I will finish by tackling another devastating neurological disease, that being multiple sclerosis. It affects 55,000 to 75,000 Canadians, of whom 400 die each year from the disease, and many take their own life. The suicide rate in MS patients is seven times that of the national population.

    In May 2010, my colleague from St. Paul's and I brought the fight for clinical trials and a registry for chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, CCSVI, to Parliament.

    Almost a year later, in March 2011, the government announced a registry, although it will not actually start until July 2012.

    In June 2011, at last the government announced clinical trials.

    I want to be clear. All we have right now is announcements. What we need is action. Canadians with MS cannot afford to wait.

    Instead of tracking patients who have had the CCSVI procedure and developing the most appropriate scales to measure any health impacts following treatment, MS patients were left with no follow up and important data was lost post procedure at one, three, six, twelve and twenty-four months.

    Since when do scientists fail to collect data or, worse, choose not to gather evidence?

    The CIHR is currently recommending phase I or phase II clinical trials for CCSVI.

    I would argue that there is no need for a phase I trial, which is usually undertaken to assess safety. Angioplasty is an accepted standard of care practice in Canada.

    I would, therefore, suggest that we need an adaptive phase II or phase III trial, for example, clinical trials for the CCSVI procedure in multiple centres across Canada.

I will finish by thanking the people in my riding, as well as the stakeholders in the environment, health and particularly neurological disease.

     Finally, I would like all of the people who are living with MS to know that they inspire me every day.

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