statistics are available, and it's the only one of the top ten causes of death that have nothing to do to prevent, stop, and even slow it. alzheimer's is likely underreported, already today it's killing more people than diabetes, more people than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. of the 11 million caregivers i should say in the united states alzheimer's can literally take everything they have to give, their time, their money, their jobs, and their own good health. it happens every day, oftentimes never to be recovered. one study at last indicates that people who are caring for a

spouse with alzheimer's can actually predecease the individual with the dease. empacts are devastating. you mentioned the $172 billion in cost today going as high as 1 trillion by the middle of the century repord in the alzheimer's association trajectory report earlier this year, and those are in today's dollars, not inflated dollars. those are dollars rated in today's terms. a total of $20 trillion for the next 40 years just to pay for the care costs, not an acin additional cent for the research we so badly need, and our country is simply not ready for this on onslaught of alzheimer's that's already upon us. let's take the case of research funding. we made significant progress in other diseases in no small part because of the investments we

made in those diseases. spending spent at the federal level for cancer is $6 billion, cardiovascular is $3 billion. those are good investments. they paid off and lives saved and they'll continue to pay in that way for our country, but in alzheimer's, we're only spending $469 million a year despite the otheruge impacts we've already discussed. we know that more money invested in research saves lives, but too late mon invested in research costs lives, and ultimately will drive those very huge care costs into the trillions. today, right now, we spend $250 in america on care costs for alzheimer's and dementia compared to $1 invested in research. 250 to 1.

to address this, the alzheimer's associion strongly supports the break through act, a bill that authorizes $2 billion in alzheimer's research, but the alzheimer's association will not ask others to do what we won't do ourselves. we play an unparalleled role in the research community in alzheimer's globally as well as in the united states, and that certainly includes direct investment in al himses and investing in science. our peer-reviewed program since inception funded $269 million making us the largestfunder in the nonprofit world, and through partnerships and our own funding, we played a part in every major advance over the past 0 years as a result, but as i discuss these necessary investments in alzheimer's research and more broadly, i

mechanize our country is engaged in a necessary conversation about our fiscal situation. excuse me, our fiscal situaon as a country. we have to address that, but alzheimers unaddressed is one of our most devastating issues both human and financial. so we must aim at what is the highest return potential we have for investment with al -- alalzheimer's being one of them. health care costs three times more for each individual. >> i've been trying not to cut anybody off because we only have one panel. >> let me wrap up quickly. >> all right. >> thanks, chairman. certainly i want to mention the

act and i want to thank this committee for its leadership, certainly again want to recognize congressman who you mentioned for his leadership as the author. certainly recognize dr. burgess who provided leadership on this and senate passed the bill yesterday. we look forward to the real possibility of the house passing it. we urge you to pass it, and we look forward to working with this committee and the congress to realize the ambition of the alzheimer's association's vision, a world without alzheimer's disease. >> thank you. >> chairman, members of the committee, thank you for the hearing d providing the alzheimer's association to testify. i eric hall, the chief executive officer and i'm nored to

testify on behaver of our member organizations and families that we care for across the country. faa was formed in 2002 to provide care and services to individuals confronting dementia and to their caregivers and families through member organizations dedicated to improving quality of life. today, our membership consistents of more than 1400 organizaons including grass roots nonfor profit organizations, government agencies, publicsivity departments, and long term care communities. our services include toll free hotlines stafferred by licensed social workers, educational material, care advantage which is a free quarterly magazine that reaches 1 million readers, afa teens, a web based port, and scholarship program and our national scrning day. as a foundation, our money is generate the by service organizations as well as respite grants to families who are in

need. recognizing this severe fiscal challenge facing our nation, it is more important than ever to leverage available private sector resources in a cost effective manner to support public sector initiatives. we make investments to tackle the chaenges associate with alzheimer's disease and related dementias for both individuals andheir family caregivers, but the needs of the population are going to overwhelm our resources in the years to come. the national institute of aging report said as many as 1.5 million americans over 65 are today dying with this disease, anthose numbers are projected to increase dramatically in the coming years. the cost associated with the disease will put a heavy burden on families, businesses, and government economically. it is our opinion that increased investment in preventing, treating, and our curing chronic

diseases of the aging such as alzheimer's disease is perhaps e most, single most effective strategy in reducing national spending on handgun. chronic diseases account for more than 75% of those on medicare and other health expenditures. unprecedented increases in these diseases as the population increases is why the budget projects total spending on health care will rise to 2 a% of the u.s. gdp by 20250. our nation doesn't not have the luxury of time to wait to address the health research needs of the population. recent report tighted global aging 2010, an irreversible truth stated no other force is likely to shape the future of tional economic health, public finances, or policymaking at the

irreversible rate at which the wod's population is aging. the cost of caring for people will profoundly affect growth pros prospects and steer debates worldwide. as we learned fr the experience we all had with polio, heart disease, and other diseases, medical research and breakthroughs can have a profound impact on reducing health care costs. as the extension of life expectancy from age 47 in 1900 to 80 in 200 demonstrating medical advantages and prosperity, yet those benefits can only come about in nih makes the needed investments in research aimed at preventing, curing diseases and extending healthy life. afa recognizes the serious fiscal challenges facg our nation which will require congress to carefully scrwt

news future funding priorities. we believe it is crical to leverage available resources within the private secr including non-for-profit organizations including our own to have cost effective initiatives which is why we need congress to be our partner. this subcommittee and full energy commerce committee played a role in overseeing the mission of the nih, and we respectfully urge your support for continued amendment to this important research. afa is seeking $1.4 billion, an increase of $300 million in fiscal year 2012, national institute of health budget specifically for the national institute of aging. this funding is the minimum essential to sustain the research needed to make progress in attacking the chronic diseases that are driving mass increases in our national health care costs. that level of funding would make the nia's baseline consistent

with comparable initiatives made elsewhere. if nih funding is not significantly increased, we stand to lose a generation in aging in alzheimer's disease. this would be an enormous waste so they accelerate the discoveries that are translated into prevention and efficient health care to reduce the burden of this silver tsunami of age associated chronic diseases. this can lead to treatments and public health interventions to slow the progression of costly conditions such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, bone fractures, age-related blindness, parkinsons, and alzheimer's disease. from a budgetary perspective alone, this could save trillions of dollars by the middle of this current century.

at the alzheimer's foundation of america, our incredible strength and quick success has come from collaboration. afa looks forward to work with members of the subcommittee to address important issues raised in today's hearing, and in the long term to end devastation caused by alzheimer's disease. thank you. >> thank you, mr. hall. is the mic on? might hav to bring it closer. >> mr. chairman, chairman, and staff, thank you for the opportunity to present testimony on this important topic. i'm marc cantillon, a practicing physician and a neuroscientist with 15 years in research and drug delopment and within the pharmaceutical industry. this is a nonprofit organization founded in 2005 by the fda and

the arizona community in order to build collaborations that identify more reliable and efficient methods to test new medicines applied regulatory science. as you have heard, in spite of the exciting discoveries in research, lack full translation. we lack new medicines that could significantly alter the course of the disease, and indeed, we've seen huge alzheimer's disease drug trials fail. nevertheless, there is reason for a renewed hope. across the hall in science is a proverb written that i'd like to quote. where there is no vision, the people perish. proverbs. thanks to the work of this subcommittee, the fda's amendment act of 2007 including a decision to create theublic private partnerships. we're extremely grateful to congressman blackburn for their

leadership in the legislation. the coalition against major diseases can be one of the first of the partnerships launched by the fda and it's already creating and identifying new tools to speed the safe development of new mdicines for alzheimer's and other diseases. thisecreates the sense of urgency and open collaboration that made the unprecedented rapid progress against aids possib. sharing this knowledge was a hallmark and generally accepted as the reason that the rapid success was secured against th epidemic. crted by c-path, it is a consortium that currently includes scientists from 12 major pharmaceutical companies, nih scientists, as well as experts from patient organizations such as my colleagues here today, the alzheimer's association and alzheimer's foundation.

along with the agency, the ema and indeed the mapa including 250 scientists that participate in sharing what they know about alzheimer's disease and how they better contest new territories. these accomplishments already changed the way we attack this devastating disease. firstly, researchers score dementia in a clean call trial, and it is corrected over a dozen inconsistencies. now 's possible for them to compare results directly from study to study. this is a great example of applied regulatory science because it improves the quality, the accuracy, and efficiency of decisions made by both the regulators and the regulated industry, the pharmaceutical industry. first ever camd was able to pull

this from 11 trials om different pharmaceutical companies creating the most reliable data base in the world and it describes the natural course of the disease in over 4,000 patients. over 200 teams of scientists are using this. for example, modeling. in the past, former scientists had to design trialing based on their experience or what they read in literature. this data base allows the patient level data to show progression over time. 24 is far more -- this is far more prosice than clinical experience or literature. this allows them to accurately predict the outcome for a particular trial or how long the time must be or how many patients must be including. indeed how jen nettics might respond differently ect., camd is working with others to pool

data to further enrich this is a leading edge tool. they are also using the qualification process described. in this work, camd submits data and has brain imaging tools or tests as qualified for identifying patients much earlier in their disease when there is still brain function to be saved. if there are rsons for hope that is. the critical past is applying science at the fda. however, we need your help. understaffing is a serious problem and it is especially critical for camd. we need your support to be able to have the number of scientists and staff to participate in this and other critical path partrships. this is the science that is changing the way drugs are tested and evaluated today so that alzheimer's c be prevented, not just slowed.

