LETTERs to the Editor:

Wants seriesTo the editor:Thanks for having the spine to publish Dan Hamburg’s article “Government Of, By and For the Pharmaceutical Companies.” I hope it will be just the first in a series. After he’s done the thimerosal and oncogenic viruses in vaccine issues, perhaps you’ll encourage him to tackle mercury amalgams in dentistry.Patricia AikenHawaiiHamburg’s heroismTo the editor: Santa Monica Mirror writer Dan Hamburg is quickly approaching hero status in my eyes with this absolutely astonishing article.He actually reported on the lack of any government toxicity testing for the deadly mercury additive in vaccines. The same preservative that the CDC claims is perfectly safe when injected into babies, despite a 6,000 percent increase in autism in the last twenty years, is finally uncovered. The federal government can only point to easily flawed and manipulated population studies to “prove” mercury is safe. Mr. Hamburg investigates the history of corruption, collusion, and cover-up resulting from a total oversight failure on the part of the federal government.Anne McElroy DachelChippewa Falls, WImother of two mercury-damaged children Son victimizedTo the editor: I read with great interest the article by Dan Hamburg concerning big Pharma’a inoculation against vaccine injury liability. I have a heart-invested interest in this issue.You see, on March 6, 2001, I had a healthy, happy, fifteen month-old son, a good marriage, and money in the bank. Life was good. We were living the American Dream.On March 7, 2001, I took my son in for his routine vaccinations. Because I had seen a documentary concerning a causal relationship between the thimerosal contained in the Prevnar vaccine and a rising incidence of autism, I told our pediatrician that our son was not toget that vaccine again. Her demeanor toward me changed drastically, but I was insistent, and I demanded to know the dangers of the other vaccines. She lied and said “redness at the sight or slight fever.” She KNOWINGLY withheld from me the fact that three of the four other vaccines he was to receive that day also contained thimerosal for a total of 67.5 mcg of mercury for a single day. My son was under the fiftieth percentile for weight, so that meant he received over 100 times the amount of mercury as allowed by EPA guidelines.Our son immediately lost the ability to speak. He was unresponsive, acted deaf, screamed in horrible pain for hours at a time, threw horrendous tantrums, developed obsessive compulsive behaviors, developed light and sound sensitivities, became susceptible to repeat upper respiratory infections including pneumonia, and was plagued by intestinal problems.We received no help from his pediatrician who just kept saying “wait and see.” When autism was suggested at 23 months by Callier Center, the pediatrician was angry with them. When I asked if thimerosal had been in the other vaccines he received that day, she said, “Well, yes” and she laughed! When I demanded mercury testing, Pediatrics Associates of Dallas treated us abominably.Our son received a diagnoses of heavy metal poisoning from the head of pediatric neurology at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. The physician said to us, “Gee, I thought they took that stuff out of vaccines…But you’ve got to understand, by mass vaccinating, we are saving so many, but there are going to be losses. Your son is one of them and you just need to home and accept it.”I am writing to you to thank Mr. Hamburg for his article and to thank you for printing it. The unfortunate truth is that it is just not going to reach enough people who ought to read it. What do I have to do to gain permission to reprint the article and disseminate it in our rural community?Within fifteen miles of our farm, there are fifteen children with autism, and ALL the parents say it was thimerosal in the vaccines.We have spent our life savings. I cashed in my teacher retirement, stocks –everything to help our son. I have no regrets about it, but it is hard now with nothing to fall back on.It was all worth it. The medical mainstream gave us no hope of improvement, but by going outside the norm through the gf/cf/sf diet, vitamin, mineral, pro biotic and amino acid supplementation in addition to chelation and multiple learning therapies, our son is speaking in sentences, sleeping through the night again, and learning. He still has a long way to go, and we do not know yet if he will be able to lead an independent life, but we will never give up trying to help him.Without any legal recourse, we are left with nothing but to try to disseminate the truth. Please, let me know about obtaining permission to reprint and distribute the article.Thank you so much for your time,Haven DeLayWants OPBlvd improvementsHonorable City Council Members,Planning Commissioners,City Manager,Police Department andTransportation Management:As a resident of the Ocean Park neighborhood and Santa Monica, I call to your attention, once again, the need to have Ocean Park Boulevard, which is a residential street between Lincoln Boulevard and Neilsen Way, re-designed to address the following safety and livability issues:1. increase pedestrian and vehicular safety, as there are about 23 accidents per year reported, many hit & run; 2. reduce noise by moving