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I have enclosed a news letter from the Arthritis Foundation stating that you
would like to hear from victims of arthritis quackery and unproven remedies.
Referring to DMSO as such would be pre-judging and I would hope a man in your
honored position would hold an open mind and collect conclusive evidence before
making such a reference to DMSO. If this information is incorrect, I trust you will
request a correction.
Our medical establishments have obviously failed us in regards to arthritis. Can
our leaders stand by and not take positive action to see justice done?
In hopes that the information you have received during the hearings and in the
mail has been sufficient to propose legislation on the use of DMSO, I pray for your
accomplishment. Please do not fail us.
Respectfully,
JEAN JONES.
PIEDMONT HOSPITAL AND NURSING HOME,
Piedmont, Ala., June 17, 1980.
Congressman CLAUDE PEPPER,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SIR: Having been made aware of your efforts to make DMSO available to
the U.S. Public through physician's prescriptions, I would like to say, thank you. I
am a registered pharmacist and I used DMSO to treat my bursitis back in the
sixties and have had no long term bad effects from it that I have been able to
perceive.
It took three treatments to completely cure the bursitis in my elbow and I have
had no recurrence.
I know that you have several people willingly to laud the effectiveness of DMSO
and I would like to offer my services as a professional with practical, personal
experience in the use of this drug. Should you need my testimony, please, contact
me at the address above.
Kindest regards,
JAMES F. ROBINSON.
DOYLESTOWN, PA., June 7, 1980.
Hon. CLAUDE A. PEPPER,
Chairman, House Select Committee on Aging,
U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
DEAR REPRESENTATIVE PEPPER: In the recent SIF newsletter, I read of your con-
cern with the FDA's refusal to release potentially inexpensive drugs, such as DMSO.
It is of DMSO and Scleroderma that I write you today.
Fifteen years ago this month, I was unable to participate in my college room-
mate's wedding in New York due to a severe sprained ankle, complicated with bone
bruises and torn ligaments. I had been on crutches for two weeks, my foot so
swollen that the slightest attempt to put any pressure on it brought excruciating
pain.
A young Doctor named David Bragg was boarding with the family and associated
with Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. He took an unusual interest in my foot and
asked if I would be an experimental patient for a "wonder drug" which he was
studying. I recall he was tremendously excited upon applying this very ordinary
looking liquid and informed me I would sense a garlic taste within seconds. All who
were present watched in utter amazement as the swelling subsided and the Doctor
asked me to stand and try to walk! Surely I thought he was joking, but I not only
stood, I ran around the room! After three applications of DMSO, my foot was
healed!
The excitement over this "wonder drug" was contagious as he recounted numer-
ous stories of healings and remarkable findings in all sorts of clinical tests cases.
Upon my return home and throughout 1965, I exhalted DMSO, though my story
was received by many with much skepticism. Í lost touch with any word of DMSO,
and had not heard its name again until recent years.
In August 1974, my mother was misdiagnosed as having rheumatoid arthritis. In
three months, she went from a perfectly healthy, vivacious, 58 year old woman, to a
helpless cripple, ridden with pain. She worsened, her major organs all ceased to
function, and she was confined to a kidney machine. In October we were told she
had systemic scleroderma, a rare disease which few had heard of, much less knew
much about.