thank you for the opportunity to provide this testimony and everybody in the camd thanks you for your leadership and sight in authorizing the critic path, public private partnerships that are giving new hopes to patients and families at risk for this devastating disease. i'd be happy to answer any questions. >> thank you, doctor, and thank you all of you. we'll take questions from the members, and i'll start with myself and i'll start with dr. marcelle morrison-bogorad. scientists know alzheimer's hits the brain long before people exhibit decline, but the specifics are crucial because so far drug after drug failed to affectivel treat alzheimer's in people who already show symptoms, and i know you mentioned or suggested that that was part of the problem that perhaps the answer is earlier treatment before you actually have the signs of the disorder. what i wanted to ask is why are bilogical marker whether gene

mutations or brain changes important to the development of affective treatment for alzheimer's and what research is nia conducting to better understand the markers? i'm going back to the same issue that you mentioned that perhaps we should be starting earlier, but we have to know whether people have the disorder. >> probably one of the items that we're pushing most of our efforts on to these days because we do think that understanding the earlier stages of alzheimer's disease are very important, and we've thought that over since we reissued the request for applications for funding our alzheimer's disease centers across the country becaus oh, about eight years ago now, we said to them, forget about late stages of disease. we want you to really, really

concentrate in the earlier stages so we've thought about this for quite a long time, and obviously, one of the things that held us up has not been able to be -- has not been able to identify preclinical stages. that's one of the things that really is being addressed by the alzheimer's disease and imaging initiatives because especially in people who are with symptoms are people who are developing mild cognitive impairments which is a pcursor to alzheimer's. researchers working together with industry and people funded by us identifying markers and th spinal fluid and these markers are lowered amyloid and

higher levels of a proteins that signal a person is approaching the stage of mild cognitive inparent. the other technology which has been developed by us and others is actually being able to look at the brains of individuals see view brail plex that is the most amazing breakthrough in years because it's the largest area where a number of older folk older than 65 or 70, about 20% of these folk who otherwise wafer been thought of as normal, who are quite normal cognitively have levels of amyloidlaques

in their brain, but in some cases are equivalent to a person with al him -- alzheimer's disease who can't at the moment function for themselves. ..

>> i had a second question but imet would prefer if anybody else wanted to comment on this issubecause i think it's pretty important, any of the others like to? >> i would simply add that what marcelle has said is certainly one of the most exciting areas obering. we worked together on this and the alzheimer's association over the summer there was significant there were significant findings atleast on this very front. it is a potential to get to the point we can actually find alzheimer's and it's not yet ready for the clinic. that is for the lab at this point. that is a significant set of advances that are very important. what is of course very important is we have a parallel in treatments. right now we're making fast

advance on the diagnostic sciences been on the treatment site so what we need to do is catch that up and that is ne of those important reasons. thank yo mr. gingre >> thank you. i think i will shift to the treatment aspect of it and maybe come back to the interesting thing is you just talked about regard to the early diagnosis dr. cantillon, i hope i did better. i know i sounded pretty bad the first time. i have a lot of respect for the work the fda, food and drug administration, performs. but that being said, i'm interested in exploring how the fda drug approval process might be improved in the hope it may help spur a development such as alzheimer's i think i mentioned in my opening remarks that i

have introduced legislation along with my colleagues here on the committee, energy and commerce committee, health subcommittee, bipartisan, mr. green and ms. degette on the democratic side and mr. rogers from michigan on this side, the game that is in regard to the shortage of xenobiotic, so different disease, different category of drugs but equally as important. can you tell me, dr. cantillon, how applying scientific advances such as the use of the drug development tools might aid in drug development in this country? >> thank you. actually as a medical director of alzheimer's and other programs over the last coup of years i did sit on an industry

group dr. speed will be speaking about and given the jurors the instruments and markers being developed i had my hat on in terms of both drug development and facing the fda with a package for an approval for treatment. the trouble is when you're coming from a drug developer point of view this is very cutting edge and as i said in my testimony the science by itself is truly not enough to half exciting markers that may predict something that is going on in the brain if it cannot be harnessed into a path and a defendant steps to use a new drug and prove that. i will give you an example. so we talked just now about the spinal fluid where we knew there were certain proteins that can indicate both disease and perhaps even the type of progression predicted. we would take that and we are taking that in a collaborative way with coalfield so just one

collaboration i had mentioned look at the evidence for that in a critical way, in a scientific manner. the regulatory science part is aving the scientific comics internationally view that in a context of u.s. does that allow you to choose a population for a trial not demented sought to call you demented you don't need a doctor. it's veryclear the person doesn't of the brain functioning for memory and so forth. to find someone early in the disease or hasn't this show on the clinical symptoms you mean these markers. can wask for the fda regulatory approval but these are standardized and such a way that they can become a tool for the standard tool publicly available to any company in this country or anywhere else to take off the shelves and put into a program such that by using this tool they don't have to defend that when they go in front of the fda. the process has already been

done in this qualification and instead they can focus on their own drug that it fits io this pattern a can use the patient population for a sample to show a progression over time. to those people who have low the beta or a particular brain picture, do they progress faster than others and can you show a difference in the people who are on drugs and off drugs? that is helpful development process can make use of this science and translate it into something the fdacan then approve or not approved. the fda t out a document partially from working with us just two the steps are laid out very clearly pity essentially it is show us the evidence, very similar -- >> my time is rapidly growing to a close but let me very quickly ask you to using it's appropriate that such a drug developer tools or by zero markers that the first receive

approval by the fda before being used by industry and the agency to make the safety and efficacy of the drug? do you think the fda would have to approve this off the shelf kind of testing ahead of time? >> if you have the pulse of the ability just to prove for commercial or other use of within the context of use we are talking about the context were told that tool to help define a particular population. so for example let me give you another consortium. we developed some markers for the kidney injury. they were brand new and they could allow a drug developer or anybody to show something inning were happening very early on before the kidney actually was deroyed. these markers on through the qualification process and are being very widely used by all including my former one to make decisions about drug development. when they go to the fda they don't need to defend the markers for kidney as the of already been approved so it takes a lot of that work away and focus.

>> that does answer my question and i will yield back, mr. chairman. >> thank ou. as the gentleman from the virgin islands. >> thank you, mr. sherman. dr. morrison-bogorad, during the impact on minorities, is the national institute of minority health and research which is formerly the senator among the nih institutions that you're collaborating with? and also and how diverse or that since in the clinical trial? >> again it is something we pay particular attention to. especially in our flagship clinical trials, alzheimer's disease, one of the consortium, and there we have made it a rule

that a certain mber of people in each clinical trial that we run our minorities and it is an extremely helpful because we think it is a fifth of the folks who participated in these trials are minorities. is it is amazing what a local rule will do. we certainly have got quite a vibrant program epidemiology looking at alzheimer's disase and minorities and comparing that with alzheimer's, and i would say at the moment the results are somewhat equivocal because many of the ways in which you define alzheimer's

disease are also very dependent on things like the education of the person who is taking the test and many older african-americans,of course for other reasons, haven't had the education that they should have had and so they don't do as well in these tests as they should. it doesn't mean they have alzheimer's so this is a very, very thorny issue and we have good researchers working on that to actually try to tease out at part of the minority version of alzheimer's is real and i do believe some of it is because some of the possible things that cause alzheimer's as you are aware are much more prevalent on the minority communities, things like heart

disease, but i do believe that some of the numbers are a little bit older and larger than they should be because of this issue on how to determine alzheimer's disease and people with different backgrounds. >> this is interesting because my an impression that is that this under ba noseather than over diagnosed and minorities, but i will let anybody comment on that but i wanted to ask, if i can get this question mistreat because this hearing is about getting more funding for alzheimer's, and i heard your argument through clearly for the need of increased investment in alzheimer's to reduce the cost of health care eventually and perhaps even save medicare. we've been trying to get them to score prevention for a while,

actually legislation to have them do that at the committee, so witho having the prevention how do you foresee getting the funding needed especially in congress committed to cutting spending and how important do you think the present and is of this particular issue? >> certainly as you say, the fact is cbo will score what i would describe as th game changer. that is a problem for all of us when we have an interest in what would be effectively r&d for the country. we really have beyond the immediacy of alzheimer's what is the potential brain drain and now were country as a result of research being attracted and while the isn't specific all summer it is generic and then related in alzheimer's and medical research, so we had as a

country to face what is first of all significant problem in that regard with medical research and very specifically alzheimer's and of course we have the challenge of facing our economic realities and also in funding something that cannot be scored. we recognize fully the difficulties of this, but we can also see from the projections we've done, and we've gone to outside sources, the alzheimer's association, to develop what are the the debt. we actually use the cms aeda on expeitures, on medicare and medicaid. we have taken those to dartmouth and we said the group will get this the that and what we have identified is that the 20 trillion-dollar cost over the next 40 years, one of the problems we have in the country is addressing problems that are longitudinal, the of you sitting across from me know that there is a mauney in terms of how hard it is to make those things work.

