Bravo to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada for taking the first step toward clinical trials for liberation treatment. On Thursday the society announced that it has set aside $1-million for trials of the controversial treatment for the neurological disease, which are expected to cost $10-million to $12-million.

The society hopes that, by being the first organization to take the plunge and make a firm commitment to the testing, the federal and provincial governments will follow suit and commit the rest of the cash.

Critics of liberation treatment, designed by Italian physician Paolo Zamboni, say that there hasn’t been enough research done to confidently say that it works — or even if it’s safe.

Its supporters, on the other hand, are evangelical in zeal. MS sufferers who’ve had the treatment, which involves opening blocked veins in the patients’ neck, say it’s done wonders for them, almost immediately relieving their symptoms, which range from numbness and muscle spasms to outright paralysis.

MS society officials are very careful to point out they’re not calling for the government to green light the procedure and fund treatment. It’s too early for that.

But given what people who’ve gone abroad and paid for the treatments out of their own pockets are saying, the society says the government has the moral obligation to at least look into it.