Re: FDA has frozen approvals of VO!

[Nina]

Michelle, Way to be proactive!  You go girl!  I didn't know about Matthew Scully, he sounds like he would be a wonderful ally.  I'm sure we could get testimonials from our vets that have used special dispensations and had good results from them.  I still don't understand why they're necessary in the first place, for humans, or for animals.  If someone is terminally ill, and they've tried all the standard procedures, just what is the government protecting us from? Something that I was told by my vets office (on the QT), is that when they are not able to get special dispensation in the past they have just "pretended" that they didn't know it was necessary and ordered the drug anyway.  Usually these drugs have to be paid for in advance of shipment, and my vet has special insurance for reimbursement, if they are not delivered.  However, if they can't get FDA approval, they have the patient pay in advance.  How can any of us afford to take that chance when the Virbagen is so cost prohibitive?  I'm am so heartsick at this turn of events.  I pray that something good comes of it, wouldn't it be wonderful if the FDA just got their nasty paws off all veterinary medicine and left it up to the vets and their clients? Praying for all of us, Nina [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Not even close. I asked the oncologist to give me the name and number of the person from the FDA who called him, and when I get it I plan to call and find out what I can, as well as who makes these decisions. My plan then was to enlist all of you as well as the Marley Fund and any other group I can convince to flood the decision-maker with emails, faxes, phone calls, and whatever and see what we can do. I think it depends on why the decision was made- if it has to do with bioterrorism protocols and the office of Homeland Security or the DOJ, I think we are probably not going to get very far.   The other thing I did was email Matthew Scully, who wrote the book Dominion, which is a conservative's plug for animal welfare.  He was a speech writer for Bush who was so moved by his FeLV+ cat he took in off the street and who died that he got heavily into animal welfare/rights issues and ended up quitting his speech writing job to write the book Dominion.  Given his experience with his cat and his ties to the Bush administration, which controls the FDA, I emailed him to see if he can suggest anything or talk to anyone. I have not gotten a response, and do not really expect to because he probably gets thousands of emails and will not even read mine. I may see if Best Friends, which interviewed him about his cat in their magazine, might contact him for me.   Those are my thoughts. Any additional thoughts or insights or suggestions are requested and welcome. Michelle     In a message dated 1/24/05 1:21:09 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Michelle, just wondering if you've managed to resolve the VO situation. Kerry