Dear Sirs,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice.

Since August, the PPH has been writing puff pieces on vaccination which promote bills to limit the right of parents to opt out of one or more vaccines for their child, or cut off access their right to a free and appropriate public education. 

In that time I have written to your paper on several occasions, and given a one hour phone interview, on the current corruption in the US vaccine program unfolding at the federal level in the VICP, the HRSA, the GAO, Congress, the DOJ and Federal Court.  These scandals are at the heart of parental mistrust in the CDC’s vaccine recommendations, and are fueling parental rejection of vaccines.  I have written to you that parents are not vaccinating because there are tens of thousands of parents reporting that their children are being injured by the current vaccine program, and that their entreaties to doctors and medical authorities to take their reports seriously, to medically investigate their children’s injuries properly, and to offer them proper medical treatment, continue to fall on deaf ears.  These families are left to fend for themselves, many of these children suffer a lifetime of medical neglect as a result, and because their right to sue anyone for the injuries in question has been removed, there is no accountability on this issue.  I have reported to you that there are now close to 100 mainstream research papers that show links between vaccines and autism, and demonstrate the mechanisms by which vaccines can cause autism. 

Yet despite this, PPH continues to choose not to investigate these scandals, fails to report the true reasons for vaccine resistance, and reports that parents really have no legitimate reason to be concerned with vaccine safety. 

After his first story last summer on vaccination, Joe Lawler was invited to the National Press Club in DC to sit next to defacto vaccine industry salesman Paul Offit (millionaire inventor of Merck vaccine Rotateq), as an example of what the industry considers a good reporter… after Mr. Lawler had written only ONE vaccine story.   Since then he has been writing these biased articles, now promoting another Merck vaccine (MMR) with out reporting that Merck is being sued for faking the data to get the mumps component of the vaccine re approved by the FDA in 2000.  I reported this lawsuit to Lawler last summer.

Lawler seems to be reporting according to Offit’s interests, not in the interests of Mainers.  It is difficult to believe that PPH is an earnest player in the vaccination debate, as so many signs point to some sort of inappropriate relationship with vaccine interests.

So I am writing to ask questions in two areas:

1.  Will you be reporting on any of the federal scandals?  It has been reported that William Thompson has been granted immunity to testify against department heads at the CDC, will PPH seek to confirm that report and at what point will PPH start covering the story?  If not now, when he testifies before the Oversight Committee of the House Committee on Science, Space and Tech?  When Thorsen is extradited?  Or stands trial?  Or is found guilty?  When his CDC retracts his team’s research?  When the Merck Mumps trial begins?  If Merck looses in court?

What will it take?  How bad does the corruption have to get?  Will you choose not to report on these stories no matter what happens?

2.  You have reported on the bills to limit parental choice, but have reported on none of the other three bills to expand informed consent in vaccination.  We have proposed The Maine Vaccine Consumer Protection Act to create a vaccine safety office at Maine CDC to be ensure that parents and physicians are being given evidence based vaccine information, and that physicians are able to diagnose vaccine injury according to federal guidelines.  Will you be reporting on any of these bills and if so, will you do so accurately and fairly? 

I have attached a brief that we are giving to legislators on the three biggest scandals to be sure that you have all the information needed in hand, should you decide to turn away from attacking parents for their informed skepticism and shine the spotlight where it belongs, on industry and government corruption that is harming children.  I cannot imagine how the PPH can justify not informing the public of the malfeasance being alleged.  These stories are clearly in the public interest, and parents have a right to know what is happening in the vaccine program as they decide which medical products to give to their children.

I await your response,