but we certainly not come to my, the alzheimer's association and any of us here sitting on this side trying change the course of alzheimer's disease. we have defined the national fortitude to address this already enormous problem. everyone who has the disease today will die with it or of it. we do not have a treatment that stops or even this close at. the devastation that a human level for all of us, all of us who've experienced it personally and for all of those who haven't, we recognize just how bad that is. i don't have an easy answer for the question, but the scale of the problem, the enormity of the issue begs for us to find a way to answer the question so that we can address this now. we are running out of time. one of the things the marcelle

ntioned is that the science community believes ever more that we need to intervene sooner that the plaques and tangles of the disease are deposited earlier in life at least ten years before the symptoms manifest. in fact we don't make these investments relatively soon, the baby boomers, 10 million of whom will have this disease will be a lost cause and the devastation at the human level and the economic toll will be solidified if we don't move relatively soon >> thank the gentleman, and next we have the alzheimer's hero who actually sponsored both of the bills that you mentioned, the one i guess is now in the house for action hopefully next week as well as the larger bill. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thank the witnesses so much for your participation here today.

robert browning fruit grow old with me the best is yet to see, but the truth is that for the millions and millions of americans, the golden years and now the worst years because of alzheimer's and the fami caregiver who has to help, and so this is now at 4 million or 5 million americans already an epidemic so as we know not only does the alzheimer's patient have the disease but one family member has it was also about 10 million americans are living with it on a daily basis in their homes in some facilities. and when it goes up to 12 million times to come up 24 million, 25 million people, the care giver and the patient is going to be an incredible moment in american history. so we have an incredible

responbility to make sure that we put in place aplan, and mr. chairman, you made reference to it, which is the national alzheimer's project act that i introduced on this side with the co-chair of the task force passed the senate fuss might and senator bayh and cementer collins did an excellent job and we will be able to pass that next week on the house floor and then we will have plan, we will have something that makes it possible to put in place something that is a plan to attack this disease but it is a good beginning. let me ask you thiand maybe you could reflect upon it if you

could. last year the federal government spent $122 billion on heling people with alzheimer's. but really invested 469 million in finding the cure, and we know we are oy at the beginning of the explosion of the bills that are going to come in this room across america for the federal government to help families with alzheimer's. can you reflect upon that and give your insight to how big it is coming to become? it is imperative that we act now. >> certainly and let me thank you for your authorship and the leadership of yours in the committee. certainly the alzheimer's is already costing the 172 billion you talked about for te federal government. incidentally the medicare level alzheimer's is driving 17% of

the medicare budget. >> see that again. >> 17% is driven by alzheimer's already today. the total cost for alzheimer's again to the country will be by the middle of the century in excess of 1 trillion per year and by far the bulk of that will be the federal government cost projected from today's levels with no changes so that is simply will not be affordable not only on the economic front, the again on the human front. we can't accept what will happen to the families. we do not have the ability to deal with of the end of life considerations of the long term care. families at some point, dedicated as they are with 70% of the people who have alzheimer's living at home and care for at home at some point the other percentages a result

of the fact that families, no matter how much time they spend, the 24 hours a day they often spend as caregivers, especially tord the end of life, it i no longer enough where they simply are not capable of handling of the difficulty of the care at ho so we are not equipped at this point as you have indicated to have a plan for any of the things at this point and now but will hopefully address that but we are not prepared as a country to handle any of these problems at the scale that they are going to rise to. >> this is just something that isn't well understood as it will be. my mother had alzheimer's and she was the valedictorian. my father was a milkman and always said it was an honor that my mother married him and so he is to say as well it is the strength of your brain determining who got alzheimer's he would have had it and my mother would have been taking

care of him but we know this is an equal opportunity disease and at age 80, 82, 84, 86, 88, my father kept her in our living room in the arms of a milkman the size of my legs and he was able to do it but for many families it becomes exhausting, you can't do it. there's the point beyond which you need help and that comes increase slightly from the federal government in $122 billion a year right now. but i don't think actually we are going to be able to solve the federal budget deficit if we don't dramatically increase the federal investment in research. it'll be $1 trillion a year just for alzheimer's care and another 15 years. it's just a number that is going to increase exponentially and despite the efforts of people like my father and of their families all across the country these people are heroes. the need help and hope and only the national institutes of

health really the institute of hope give people the courage to keep on going. so this whole effort is absolutely i think it should be the number-one issue to be honest with you just as a budgetary secretary, from the humane perspective, yes -- it's, to me, coupled with the alzheimer's breakthrough backed, which it introduced, and the hope act, the health outcomes planning and education act we have to put in place the kind of ingredients of the plan that make it possible for us to solve this problem and i commit to all of you that i am going to work my heart how to make this something that becomes real in people's lives and i can't think

you enough's. mr. chairman, i think you for conducting this hearing. i don't think there is a more important subject. >> thank you for all yo do, mr. markey, on this and other issues. mr. engel? >> thank you, thank ou free much, mr. chairman. right in the nick of time. first i want to thank everyone on the panel. this is certainly a very, very important and something that i have had a lot of concern abot. i think that what all of my colleagues have said, this is what we ought to be spending money on when we talk about some of the other issues and i hink we should all agree on issues like this. mr. chairman, i want to ask unanimous consent to insert my opening statement in the record,

and let me ask dr. cantillon -- first thing you for your comments. i was told the comments he made before and i deeply appreciate you saying that. the critical path initiative is certainly something near and dear to my heart. i strongly support the public-private partnerships and am pleased to learn this program has been very effective in tackling diseases dislike alzheimer's, and you mentioned in your testimony that one way the congress can be helpful is to provide the resources to increasing the staffing levels of the fda and as i mentioned before i could not agree more. we need to increase resources to the fda to bring the new drugs to market but given the limited resources we are working with i was wondering if you could address other ways we might help break down the barriers to translation research and help fill in the gap that opened up between biomedical researchers d the patient who need their

discoveries which we unfortunately referred to as the value of death. >> thank you for your partnership. i think the public-private partnerships are certainly a major part of the answer in this fiscal environment, so we have all said several times this is about to bankrupt our country and many other countries around the world and there aren't unlimited funds to put into each disease and maybe we need to look at an innovative science and innovative we get answering the questions that have come up. so the fda is going to be faced with a lot of the new science are riding in different ways. part of what we had been working together with to translate this finance not just let's say from the test tube but all the way to the medication at the end, in other words to make the process available to be able to gather the evidence yearly information. the fda doesn't have but a

handful of staff we deal with on a very regular basis i mentioned as a part of our consortium and the europeans are in a similar situation so what i was referring to is basically stretching the dollar and the people we have and what we are seeking to do more of is in fact in a kind of work and there's a lot you can do with that, a lot of scientists like a lot of data that have been final be it in government or within companies once the trial is filled at the highest on the shelf somewhere. definitely with the kind of tools we are talking about the data can be reexamined and perhaps there will be some pearls but they also can be mindful of the learnings that are there. that is public that wants to all of us and we put together the various methods to do that. i would say it is an innovative tool to get eople to give up their thinking and will get a

pretty competitive space for companies and even for academics that they don't own the the devotee generated but it belongs to the people and if we can set up that way the database i mentioned but also the other tools, then that is three for the best mind in the world to attack and it's very efficient way of doingthat. >> thank you for pointing that out. it certainly is a shame if research is put on the shelf and no one else can get to it or look at it. this has to be a collaborative effort obviously, and you know, thank you for pointing that out. i would like to ask a question of mr. hall and mr. johns. as ensure you are aware the patient protection and affordable care act which is referred to as health care reform that we just passed, we were doing this as you know for almost two years. there was a provision that improves access to home and community-based care for patients.

