Contact your reps!

Recently the "Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Prevention, Education and Research Act of 2011" was formally introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate (as H.R. 2557 and S. 1381, respectively).

The passage of this groundbreaking legislation is critical to establishing an Advisory Committee to address the issues at a national level.

These goals are especially important here, as Minnesota ranks 8th in the nation for Lyme disease (Wisconsin ranks 7th)!

The bill explicitly calls for the advisory committee to be made up of balanced scientific as well as patient view points.

The committee would be charged with providing recommendations to Congress, the CDC, and the NIH.

We'd like to ask the MLA members and other interested groups to contact their MN US Senators and Representatives to ask them to be co-sponsors of this important legislation. Senator Al Franken was a co-sponsor upon introduction, and a letter of thanks to him would be appreciated.

Click here for contact info for federal representatives and senators.

Your help is vitally important with the Lyme Disease struggle and our state wide support will definitely help push this forward.Regards,MLA Legislative Team



How to write a letter to the Editor of a newspaper or your representatives in the MN or US congress

Remember, you want to elicit an emotional response in readers while giving a credible, fact-based account of your experience.

• Should be between 200-300 words total
• Keep it simple; write in short sentences and exclude extraneous words
• Chose 2 or 3 of the following points you can talk about

• Feel free to use the facts on the attached Lyme Facts sheet.

1. In 1 or 2 sentences, tell where in MN you got bit, what the doctor said and why you are sure you have chronic Lyme.
2. Few doctors in MN who understand or are willing to treat chronic Lyme - give your experience in 2 or 3 sentences trying to get long-term treatment.
3. Why a federal advisory committee is needed.

Letter submissions are handled a little differently for each paper, but you can find that info on their website, either under "Letters" "Opinion" or "Contact Us" or just give them a call.