The Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) 
Society of Canada recently convened an Invitational Panel to consider the 
scientific evidence linking chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) 
and MS. The panel supported studies to determine whether CCSVI causes MS, but 
felt that there is currently so much uncertainty about the relationship between 
CCSVI and MS that a clinical trial is not indicated at this time. This 
commentary argues that the decision about whether a clinical trial is warranted 
must be informed by science, but should be addressed from a broader societal 
perspective. We suggest that members of the public should be more actively 
involved in scientifically based, but patient-relevant and emotionally charged 
issues considered by organizations that fund health research.