At the request of The CFIDS Association of America, this week Senator Harry Reid of Nevada asked U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to launch a criminal investigation into CFS misspending at the Centers for Disease Control.

Today the Washington Post reported "CDC Director Jeffery P. Koplan has apologized publicly and the General Accounting Office is looking into the diversion [of CFS funds]. Even so, Reid said, the CDC does not appear to take the problem seriously."

Earlier this year the Department of Health and Human Service's Inspector General (IG) found that CDC officials knowingly "provided inaccurate and potentially misleading information to Congress concerning the scope and cost of CFS research activities." (Go to http://www.cfids.org for more information about the IG's findings.) The Association acted on information provided by the IG that the "Lying to Congress" act may have been violated by certain CDC staff.

This Act prohibits "anyone from knowingly and willfully making misrepresentations to the government." Included under the Act's definition of criminal activity is knowingly providing inaccurate information to a superior which results in misrepresentations being made to Congress.

The IG found that the Division Director responsible for CFS research at CDC, Dr. Brian Mahy, "consistently overstated the extent of effort devoted to CFS research." The IG also found that "the Division Director, who generally justified the transfer of CFS costs to ensure that other division programs were sufficiently funded, was able to transfer unrelated costs to the CFS program without appropriate analysis, documentation, or justification" and "As a result of these inappropriate charges, CDC officials provided inaccurate information to Congress regarding the use of CFS funds and have not supported the CFS program to the extent recommended and encouraged by Congress."

HELP US GET THE INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED

Support from other Senators for Senator Reid's request is critical to convincing the Department of Justice to launch an investigation. Several other Senators have told The CFIDS Association of America that they are interested in supporting this effort. Please write to your Senators and ask them to send a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno supporting Senator Reid's call for an investigation.

A sample letter is provided below -- you may use it "as-is" by filling in the names of your Senators and your name and mailing address, or you may write your own personal letter. Consider asking friends or family members to send letters, too.

While mailed letters are the most effective way to make your opinions count on Capitol Hill, e-mails to your Senators can also be helpful. For the names of your Senators and their e-mail addresses, visit www.congress.org.

Thank you for helping The CFIDS Association of America in its ongoing campaign to gain accountability from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other government agencies by contacting your Senators today!

SAMPLE LETTER

 (Date) 

The Honorable (Senator's first and name)
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator (last name):

In May, the Department of Health and Human Service's Inspector General (IG) reported that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials knowingly "provided inaccurate and potentially misleading information to Congress concerning the scope and cost of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) research activities."

Based on information provided by the Inspector General, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada has asked Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate possible criminal activity by CDC personnel related to the misallocation of CFS program money. Specifically, it appears that CDC staff violated the federal False Statements Accountability Act of 1996 (the "Lying to Congress" act) when it misled Congress about the amount of funds it had spent on CFS research during fiscal years 1995-98. CDC testified that $22.7 million was spent on CFS research over those four fiscal years, but the Inspector General found that $12.9 million of these funds were spend on projects unrelated to CFS research. The False Statements Accountability Act prohibits "anyone from knowingly and willfully making misrepresentations to the government."

I am writing today to ask you to write to Attorney General Janet Reno in support of Senator Reid's call for a criminal investigation into CDC's misrepresentation to Congress about the amount of money it had spent on CFS research.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. If you have any questions about the diversion of CFS funds at CDC or any other CFS-related matter, please contact Mary Beth Buchholz of The Sheridan Group at 202/462-7288.

Sincerely yours,

Your name
Your mailing address


Thanks to The CFIDS Association of America