[Ip-health] Public Access to Research Letter -deadline extended

[Benjamin Krohmal]

The deadline for health-related organizations to sign the letter
below in support of public access to medical research has been
extended.  To have your organization sign, please send me an e-mail
by Friday, February 9th.

Details:
The US Senate will soon re-consider a bill, the U.S. Federal Research
Public Access Act, that would require almost all U.S. funded medical
research to be made available online free of charge within six months
of being published in a journal.

Access to research may not be an issue that's usually on the radar
for organizations focused on health and access to medicine, but it
should be:

More accessible research findings lead to more medical breakthroughs
by getting the right information into the hands of the right
scientists.  Greater access also leads to better informed doctors and
more empowered patients and families. The benefit of free online
access is especially great for universities and medical schools in
the developing world that often cannot afford the price of journal
subscriptions.

The public access act would make around 85,000 additional medical
papers available free online each year.

Health related organizations in the US and abroad can help make this
happen by signing
the letter that follows in support of the U.S. Federal Research
Public Access Act.

The text of the bill is available here:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?
dbname=3D109_cong_bills&docid=3Df:s2695is.txt.pdf

To have your organization sign, send me an e-mail at
ben.krohmal@cptech.org

Current signers include:
AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC)
Alliance for Human Research Protection (AHRP)
Arthritis Foundation
C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Chemical Sensitivity Disorders Association
Coalition of Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue
Christopher Reeve Foundation
Consumer Federation of America
Consumer Union
Essential Action
Genetic Alliance
Genetic Alliance BioBank
Harm Reduction Coalition
Health GAP (Global Access Project)
healthWRITE.ca
Knowledge Ecology International
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
National Tay Sachs and Allied Diseases Association
Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
People=92s Health Movement =96 USA Circle
People Who
PXE International
Universities Allied for Essential Medicine


The text of the letter follows:

Senator John Cornyn
517 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510

Senator Joseph Lieberman
706 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510

Senator Susan Collins
461 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators,
             The undersigned organizations are writing to express
their support for the Federal Research Public Access Act and for the
continuation of work on this important piece of
legislation in the 110th Congress.  This groundbreaking bill is
intended to promote the crucial dissemination of scientific knowledge
by taking advantage of new opportunities presented by the Internet.
The Act would require that most peer-reviewed publications of
scientific research supported by federal tax dollars be made
available online to the public free of charge within six months of
initial publication.

          The dissemination of scientific, and especially medical,
research findings is integral to achieving advances that have the
potential to save and improve countless lives.  The Internet now
provides an unprecedented opportunity to amplify the rewards of
medical research by making it more widely and easily available than
ever before.  Greater access to scientific findings helps scientists
build on cutting edge research and match pressing challenges with
available expertise, accelerating innovation that provides treatments
and cures.

          It is also critically important to expand access to medical
research findings for patients, their loved ones, and their
physicians.  Peer-reviewed medical papers already available online
are of great benefit to doctors in informing treatment decisions and
providing patients and their loved ones with invaluable tools that
better inform and empower them.  However, too few papers are now
readily available to the public online, including the majority of
papers supported with taxpayer funding.  Many online scientific
papers require expensive subscriptions or appear in rare journals
that even most scientists cannot access while others are not placed
online at all.  Congress should ensure that the public reaps the full
value of its investment in science by making publicly funded
scientific publications easily available to scientists, medical
researchers, physicians, students and patients.

         As  organizations concerned with public health and a fair
return on public investment in the creation of knowledge, we
appreciate the efforts of the 109th Congress on this issue, and urge
the 110th Congress to take the next step and pass this important
legislation.  We are pleased to be part of a broad coalition,
including hundreds of consumers, academics, librarians, students and
many other stakeholders that have expressed their support for the
Public Access Act, in order to ensure barrier-free access to taxpayer-
funded research (see: http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/member.html).

             If you have questions or would like to discuss this
matter further, please contact Ben Krohmal of the Consumer Project on
Technology at (202) 332 2670.


Respectfully,

Benjamin Krohmal
Coordinator - Project on Medical Innovation
Consumer Project on Technology
Tel: +1-202-332-2670 ex. 14
Fax: +1-202-332-2673
ben.krohmal@cptech.org