July 9, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE 12671 members of Parliament, condemning the vio- THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE neurochemistry by establishing the im- lation of the law and demanding that the CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL portant role of neurotransmitters, government ensure that no such thing take SERVICE which are chemicals that serve to place. Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I would transmit these nerve impulses from According to his biographer, Peshev’s like to take this opportunity to recog- one nerve cell to another through a words moved all those ‘‘who until that mo- connecting region called the synapse. A ment had not imagined what could happen nize the recent meeting of the board of directors of the Corporation for Na- key first step in understanding the but who now could not accept what they had brain was this discovery that, as nerve discovered.’’ He had broken through the wall tional Service which was hosted by my of self-deception and forced his colleagues to home State of Mississippi. Mississip- impulses move from nerve cell to nerve face the truth. pians are known for their hospitality cell, they switch from an electrical conduction to a chemical conduction There is no monument to this brave man. and compassion, so playing host to this Quite the contrary, the ministers were em- meeting in Jackson was a natural fit. and then back again to an electrical barrassed and made him pay the price of The board members used this forum conduction. their wickedness. He was removed from the to elect Stephen Goldsmith, chairman Dr. Carlsson started to fill in this position of vice president, publicly chastised of the board of directors for the Cor- general outline by discovering that the for breaking ranks and politically isolated. poration for National Service. As the chemical dopamine was one of these But he had won nonetheless: The king former mayor of Indianapolis, Chair- important chemicals that transmits henceforth found ways to stall the Nazis; the man Goldsmith earned a reputation for nerve signals from one nerve cell to an- leader of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church innovative thinking, reducing spend- other. Moreover, dopamine seemed to publicly defended the country’s Jews; and ing, and improving infrastructure. I be very important in controlling body even the most convinced anti-Semites in the wish him the best of luck in his new motions. Dr. Carlsson’s work with ex- Bulgarian government dared not advocate perimental animals who were deficient active cooperation with the Third Reich. role as chairman. I also understand that at this year’s in dopamine led to the seminal dis- After the war, when the communists took meeting of the board, a coalition of re- covery that Parkinson’s disease in hu- over Bulgaria, they rewrote the wartime his- ligious and community leaders praised mans, a disabling and progressive dis- tory to give the Communist Party credit for ease associated with tremors and im- saving the Jews. Peshev was sent to the President Bush for his faith-based and Gulag, and his story was only rediscovered community initiatives, and announced paired mobility, was directly related to after the collapse of the Soviet Union. the creation of the Mississippi Faith- a deficiency of dopamine in certain parts of the brain. This landmark find- Pope John Paul II has traveled the entire Based Coalition for Community Re- world challenging tyrants and murderers of newal. My constituents advise me that ing led directly to the treatment of all sorts, speaking to millions of people, this coalition will work with the Presi- Parkinson’s disease with L-dopa, a bringing them a single, simple message: ‘‘Be dent to implement his faith-based plan drug that is converted to dopamine in not afraid.’’ and bring hope and opportunity to all the body. To this very day, the founda- He preached this message to people living Mississippians. tion for treatment of this illness is the under communist tyranny in Poland, in Mississippi is truly proud to have use of medications that increase Czechoslovakia, in Nicaragua and in China: been chosen as the host site for the 2001 dopamine in the brain or mimic its ac- ‘‘Be not afraid.’’ He preached it to Africans meeting of the board of directors of the tion there. facing death from marauding tribes and mur- Corporation for National Service. I Dr. Carlsson also discovered that the derous disease: ‘‘Be not afraid.’’ And he want to encourage other boards, orga- drugs used to treat schizophrenia, a se- preached it to us, warning us how easy it is nizations, corporations, and groups to vere mental illness affecting thought to be trapped in a ‘‘culture of death’’ even in processes, also seemed to work by af- our comfortable and luxurious country: ‘‘Be hold their special events in Mississippi not afraid.’’ and share in all we have to offer. fecting the action of dopamine in the f brain. In contrast to the situation with Those three little words hold the power to Parkinson’s disease, in which adminis- transform individuals and change the world. HONORING NOBEL LAUREATES They can supply the quiet resolve and un- tration of L-dopa seemed to work by voiced courage necessary to endure the inev- Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, on July 18 increasing dopamine in the brain, the itable intimidation. here in Washington, the American Col- antipsychotic drugs such as thorazine, lege of Neuropsychopharmacology will which are used to treat schizophrenia, Today we are not called upon to risk our lives against some monstrous tyranny. be honoring its members who have won seemed to work by blocking the action America is not a barbarous country. Our peo- the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physi- of dopamine in the brain. To this very ple are not oppressed, and we face no press- ology. The honorees include the three day, medications that block the effects ing international threat to our way of life, Nobel Prize winners from the year 2000: of dopamine remain the mainstay of such as the Soviet Union once posed. Dr. Arvid Carlsson from Goteborg Uni- treatment for schizophrenia. Dr. Though the war in which we are engaged is versity in Sweden, Dr. Paul Greengard Carlsson’s work was instrumental in cultural, not civil, it tests whether this ‘‘na- from Rockefeller University in New establishing the biological foundation tion: conceived in liberty . . . can long en- York City, and Dr. Eric Kandel from of mental illness, which has led to our dure.’’ President Lincoln’s words do endure: Columbia University in New York City. ability to target treatment of such dis- ‘‘It is . . . for us [the living] to be here dedi- Also being honored is the 1970 Nobel orders with medications based on their cated to the great task remaining before us Prize winner, Dr. Julius Axelrod from specific biochemical cause. . . . that from these honored dead we take Dr. Greengard carried this line of increased devotion to the cause for which the National Institutes of Health in they gave the last full measure of devotion Maryland. Together, these Nobel Prize work one step further, examining ex- . . . that we here highly resolve that these winners have helped us begin to under- actly how such neurotransmitters dead shall not have died in vain . . . that stand how that most mysterious and work as they transfer nerve impulses this nation, under God, shall have a new important human organ, the brain, ac- from one nerve cell to another through birth of freedom . . . and that government of tually works. the connecting region called the syn- the people . . . by the people . . . for the peo- The brain is a huge collection of apse. He described in detail the cascade ple . . . shall not perish from the earth. nerve cells, connected to each other in of chemical reactions that occurs as The founders warned us that freedom re- complicated networks. Nerve impulses, the neurotransmitter chemicals stimu- quires constant vigilance and repeated ac- which are the means of communicating late the next nerve cell in the nerve tion. It is said that, when asked what sort of information from the brain to the var- pathway, which results in conversion government the founders had created. Ben- ious parts of the body, are conducted of the nerve impulse back into an elec- jamin Franklin replied that they had given us ‘‘a republic, if you can keep it.’’ Today, as from one end of a nerve cell to another trical signal. Particularly important in the past, we need a brave civic virtue, not by a form of electrical action. Dr. was the discovery of the different a timid civility, to keep our republic. Be not Axelrod’s work set the stage for our speeds at which these nerve signals are afraid. modern knowledge of brain transmitted across the synapse. This

VerDate Aug 31 2005 15:17 Feb 22, 2007 Jkt 089102 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR01\S09JY1.001 S09JY1 rmajette on PROD1PC67 with BOUND RECORD