Health committee  I can talk about the costs to patients and their family members. Sometimes you can't measure the economic and emotional burdens just by numbers. For example, many patients' spouses told us it drained them every day to take care of their husband or their wife. In addition, I think what you look at is the cost to the entire family in extra worry.

Health committee  How did you get that number, 700? You're quite close. Statistically, we need 800 patients. We're proposing a study that starts with 200. Alberta has a new program called the collaborative research program. They are very interested in funding this type of research. My plan is to have a pan-Canadian network of trials with 2,000 patients in the next four years.

Health committee  It won't replace medication. Medication is always the front line. But the medications lose their effectiveness after ten years. There's a honeymoon. The main problem is loss of mobility and then avoiding activities. There is general physical deconditioning. So mental health and depression is very high.

Health committee  This study is not built on just my own research. It is built on very broad research. You have exercise. You're walking. You have music. And you have Parkinson's pathology. It turns out that Canadians are leaders in this field. The music aspect of the study I gained from the Montreal Neurological Institute.

Health committee  It was curiosity. I didn't set out to cure Parkinson's at all. Dr. Fon mentioned that curiosity-driven research is the start of any innovation and discovery. So my research field deals with how the brain processes auditory information that matters to you. We hear a lot of sounds in the environment, and we ignore them by focusing on speech.

Health committee  We do a fair bit of basic research on deep brain stimulation. One of the remarkable advances in research related to this issue is using light to stimulate the brain. You have an electric pacemaker. Now you can transform the cells by introducing a particular gene that builds ion channels, and you shed light on those cells.

Health committee  We're a committee on health, not on music.

Health committee  Yes, but there's limited scope.

Health committee  May I make a comment here?

Health committee  Yes, absolutely.

Health committee  Yes, I have a brief comment. As I think my colleagues have indicated, it is extremely important to find the cause for any disease. For Parkinson's, for example, substantial evidence links Parkinson's with pesticides, metals, and other things. The challenge is can you remove all the pollution, and at what cost?

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  I will.

Health committee  Sure.

Health committee  I can e-mail it.