we know that the services greatly improve the quality-of-life for alzheimer's patients. health care reform as we know strength as long term care systems for chronic and other long-term neurological conditions posed by eliminating the cap on the treatment which we did, that was one of the crowning glories and by extending coverage to include preexisting conditions which is the second pillar that is so important in this bill. in an effort to improve the programs that positively impact the alzheimer's patients and help to provide services can you give some insight of the provisions will improve your ability to provide services for the alzheimer's patients and their families and can you also address with oth federal programs exist to help to deliver service to more patient squawks >> well, i personally think all of our constituents are in the

position especially as i mentioned previously that 70% or more of people are cared for at home all of our constituents who are in a position to be at home ed additional assistance as we see how all of this unfolds we will learn better how it can best serve the individuals who are in those situations so we may always have high hopes for what would be better care at ho because we know as i mentioned a little bit earlier that we do not have the -- we do not the capability to accommodate all the folks who would ultimately need to go to long-term care so additional ways to find the ability to handle people at home is critical to the entirety of the alzheimer's constituency. >> additionally i think we all agree that the longer that we can prolong the institutional as asian the better it is for the federal budget for sure, but

families to the enormous amount of support. the conversation we have had has been there is no doubt we need to find a cure as quickly as possible and any amount of money that wecan put towards this disease would be an enormous win at this point but the reality is it doesn't seem to becoming any time soon and so it does rely on care a the families, so any type of provision that supports individuals with fantasies and care for them and provide for them the greatest quality-of-life in a. of time is great but also to recognize the support that is needed for the caregivers across the country at this point at this juncture where we are in relationship to the cure is a critical step and is what we need to do. >> thankou. thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. chairman, just very quickly, and i know that the afternoon is getting along, and i appreciate the witnesses have done a very good job.

i guess i would direct this to mr. hall. can you talk about the benefits of early detection as it relates to both the financial realities of the patient is face and for making end of life decisions? >> the alzheimer's foundation of america is the initiator of the national memory screening day and the reason we do that is just to sort of educate the public as a coal and then allow individuals to participate in a memory screenings across the country that isn't a diagnosis for alzheimer's but rather looking to see if there an indication of the ideas the most common manifestation of alzheimer's disease. that initiative to us is really important because of the fact that it points to a possible early diagnosis of this disease. it is really critical because our experience at the foundation of america is that our phone calls, e-mails in the volumes we receive, every single one of

those families is in crisis and chaos so they are scrambling now to figure out what dhaka as alzheimer's disease look like? what am i now responsible for as a family? what is required of me legally, financially, what is required of my time? so early diagnosis and our terpretation is really important because some of the treatments the are available right now that will offset the depression of the symptoms of disease and there by the person in joyce, the person with of the disease enjoys higher quality-of-life for longer period of timand i have to tell you, traveling the country -- and ensure they said the same thing -- we haven't heard one single family anywhere that house and said that all we wanted was one more good day with their loved one who is in the grips of alzheimer's disease, and so if we can prolong one more day i think that is what we have right now. but additionally, planning in this situation is an enormous.

educating, nd how wearing the family unit so that they understand that it's generally one to 04 individuals caring for an individual alzheimer's disease but the not in a land of the organizations to surround those families, to hold their hand, to walk with them on their journey and support them and connect those families of the point of diagnosis with those necessary resoces and instilling hope which is probably the greatest missing link in alzheimer's disease but if at least by surrounding a family with hope your doing just that, giving them a lifeline and letting them know they are not going to bealone through the process that takes care of an emotional tuille for the family which is probably the biggest piece of the picture an then if you are able to bring in other resources of financial and legal planning and what all this looks like as far as care in the future, those are enormous wings

and the leading the burden, stress, depression for the caregivers. >> thank you. >> thank you. that concludes the questions to i want to thank all of you. it's obvious from listening to the questions and your testimony how important this is both now and in the future. we do plan to move the one bill that passed the senate on the house floor next week and push the larger bill will have to wait for another time, but this is -- i just want to stress how important and how we plan to prioritize this. thanks a lot. let me mention that you may get additional questions from the members to answer in writing. the members are said metdefeat does it was to submit those in ten days or so but you may get those and of kaput work will notify you of that, but without objection this meeting of the subcommittee is adjourned.

justice sandraersations] day o'connor talks about life on the court. "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined by the president and ceo of the alzheimer's research group. how much of the government contribute each year to funding for research? not nearly enough. a small portion of the money is used for research over all. there's a growing population of individuals with alzheimer's disease. it is estimated at 5.1 million americans with alzheimer's disease. that's about one alison of aid over the age of 65.

out of 8 over the age of 65. what we are looking at is an incredible group of individuals impacted by this disease. simply at this moment, not enough money being invested in research for the cure. above all of that is also to an investment in infrastructure that is required to support caregivers and to provide care for individuals with alzheimer's disease. host: according to the national institutes of health, alzheimer's research, government funding is estimated at $480 million for 2011. the figures have been dropping since 2006. why is that? guest: i am really not sure. there is enormous amount of

sensitivity in washington. every single elected official? i have spoken whisper -- wiht recognize --everyone i have spoken with amrecognizes this problem. this disease is front and center and we are focusing all of our federal agencies to look at how they could coordinate their service is better. additionally, start to take a serious look at what is required to be this disease, what is required as an infrastructure of care until we end up with a silver bullet. it comes down to finances and coordination. host: when have we learned in the last 20 years of research? guest: i think we have learned a lot. there's an enormous amount of hope. the hope is in the hearts and

hands of researchers all over the world. i've had the opportunity to meet many of them in my travels. they are incredibly compassionate and determined to make a difference. there is an enormous amount of expertise. probably the greatest minds on the plan is working on research for the cure for alzheimer's disease. the problem is we are not sure what the cause of the disease is. in the absence of knowing exactly what causes alzheimer's disease, we are really not able to come up with a cure. in the meantime what is left is the burden of caregiving for the population we have. mostly it is being picked up not by federal dollars to as much as family members providing the care day in and day out for love once. host: we have set aside the fourth line for those affected by alzheimer's disease. if you are care giver or family member.

we want to hear your point of view as well. according to the alzheimer's foundation of america, the national cost of caring for individuals with alzheimer's is estimated at $100 billion annually. alzheimer's disease costs u.s. businesses $60 billion a year. stemming from lost productivity and absenteeism by primary care givers and insurance costs. the annual cost of caring for one individual with alzheimer's ranges from nearly $18,500 -- again, how many people are estimated to have alzheimer's currently? guest: about 5.1 million

americans right now. with the ratio being one in 8 over the age of 65, this disease has no place to go but to grow. simply because we are not in a position where at the moment we have a cure. but i think the other piece to the numbers that you just mentioned, peter, is what is not included is the evaluation of what the cost would be around caregivers' actually providing care. if we were to pay them a fair wage for their activities, what would that increase be? it is estimated there is about 11 million caregivers for this population of alzheimer's disease. if you were to do the aisle worst, i have heard members as great as $50 billion being added to that number. -- if you were to do the hours. that is being a sore spot families. host: can you make the

-- that is being absorbed by families, the cost. there was talk of aluminum been the cause of alzheimer's disease. there was a statement made three or four years ago. the problem is that at the foundation we ended up with a lot of phone calls from family members, mostly women, who believed they had given their husbands alzheimer's disease because they used to cook in aluminum pots and pans. there was enormous confusion about the statement that was being made. at the moment, aluminum has every other possible component and element and is being looked at as a possible cause for the disease. but there's no definite research

that is the cause of alzheimer's disease. host: where does it come from? guest: the name comes from the founder, who was able to determine its 50 years ago in one of his patients that was coming to them and he was able to capture what were some of the manifestations of the disease. it is attributed to the doctor in this regard. the whope is that as we are learning more -- and folks need to know there is an aggressive move to try to determine what the cause is -- there's no doubt that over 100 years there's been an aggressive move to use every facet of our knowledge and experience to come

to a determination. i believe what we are probably looking at in the next 15 or 20 years is a combination of treatments that will offset the progression of the symptoms so that we will die of some other natural cause. it is the situation the aids virus presently enjoys. individuals with hiv can live a long time given the treatments readily available. our hope is alzheimer's disease may have that. simply because i don't know if a silver bullet will be found. what our experience is, is doctors are saying it might be a combination of different activities, different situations and scenarios. a perfect storm that accursed in the human body that brings about alzheimer's disease. for the last 100 years to now, we are in a situation of trying to find out exactly what is the cause. host: richard is calling from

north carolina. go ahead. caller: hi, i want to find out if they are going to do more research on alzheimer's. i had two sisters that passed away with alzheimer's. guest: sure, absolutely. the federal government is looking at this now. i do know from testimony that i recently gave before congress that everyone is sensitive to it and realizes the irritants. the foundation has been asking for an increase in the fiscal year 2010 national institutes of health budget to increase its to 1.4 billion, and to be allocated specifically to the national institutes of aging. the reality of chronic diseases,

especially alzheimer's disease, really need to be head-on because it is an investment that will pay off in the long run. the alzheimer's foundation of america has a very bold attitude in this regard. the private sector is also engaged. a lot of major pharmaceutical companies all over the world are invested as well in trying to determine by research what exactly is the cause. not just with coming up with a cure, but more effective treatments as well. some of us know that there are some treatments available that seemed to slow or offset the progression of some of the symptoms of this disease. regrettably, as with everything, the disease ultimately wins. we hoped that overtime and the more we learn and are able to implement our knowledge, that we will be in the position to hold

