Madam Chair, I will say again what I said in my opening remarks. There are a lot of investments being made to this research. We are working with the jurisdictions to move quickly on this new finding.
I have quotes from Ontario and from Alberta that state further independent and controlled studies are required to prove a better understanding of this particular result. The MS societies, both in Canada and in the United States, have called the early findings surrounding CCSVI “exciting and intriguing” but have said “more research is required to firmly establish the link between blocked neck veins and MS symptoms”.
On June 11, the MS Society released the following statement:
These new studies are necessary because we don't yet know whether, or if so how, CCSVI contributes to MS disease activity.
Our role in the federal government is to support the research in advancing this important work. We will continue to work with the various researchers, the MS Society, as well as the provincial health ministers and College of Physicians and Surgeons to advance this research.