the traffic away from the homes that are on average set back only five feet from the sidewalk due to earlier, unnecessary, street widening; 3. improve the landscaping by increasing the available planting areas on this excessivelywide street;4. create safer bike paths by separating them from the car/bus/truck traffic and keeping the cars out of the bike lanes; and5. in general, improve the livability and safety associated with any form of movement along this section of Ocean Park Boulevard, which is a residential street, and where there are three schools, with only one safe place to cross at the 6th Street signal.The Ocean Park Association has been requesting City taction for the past year and I support OPA’s effort, and the previous community efforts over the past twelve years. Please provide the necessary funding for this very important safety/livability project.Bob TaylorOcean Park Bang onThe article “Government Of, By and For The Pharmaceutical Industry” by Dan Hamburg was bang on. Hoping you would be kind enough to pass on this note of thanks to Mr Hamburg for a job well done.Randy ToniOntario, CanadaThank you!To the editor: I wanted to say thank you for the article Dan Hamburg wrote “Government of, by and for the Pharmaceutical Industry.” As a parent of a daughter with autism, this article gave me hope that people outside of the spectrum really do see what is going on with our government and these children. As the Director of a National Foundation, The Alexis Foundation, I am very pleased anytime there is an article written about how one sided our government is. This article was to the point and in my opinion made a strong point as well. While I know the intention is to get the news out, by writting this article Mr. Hamburg has helped people like myself and my daughter make others aware that autism is a real problem. Not to mention it shows that our government does not side with vaccines injured children, but instead sides with those who will line their pockets with cash! Thank you!Erica Kosares, mom to Alexis 8, living with autism & Zachary 5, supportive of his sister.Longwood, Florida Open dialogueneededTo the Editor: Thank you again for your coverage of our city’s public school District and their management of issues related to Special Education in your January 11 article “School Board Trims DACs Role in Process” by Hannah Heineman.SMMUSD staff repeatedly make veiled comments as referenced in your article that members of the Special Education District Advisory Committee (DAC) or families of Special Education children inappropriately try “to become policy making bodies or manage or direct staff.” Not so! Our intention is to be part of an open public dialogue about the education of children with Special Needs in our city. The Special Education community has been progressively shut out and marginalized, so that information provided by SMMUSD is carefully managed and public discourse, review or process almost completely eliminated. Avenues to share public concern regarding what actually is happening to our children — rather than what staff presents — are one-by-one being closed.Actions of our elected School Board concern me on two counts. First — it is not surprising that staff would prefer not to have to deal with a public who they view as meddlesome. However the School Board is elected to represent the public, and as such, it is their responsibility to ensure that public process and accountability are maintained. What have they done? They changed a 20-plus year policy to materially limit scope of all DACs. What is less apparent is that the Board has substantially decreased how and when DACs can communicate at Board of Education meetings. DAC chairs are now denied the opportunity to speak in the Communications section of the Agenda, a longstanding practice for as-needed communication. Annual oral public presentations this past year were limited to five minutes. It is not clear how much time they will be allotted this upcoming year. Second — the Board has taken at face value what staff reports is happening to our children with Special Needs and has not developed a method of independent corroboration by talking to teachers or a broad range of parents, or by making site visits, etc.At their January 5 meeting, the Board voted to delete from policies regulating DACs what many have considered their most important charge —”To assist in the overall planning of the educational programs and of budget resources.” I ask the Board to please note that SMMUSD is not an airline, restaurant chain, or some other sort of business. It wouldn’t make sense to advise these businesses on educational programs and related resources. But SMMUSD is a school district, and at that, a public one. The primary purpose of schools is to educate children. If DACs aren’t going to be given genuine public opportunity to advise on educational programs and related resources, then what exactly are they going to be allowed to do? As a result of public outcry, the Board has agreed to revisit this important language at their February 2 meeting. One thing I have learned from all this is the important role a free press has in the functioning of a democracy. Again, thank you for your ongoing coverage.Claudia A. Landis, MDVice-Chair, Special Education District Advisory Committee