off the disease and the progression of the symptoms of disease so they will die of some other natural causes or that their role be a cure. host: the next call is from denver. go ahead, john. caller: good morning. i witnessed my grandmother being the valedictorian and then went then nothenwh -- knowing who i wsa. was. is there a connection with mad cow disease? guest: i have also been impacted with alzheimer's in my family. my mother, two years ago, a relaxed lunch, she had terminal cancer as well as dementia -- in

her last month. the incident you mentioned about your loved one being the valedictorian, being someone of cognitive capacity and intelligence, it is the very traumatic experience. i feel your pain and i have experienced it personally. it is the one thing we have in common, as a nation, many of us have been impacted personally by this disease or we know someone impacted. this is really the time for all of us as a country to start a unifying our voices behind this disease and really pressing congress to do more. the national alzheimer's project act is a good for step. it talks about putting together a national plan and putting together funding and putting alzheimer's disease front and center. it is really going to take our collective voice to get this done. as a nation we will have to make

sure they understand how important this is to us and that we want the pain and suffering to stop. that is something that we, as a nation, uniting our voices, can do. your question about mad cow disease and the relation to alzheimer's disease has been looked at and continues to be looked at. regrettably, if it was that simplistic, i am sure we would have come up with an understanding of that by now. host: burleson, texas, andrew. caller: good morning. i have a question. you partially answered it. could you elaborate a little bit more on the dementia part of alzheimer's. how does that connect? my mother is in the early stages and is living with my sister. her basic thing is she wants to

live at home. she has been diagnosed with mild dementia. i was looking at a program the night when they passed a bill that was supposed to allocate more money for people to start living and palt home. guest: dementia is an umbrella term. it speaks more to a specific medical state of experiments in one's brain. that impediment we commonly recognized as forgetfulness and the like. dementia is an umbrella term. 60% of all diagnosed cases of dementia is alzheimer's disease. there's also a huntington's disease and louis [unintelligible]

all of those involved and deprivation in the brain. my recommendation is to try to determine by either the approve the position that you are presently seeing or maybe by way of of royal to someone more specialized in dementia, you want to find out exactly what type of dementia we are talking about. treatments will veary according to what type of dementia. you want to truly capture an accurate diagnosis because treatment will make the difference. it is based on the diagnosis. host: diagnosing alzheimer's thoroughly, is it possible that there are some treatments now for early diagnosis, and is a hereditary? guest: diagnosis of alzheimer's disease right now is probably up percentile that they

are able to diagnose. the most common thing is memory problems. it's the one thing that if you ask someone on the street what alzheimer's is, they say forgetfulness. the alzheimer's foundation of america fully believes there is the opportunity of capturing early diagnosis and that we as a nation needs to speak about that and get educated on what are some of the cognitive difficulties, what are some of the issues that we might be experiencing, so that we can hold an intelligent conversation with our doctors. many of us have not been talked about how to discuss some of our cognitive issues. if we were having memory

problems, how do we communicate that with our doctor? we all have ideas of what causes diabetes. we all understand hypertension. those types of common knowledge that we have as a nation is the cause of national campaigns. the alzheimer's foundation of america has established national memory screening day seven years ago. that was not talking about alzheimer's disease specifically, but rather stepping back far enough to look broadly at the most common manifestations, that being memory problems. the benefits of that is that we found tens of thousands of people participated on national memory screening day and went to see a health care professionals to have their screening done. and to determine whether they have memory problems. then the ability for that individual with education, then they were able to go back and talk to their doctor and find out what was the cause of some of their memory problems. what folks need to know is not

all memory problems mean you have alzheimer's disease. there are a lot of common causes of memory problems that are irreversible. vitamin d deficiency, stressed, combination of prescription drugs your doctor has prescribed for other health issues you have. a combination of some of these treatments can cause side effects of memory problems. it comes down to an enormous amount of education and stepping forward and talking to your doctor. the alzheimer's foundation website has lots of information did educate you on how to talk to your doctor. there are treatments right now available early and mid-stage alzheimer's disease that are able to offset the progression of the disease. are they as effective as we want them to be? absolutely not. all of us watching right now, when we are sick, we go to the doctor and tell them what the

issue is and they give us a pill and generally we get better. the commonality of this disease is it does not presently enjoy that mode of operation. what we have is what we have. the most precious thing around alzheimer's disease right now in absence of a cure comes down to quality of life. how long can we sustain the highest quality of life for the longest amount of time. that's the goal and objective. i have not met one person in my travels whose, to me and not said they did not want one more presses de with their mother or father or loved one. that is the goal. -- that they did not want one more precious day. host: amarillo, texas, margaret's. caller: good morning. guest: good morning. caller: my husband had

alzheimer's. he was 6 most of the time. he was 59 and died when he was 69. -- he was sick most of the time. i kept him at home seven years and finally had to put him in an alzheimer's unit. my husband had been an electrician. we had a business. when this happened, when i had to put him in the alzheimer's ward, we had to sell everything we had for the money. it was awful. i am 78 years old and now and i have nothing but my social security check. people areow how poor going to survive like this. we worked so hard and my husband

worked so hard all of his life. [crying] thank you. guest: i am very sensitive to your issue, margaret. you represent the many heroes in our country who have stepped up and provided care, not just financial. we could probably talk about the emotional and psychological and the physical toils that came with being a caregiver for your husband. i have no doubt about that. i know people are listening right now and watching and they feel where you are coming from and understand right now what you have, your social security checks, everything other than that had to be sold to provide care. that's a common issued for loved ones. for people without long-term care insurance, it becomes a

difficulty. and not all long-term care insurance covers alzheimer's disease scare. we need to be sensitive about that. the problem right now is medicare does not afford a benefit for the diagnosis of alzheimer's disease. unless there is some other co- issue that exists that allows you to get mental care and have that scare reimbursed, it comes out of pocket. so it is absolutely a difficulty. i know that you chose the facility that you chose and you spend what you spent because you knew that it was in absolute best interest of your husband and it was your love for your has been that made you do that. i know that passion is still there. i know that you would not change anything in that regard because you know that it was love for him that you did that. that is being replicated all over the country. people are going through an enormous fight because of the

true love that they have for their loved ones. you are one of the heroes of our country. there's no doubt. i am glad you took the time treblinka up because i know there are the people listening and watching who have the same experience and feel they are isolated and alone. -- i am glad you took the time to call us up. we don't have the resources to care for this issue across the country, but we can make sure you are not alone and make sure you are appreciated and supported as much as we are able to support. host: i want to have you go back to the medicare and medicaid role when it comes to alzheimer's. guest: regrettably right now medicaid is state-by-state. it allows the opportunity for different states to allocate what they will or will not cover in relation to alzheimer's

disease. medicare right now, the one thing we were able to do in the new health care reform law is we were able to put into law the question of cognitive impairment in new annual medicare exam. it was a big step because medicare does not have a benefit for alzheimer's disease at the moment. by putting in cognitive impairment in to the annual wellness' example, that raised the bar. medicare will be able to focus on some of the cognitive issues as a result, which ultimately alzheimer's will be part of that. is it enough? no, more needs to be done. we are doing the best we can at the foundation to make sure that we are pushing the argument, that we are trying to get as much done as possible. maybe one day there will be a

benefit for alzheimer's disease. that would help so many caregiver is providing care out of their own pockets. host: the next call is from lancaster, pennsylvania. go ahead. caller: are you saying the diagnosis of alzheimer's is eliminated by any other cause? can it not to be seen on an mri or cat scans? my father is slipped into dementia couple years ago. buildup ofs show the plaque and tangles in the grain. that ise's a pet scabn more specific in this regard and is helpful. there's a need to eliminate

possible other causes to make sure what we are talking about is alzheimer's. years after my father was admitted to nursing care facility, the geriatrics physician attending him gives me the explanation still that your dad has a mixed bag dementia. to me this is not acceptable. in doing research, i have run across a complication called hydrocephalus. it spoke about the misdiagnoses of patience that actually have hydrocephalus which is treatable and reversible, but the family is being sold your loved one has alzheimer's and and there's a vested interest in the geriatric position who works for the facility because it costs $5,000 a month to keep him there.

