Political Quotes

“I note that the main mover of this matter is Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. She worked very hard to recognize this important office, and she did it for a number of reasons, some of which I worked with her on. There was a massive study done on the effect of aspirin on people taking it as a way to alleviate heart problems. I don't remember the exact number, but a huge number of people were tested--like 10,000. But there was not a single woman. It was all done with men. That kind of raised the ire of Senator Mikulski. We found, in doing this, that there were many situations where the diseases we focused on were diseases related to men. An example is interstitial cystitis--a disease I got involved in early on, about the same time we did this. Interstitial cystitis is a disease where 90 percent of the people who have it are women. It can best be described as the pain is like shoving slivers of glass up and down someone's bladder. The pain is excruciating and awful. It was a disease that people said was psychosomatic because it was only women who had the problem, so they overlooked it. If it had been men--and we were an all-male legislature at the time--I am sure it would have gotten more attention. I added my assistance to Senator Mikulski, and we were able to establish a protocol. Now people understand this, and it has made a lot of progress. This is one example of why the work of Senator Barbara Mikulski has been so important.”