A top fundraiser and chairman of Owen Sound's walk for multiple sclerosis has quit in frustration and "disgust" over the
national organization's refusal to back clinical trials of the
controversial liberation treatment.
Warren Bazinet, who was diagnosed with MS in 2000, said it is an "injustice" for the MS Society
of Canada to not recommend that Ottawa fund clinical trials for the
so-called chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) treatment,
especially when the procedure has benefitted so many people.
"It doesn't make any sense why someone wouldn't want someone else to fund a
trial to put to rest, one way or another, something that's going to
help people or not," he said in an interview Wednesday.The Canadian Institutes of Health Research and MS Society of Canada experts
recommended Ottawa reject funding a clinical trial of the treatment
until more information is available.
The panel told the health minister that it is too risky to back the trials at this time.
The MS Society has donated money to fund early studies and "set aside" $1
million to fund a clinical trial once it is developed and approved and
pending the results of early studies, which could take years.
Developed by Italian doctor Paolo Zamboni, liberation treatment stems from a
theory that the symptoms of MS can be abated by clearing blockages in a
patient's veins.
It is controversial because doctors have long believed that MS is a neurological disease that attacks the myelin — a
protective covering around the nerves of the central nervous system.
Zamboni's treatment suggests it can be a vascular disease.
The treatment, which has not been proven, is not available in Canada. Many
MS sufferers, including Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Larry Miller's sister
and others in Grey-Bruce, have travelled to other countries for the
treatment, with positive results.
Bazinet, who is scheduled to undergo the treatment on Nov. 22 in Rhode Island, said he decided to
resign as chairman of the local MS fundraising walk to raise awareness
of the MS society's refusal to promote immediate clinical trials.
"No one, and I mean no one, politicians, doctors, have been able to explain
to me why this hasn't been investigated by the federal government, by
the MS Society," he said.
Bazinet, 40, requires a cane or walker to get around. He helped to organize the Owen Sound MS walk in 2005 and 2006
and served as chairman from 2007 to 2010.
Bazinet raised the most money at this year's Owen Sound walk. His $8,410 total was the 92nd highest in Canada.
The next walk is scheduled for April 2011.
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