i find the lack of fairness from a well-known -- host: all right, we got the point. eric hall. guest: i would follow your hunch, finding an opinion, talk to another doctor in the field, and have them come up with the diagnosis as well. the education you have bases some concerns and issues and you should follow them. host: a tweet -- guest: yes, regrettably, absolutely. that is an experience that more research is being focused on now. and brain trauma from war veterans, or multiple concussions from, say, sports and sport activities, all of this is raising an enormous amount of research to determine

exactly how prevalent that is in the onset of alzheimer's disease. yes, there seems to be a significant number of researchers who believe that there is a connection there to be had. host: a recall is the president and ceo of the alzheimer's foundation -- eric hall is the president and ceo of the alzheimer's foundation of america. caller: i just have a question on the prevalence of alzheimer's in the united states versus other parts of the world. guest: age is a prevalent risk factor, obviously. aged 65, one in eight over that age, and as the technology has grown, we're able to live much longer. it is recognizable that medical developments have allowed that to happen. we have had an increase in alzheimer's disease related to that. in some countries, the life

expectancy would not be 78 as ours is your and there would be a lesser incidents. i would caution people to recognize that this disease does not simply back to the old. there are cases -- does not simply impact the old. there are cases of people in their 50s and early 60's being diagnosed with alzheimer's as well. it does not in any way or shape or form choose one over the other, although it seems to be more prevalent in the older years. host: republican. caller: does obesity have anything to do with alzheimer's? guest: where we are out right now is that a lot of the language and messaging surrounding, say, a

cardiovascular health, really is applicable now as we're discussing preventative measures or risk-reducing measures about getting alzheimer's disease. a healthy diet, exercise, making sure we are watching our diet and cholesterol and hypertension and diabetes. all of these things we now know impact directly the brain being part of the physical body and, ubviously, being processed thr as everything we've taken and exercise and everything we do has benefit as well. a lot of the messaging about heart help is now we understand probably very applicable to bring health. host: via tweet -- guest: about 2% of all cases of alzheimer's disease that has a

hereditary peace. if folks are concerned and have issues, it is great to hold a conversation with your doctor and get more information. if you like, you can come to the alzheimer's foundation of america. we have information on our website on issues surrounding hereditary disease, or you are free to talk to one of our licensed social workers who answers the phone. we can get you a lot of information in the mail so that you can educate yourself. host: eric hall, the alzheimer's foundation, when did it begin and how did you get involved? guest: it was established in february 2002. and the founding chief executive officer -- i am the founding chief executive officer. our goal -- first of all, for both of us, we were impacted by alzheimer's disease in our family. secondly, it was seen that there was more that needed to be done in the area of care of

alzheimer's disease. there was an enormous amount of emphasis and energy and financial resources going for a corporate don't get me wrong, we hope there is a two or -- going for a cure. it up to me wrong, we hope there is eight -- don't get me wrong, we hope there is a cure, but in the meantime, what we do for the millions of people who are caring for someone with alzheimer's disease? the other thing we are really sensitive about is making sure that people with alzheimer's disease enjoy equality of life, enjoy their integrity, that they were given the respect that was due them, and then, also, making sure that families providing care for them to receive all the necessary resources they codicil that they could do their job as effectively as possible. in our mind, it does not fall on the federal government, but it falls on families, and it is in

all of our best interest to make sure that they are well provided for and supported. host: the national tab for caring for individuals with alzheimer's disease is estimated at $100 billion annually. alzheimer's disease costs u.s. businesses about $60 billion a year stemming from lost productivity and absenteeism by primary care givers and insurance costs. the annual costs of caring for one individual with alzheimer's disease ranges from nearly $18,500 to more than $36,000, depending on the stage of the disease. the total cost of care is expected to rise from approximately $172 billion in 2010 to more than $1 trillion in 2015. this figure includes expenditures for medicare, medicaid, private insurance out of pocket costs, uncompensated care. funding from the government, according to nih -- 2006,

approximately six harbor $43 million for research. down to a $480 million today. massachusetts, jonathan, you are on with eric hall. caller: one thing that would make that research more effective is different autopsy protocols allowed information sharing between people, because it is the only way you can detect it was alzheimer's. the only conclusions that can be drawn is the autopsy data can be available to the researchers. also, there is a problem with a research dollars being too tightly targeted to specific avenues. as new promising avenues become available, they cannot jump into the new path because they will lose their funding, because the funding was slated for something slightly different. finally, if you are not careful and you get an early diagnosis, it will just allow insurance companies to cut back on their coverage.

thank you very much. guest: no, i mean, some of the points are well taken. there are concerns about all of those areas. privacy and outpatients -- privacy around patients, the ability to share the reports. looking inside the brain. you are absolutely right, there is a lot to be had from that type of information. if that could be used by researchers, that would be great. yes, regrettably, the early diagnosis in some regards help policies and entrances -- an insurance dropped individuals with i'd slamme -- with alzheimer's disease. it is a catch-22. left to itself, alzheimer's disease is devastating. if there are treatments available, they need to be accessed as quickly as possible for the good of the individual.

if the family is the one providing care, the more time they have to adequately provide a plan of action around the legal financials and the care plan, it really does come down to being the most beneficial. yes, we have to address those pitfalls that, but with early diagnosis. -- that come about with early diagnosis. host: where is the early alzheimer's research done? guest: it is done all over the world. i have been most impressed -- i am not a scientist, obviously, but i am most impressed by their determination, their desire to truly make a difference. they understand that this is the greatest challenge now facing our country, facing the world. they understand that, as we are all aging, not just here, but every country, this is going to

be the one disease that is going to have an incredible prevalence across our society an incredible costs as well, to provide care for all of these individuals with alzheimer's disease. the other difficulty is that individuals who are diagnosed, we can live up for very long time with this disease. it is not necessarily immediately breaking down our immune system. we can live, on average, seven to 10 years, as margaret was talking about with her husband, with this disease. i think researchers in the private sector, in government sector, are looking for the cure, i think they fully understand what is the challenge before us. host: next call, houston, texas, michael, you are on the air. caller: how are you?

host: good morning. caller: my wife passed away a year-and-a-half ago from ftd. are you familiar with that? host: the wellhead with your question. describe what it is and go ahead with your question. caller: dementia. she was diagnosed finely at age 59. front temporal lobe dementia. i was part of, and half of them had the same -- i was part of a terror group, and half of them had the same symptoms as my wife -- part of a care group, and half of them had the same symptoms as my wife. it is terminal, but they never mentioned to me that it was terminal dementia. i had to go on line, the university of california-san francisco. there is a doctor at the that as

these studies. -- dr. out there that does these studies. host: did your care regimen change after that? caller: absolutely. my wife cannot read or write the last three years. that lady explained it perfectly. it is the most devastating thing to a family. you cannot believe. this was a young, beautiful -- she graduated fourth in her high-school class, a graduate from college in three years, and believable musician, everything. to see the deterioration is unbelievable. guest: i think it highlights the need for the proper diagnosis. again, we utilize experts in the field to help us diagnose what our cause of the dementia we are experiencing you make a great point.

we never used the word " terminal" when it comes to demint, and yet that is what it is that makes the crisis more devastating -- when it comes to dementia, and yet that is what it makes the price is more devastating. host: last call. caller: good morning, c-span. eric, you are doing great work. he mentioned a few things about the nature of the disease itself. you mentioned vitamin d deficiency. personally, i've been studying clinical nutrition for years. there is an enormous amount of information about how thousands of the losses are directly and indirectly related -- thousands of illnesses are directly and indirectly related to nutritional deficiency, and how to possibly reverse and prevent many diseases. when you said b of vitamins, i want listeners to go out and do

their own research -- particularly b12 and alzheimer's disease. there is an enormous amount of information on that. and also, certain nutrients and antioxidants, like blueberries, raspberries, other fruits and vegetables, have shown promising results in treating many black belt -- many plaque buildup conditions in the body. and the work with linus pauling, a giant in the medical field -- guest: i would just say that there is an enormous amount of research being done in the area. we're looking at how nutrients impact the body, what are some of the early causes of this disease, and what might be preventable by taking vitamins of whatever sort. the jury is still out. the clinical trials are not

quite done. there is still an enormous amount of research being done. i am sure there is a threat in there that will be very important going forward. >> tomorrow morning on "washington journal," and brigadier-general gary patton, and the general the native training mission in afghanistan. frank luntz and juaniwilli -- juan williams. tomorrow morning at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. members in the u.k. unit parliament recently held the debate in the house of commons. it covered sexual indication in schools, the war in afghanistan, and rising to version costs. this is three hours.

>> please be seated. welcome to the second average annual said. the u.k. use parliament here in the chamber of the house commons. -- u.k. youth parliament. as you have heard already because the point is being made, on the 21st of july of this year, the house of commons voted to allow the u.k. youth parliament to meet monthly to debate the subjects which have decided it should be debated. it was a ringing endorsement

that sanding success of the first-ever series of debates which took place exactly one year ago. members of the youth parliament, it was a symbol of the commitment of the house of commons to better engage with civil society in general and with young people in particular, a cause which i imagine by now many of you will know is very dear three days after july 21st, and if i may say so, at my request to the chief executive of the parliament, on july 24th i travel to belfast because i

wanted to be present on the occasion of your annual general meeting. i was, i confessed, overwhelmed on that occasion by the warmth and generosity of the welcome that your extended to me. in return for the warmth and generosity of that welcome that you extended to me, i, on behalf of the house today, extend the warmest and most generous welcome possible to reach and everyone of you sitting in the chamber and for all of the people who have aided and abetted it you in coming here today. i offer you that welcome not merely out of politeness, though there's nothing frankly wrong with that, but out of respect.

respect for what you are, respect for which you do, and respect for what you, as a parliament, will increasingly become. the legitimate and respected forum for the expression of the views of young people and the engagement in the debate on crucial questions which affect you, your fellows, and society as a whole. i know that many of my parliamentary colleagues here today from the deputy leader of the house, david he's coming to the chair of the business community, and hundreds besides are united in respect for what we can learn from your own

parliament. in terms not merely of enthusiasm, though that is ever present, and of the range of subjects that you discuss, which is easily observable, but of your representative and us as an institution -- representativeness of an institution. 50% or thereabouts are female. 20% of the approximately are from black and minority ethnic communities. a 10% do have some form of disability. in terms of representing the kaleidoscope of modern society, the u.k. youth parliament does this very impressively in a way for which the elected house of commons can learn. on this great occasion, i would

like to say something about a very special man who is certainly no longer with us. that man is called andrew rowe 2 has a served for midkent. he passed away two years game -- two years ago. andrew was as far cited as he was a warm hearted man his vision and inspiration it was to see established a year of parliament as a forum for young people to debate, articulate, engage with each other, and to contribute to the democratic process. he wanted to establish the

parliament with a small number of enthusiastic supporters. i know how proud he would be today in of your presence and when you're gwine to offer from my point of view, it is a joy to be able to welcome you and andrew's family who are here in the gallery, his children and grandchildren. you are welcome and you can be so proud of what andrew did. we hugely appreciate him. [applause]

we are now going to go on to the great debates. and yourselves -- enjoy yourselves. speak your mind. speak for yourself chemistry for your fellows, speak for your areas. recognize that is a great privilege and a privilege that should be truly rewarding for you. we are thrilled to have the. we are going to get on to the main business of the day because there is much to do, as winston churchill used to say, and very little time in which to do it. order. order. the youth parliament will consider the first order of the day relating to sexual education as printed on the order paper. to move the motion, and i asked to give him a very warm welcome, i call mr. benson. [applause]

>> thank you, mr. speaker. thank you for this help in this process in getting us here today. we value how he have gotten this year so far. mr. speaker, the highest teenage pregnancy rate in europe, and extreme sam -- an increasing number of esteem -- s.t.d's. this is the dire situation we find ourselves in today. no school in england orwell's is compelled to teach their students about -- in england or wales is compelled to teach their student sexual education. this is a disgrace. this approach not on the back to many people buy a handgun aware, but it has created a lottery. if you do not live in the right area, you will not be taught the right stuff because the school

does not have to teach any of it. the only compulsory elements of sexual education are contained within the curriculum. let us be clear. sexual education covers a wide range of issues and these includes safe sex practices, sexually transmitted effective, and issues revolving consent and abuse. these are clearly beyond the realms of science. is this lack of education that is damaging our society. the most recent figures show that almost 43,000 young people aged up to 19 had an abortion in 2008. that is a 117 abortions every day for those aged up to 19. other countries have shown that by teaching young people about sex and relationships from an early age that teenage pregnancy fall. essentially transmitted infection rates fall. young people know more about

themselves. we simply cannot let a single young person fallen to the traps of previous generations. and it makes sense if you teach a young person the basics of what a good healthy relationship is before that are old enough to want to have sex that they will have the confidence to make tough decisions. sex education in this country is too little, too late. we need to wake up to the facts. we need to look at what we're doing to young people and say that this is enough. why are we waiting until there's a problem to teach young people about sexual education? we are covering up the harm already done. sex education needs to start early to stop the damage before it is too late. on a similar note, if we are serious about our commitment to ensure that no young person has ever left in the dark, then must remove a parent's right to take their child out of sex

education. it would be ridiculous of me to stand here and not mention religion. i recognize the difficulty the spread -- proposes to religions which is why i support the previous government's proposal. i cannot stress enough how unfortunate it is that no young person falls through the net ever again. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for getting us off to a confidence, clear, and cracking start. there are lots of people here today, by it do what you'd appreciate that a lot of my parliamentary colleagues are here today as evidence of their strong support for you as an organization and as an individual. do not be shy. could your hand up. lynn, put your hand up.

mccarthy, labour party, and other colleagues. he is now leaning forward expectantly, and rightly so. we would not want to not noticing. it is great to have the. i called maria finnerty to oppose the motion. [applause] >> thank you, mr. speaker. we are generation like another. in the world in which information can be transmitted at a click of a button, it is unsurprising that young people develop ideas influenced by the media. sexual images dominate the media activity and are often presented

the so recklessly and that it is vital that our young people are provided with irresponsible counterpart. 76% of teens surveyed across the country, including those in my own constituency, felt that they needed more sex education. young people are clearly provided with inconsistent and inadequate f.r.e. however, teaching sexual education to young could exacerbate the effects of the media. i am sure you will agree that the understanding of relationships cannot be simply taught on a chalkboard. and requires the experience of life which primary children do not possess. any primary school teacher will

poll the, promote, and encourage the role of parents as an educator particularly through the impressible ages of a 5-10. it is simply not necessary for the state to interfere with their parents a right to handle this commercial, but delicate, moral issue with their own young children. essentially, we are experiencing is a tragic loss of childhood. a walk down the high street reveals a district -- it is gusting trend toward adult design. our children are being sexualized too young. we must aim to protect the short lived in a sense. s.r.e. is inappropriate within a primary curriculum. the issue, quite clearly, does not rely with when it is taught

that out early and have consistently. sex education recently broadcast found that the main concerns of the youth is, "am i normal"? we must not allow a young man, and particularly young women, to have their self-image as tormented by a medium which often shows differences in shape, size, and parents. we must dispel the illusion among youth that the must conform to the media images of perfection and teach them instead the value of their own unique bodies. i believe that teaching children sex education in the primary schools would be too much, too young. but as defend the innocence of childhood. it is that secondary school age that sex education becomes crucial to the health and well- being of millions of young people. thank you. [applause]

>> maria, thinking four excellent contribution. who wants to take part in this debate? i need people to indicate, and have been told how to do so. yes? >> elizabeth jessop. we would be blind to believe that one thing would be the answer. what is needed is a policy and based to reduce teenage pregnancy rates and to run all aspects of relationships. sexual education is not a condom. one size does not set all. -- fit all. it is a waste of time, money,

and resources. it is effective to launch this in the entire country. educating is good to combat ignorance. but ignorance will be there until children are taught not only had a pass an exam but how to take care of themselves. it is not a question of morality, but a question of quality. why do some children in this country get sex education what others do not? when we have some form of personal, social, and health education and sex education, it came in the bottom three in all local area townships priorities for what they wanted the their next government to do. 1.6% of young people voted thought it sex education was an issue. 60% of young people feel their

sexual education is inadequate. the government has to talk responsibility for sexual education just as they do education, for inequality which affect the basic well-being of human beings. it is unacceptable in today's society. financially, it is highly viable. if you teach teenagers about preventative measures, and dimension at a later time will cost of the nhl's thousands of pounds less per year -- cost the nhs thousands of pounds less per yer. the focus needs to be on people. the number will continue to rise, money wasted, and this is why its curriculum designed at a local level will meet the needs to reach young person. this way, each young person can

value and can be equal. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. the and gentlemen in the red tide in the back? >> thank you. hon. members, we face a serious issue. >> from which part of the country? excellent. cracks -- >> as mr. vinson said, we have a rise in sti's and teenage pregnancies. it focuses on contraceptions and infections. it does not tackle the issues about emotions, desires, or communication. we need to put this in

inappropriate context. also, i would like to remind the hon. members here that the family. will start to pass with concessions along the way but it was drawn to the opposition. personally, me and my constituency, which i have their backing, and, believe this is a complete the trip to young people who requested that sex education be better provided. [applause] >> magnificent. people are really reluctant to go first, but there are people who want to take part. can have someone from the north of ireland? >> i would like to look at this from an irish perspective first of all. teenage pregnancy rates are an appropriate measure of the effectiveness and quality of sexual education in a jurisdiction. we have the highest in western

europe. let's look at that in context. in 1971, 50% were born to teenage mothers. on the 23 out of 1000 were teenage mothers. that is an increase. i would perhaps a to beat that to the sexual education initiative that was started by public safety. this was despite the fact that rates were consistent during the 1990 proxy. we are at a severe risk of over- sexualizing our primary school children. their innocence should be safeguarded, not sacrificed, for the sake of statistics. [applause] >> thank you.

the young lady here. >> east midland. i feel we had misnamed this debate. i feel that relationships are more important and this is why i defend and i completely wholeheartedly degree that we should change it to r.s.a. relationships could come first. they've are key to a safe and informed sex. we need to look to relationships first. i'm not saying that sex is wrong. it is not wrong to have sex. it is good and it can lead to -- [laughter] [applause] with that, with the way you are laughing, it shows that we are at an extreme risk of a sexualizing our primary school children. why should we not teach them about relationships?

what should we teach them all- out life? -- about life? we teach them about relationships and that leads to sex. it is not wrong to have sex, but yes it is too early, therefore we should teach in more context with primaries relationships and then move on to sex. my point is that we have our priorities wrong. it should be relationships first, leading to sex and that is how we should educate our children. [applause] >> who else do we have? the young man there. yes, you. >> john would like to make the point about age -- i would like to make the point about age. i cannot imagine someone at age 5 and telling them, "look, this

is what happens when you get an s.t.d." there are other things that appear ready can bring in earlier. i think it is perfectly sensible. we mention the sexual images. their sexual and education from there. they have an obligation to tell young people facts about sex and the need to keep up with the media and speedy and sexual imaging. thank you. [applause] >> members of parliament, we are joined by two more colleagues. stand-up. we are delighted to see valerie and allison mcgovern. thank you both for coming. i think this young gentleman is

from london. good. >> i am the young mayor for hamlet. i think it is important keep the innocence of young people. i do not think it is a good idea to corrupt the mind of young people to think that they will catch an s.t.d. i do not think you what your younger brother coming home and saying, "today i learned about gonorrhea." in the most primary schools they teach sexual education from the age of year five. they start to teach them the basics. not going in to sexual transmitted infections, but once they reach secondary school that is when they start to learn more in detail about what is going on at you did this or do that. we should keep it like that instead of making them think i'm 5 years old, when 9/11 i do this

with a girl, and this is what is happening. -- when i get to 11 this is what will happen. [applause] >> thank you. owen ashworth. >> my name is owen ashworth. young people with disabilities and the quality of sexual education is the five bought -- is worse. it can get worse for some individuals which have got a disability get in a sexual education because of the social norms. -- get no sexual education. [applause]

>> thank you. the young woman there. >> jenny davis. as it has been said, this is not orout teaching about s.t.d.'s using a condom. this is teaching at 5 year-old still have a healthy relationships, confidence, normal things. they said at different stages, everyone is ready for sex at different ages and it is not about the facts, figures, birds, and the bees. this should be back to when you are older. young people are having sex from the age of 11 or 12. if we just left it, those people can already get pregnant. i have not personally people of that age to have gotten pregnant. -- i have known personally people of that age to have gotten pregnant. we need to teach people about respect and when the right time

is thand you need to teach that from a young age. i once headed someone told me that, "maybe they should drink some more alcohol than they would be ready for their first time because that is completely up out of order. no one should feel pressured for everything. there is too much put on the age of consent, s.t.d's. not enough is put on to relationships and confidence and being able to say no one tell you are in a healthy relationship. [applause] >> thank you for what you have had to say. do we have a female member from the west midlands and might want to contribute? yes, i think we do. the young woman on the end there. >> i would just like to say in the primary schools we should we talking about relationships and

making sure they can have a healthy relationship. in secondary schools, there is not done much in our area and it needs to be improved on. we need to talk about their relationships and sax, but also we have youth centers and used staff who have an opportunity to appear educate. is a good thing for young people to listen to other young people. the young people will feel more comfortable talking to their peers. schoolteachers feel quite awkward talking about sexual education. i think that situation should be dealt with. thank you. [applause] >> who do we have a from whales that is waiting to speak? the young woman there.

cracks i was personally taught not then have relationships or sex education ever. i knew nothing until i got until unit 8. when we went into biology lessons we were told how you actually got pregnant and how humans reproduce. i was actually shocked. that is totally different than i'm sure a lot of people's parents would give them that kind of information. in primary school year should be talked about relationships. let's say you witness ever single-day your parents, your step-parents, your families in general that brought you up. i do not think that in the

secondary school it should be brought in to much more depth, not only the dangers about relationshiphe side of it because it can actually be a good thing. is the danger factor. it is always a shock to you. you do it because it is dangerous. i have learned much more from the media then i had ever learned in school which i think it's just wrong. i benefited from that way more watching that that have in the secondary school this year. [applause] >> the young woman from

buckinghamshire. >> hello. ladies and gentlemen, britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in europe and there are a wealth of social and political reasons for this. the paramount thing about rectifying this issue is education. we need to educate young people on sex and relationships education. it is not just making it compulsory, but we need to have a basic standard of s.r.e. in school. the fluctuation between schools, counties, different years is massive. some of my friends have had comprehensive and consistent sexual education where as i, in my entire life, i can count about 3.5 hours, two of them in

primary school when i learned about how the human reproductive system worked. one of them was in year eight in a biography cost which was slightly more in depth about the human reproductive system worked. one of them was 45 minutes in which i learned how difficult it was to put on a condom. the thing about it is then we need to prevent young people from learning about relationships and sex through google and gossip. we had so many ideas about our relationships and we need to teach young people about contraception, safe sex, relationships, how to get out of -- how to stop an abusive relationship before it starts. it is a huge bang. for those who say that s.r.e.'s are four parents, i would like

to give they could experiment, mr. speaker. do you feel the early mortified at the prospect of having "the top" with your parents, could you please raise your hand? -- of having "the talk" with your parents. other kids if you're watching as well. [applause] every single complex multi- cellular organism has sex. okay? mr. ram we are teenagers. -- we start when we are teenagers. [applause] >> right. we will create time for two short demonstrations one from someone from your sure -- yorkshire -- then from the east of england.

>> mr. speaker, i am from yorkshire. it is paramount to teach young people about how the relationships are and how to manage one but also did teach them about policy and society. the on the way to do that is to teach them for my young age that is perfectly acceptable to have a same-sex relationships for example. i know that in my constituency in the north yorkshire there is a lot of homophobic billion going on. -- bullying going on. the only way to tackle this is to teach children that is perfectly acceptable to have a same-sex relationship and that it is normal to have a relationship and that is the only way to stop this inequality. [applause]

>> thank you for that speech, which as you can tell, made a real impact. east of england? >> why is it so well important? why should a young person been free to the internet and have sex when it is not safe over the internet when you could have a much more different affirmation from primary school, in a safe environment, and learn from teachers? you are much better off. personally, i know quite a lot of young people that would want to know about it and the only solution is the internet. personally, i would have preferred my parents to talk to me. i would not be able to do it. i think it is better to be taught in a safe environment rather than going to be an internet where you are open to a lot of different information.

[applause] >> i am afraid that exhausts the time available for speeches. please do not be upset or any way discouraged if you did not have the chance to speak in this debate. there are other debates upcoming as you know. if you are keen to contribute, please stand, and i will try to get to as many of you as i possibly can. i hope you would never a warm welcome as i call her, but ms. felicity stonehill. [applause] >> thank you, honorable speaker. i would like to thank all of you. sex relationship education is a new topic. i, myself, am honored to talk about this topic. compulsorily sucks in relation

to the education is something we strive for in have been campaigning for for over five years. last year, we made it compulsory and we did have a disappointing outcome. i believe as a unified organization we can make the government set up and listen to our campaign. i would like to mention, as it has been mentioned by others, that this is not just sexual education. this is sex and relationships education. many believe teaching children about relationships from a young age, primary school, is important for their development. those children should understand the meanings of a relationship such as trust and respect, not just respect for yourself but respect for one another. maybe with this knowledge as they mature we have a generation with a better attitude toward sex. today, we are asking what age would sexual education be applied. some argue secondary school.

looking at an independent review, it says many schools have not effectively provided sexual education even in religious schools. it is highlighted that this education is wanted by parents and young people. right now, our generation has extended the on sex from things such as peer pressure and centralized media formats. this leads to a discussion about teenage pregnancy, which is something we are all fully aware of, as we hear about it in the press which can lead to a negative opinion of our generation. and is not the way we want young people to be represented. most of us can agree that sexual education is important for young people with the right education and teenagers can know when to say now. i asked you today to think about your own experiences and tell us what you think should be done differently and if you think having sexual education at a younger age would have changed

your attitude toward sexual relationships today. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for all winding up our debate so well, felicity. the debate has been a very striking characterized by people speaking with knowledge, with passion, with boys, and with fluency. i think that -- with the poise, and with fluency. the media will treat you with respect is what you have done is a great start. we now move on because it is time for the u.s. parliament to consider the second motion of the day relating to university tuition fees as printed on the order paper. to move the motion, please give him a warm welcome, i call mr. james bartle. [applause]

>> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, as members will be aware, a few weeks ago a report was published about the future of higher education in this country. they said lifting the cap and university tuition fees would pave the way for rising fees to an average of 6,000 pounds. mr. speaker, this rise in fees is absolutely necessary if we are to maintain high standards in our education system. the reality is that at the moment we are reaching a crisis point in the university funding. many universities are starved of cash and with budget cuts at some 2.9 billion pounds in the university budget, there is a massive gap to fill. the director general of a group that represents 20 of the u.k. talks a top universities said, "we desperately need more money if we are to