Repost: National Action Alert #3 (NY TIMES/Steere)

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Hi All; This action is for 1 letter, CC'd to several addresses.

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URGENT ACTION ITEM #3 -

FACT

In the New York Times Magazine June 18, 2001 edition, distributed

Saturday17,

there is an article entitled Stalking Dr. Steere by Grann. It

is

imperative that everyone nationwide immediately respond (no later

than Monday

19) preferably by email or if not possible, by fax.

ACTION

Responses should be/include some of the following:

· short and carefully worded so as not to be inflammatory which would

validate the article's premise that the Lyme community is irrational

and

prone to violence.

· Do not mention your doctors' names

· Letters should not personally attack Steere or the author but

should be

factually based and directed at the issue.

· Emphasize that it is improbable that many who get Lyme are treated

and

cured but continue with the same symptoms, but now it is labeled

chronic

fatigue, fibromyalgia, psychiatric disorder, etc.

· Steere mentions he is afraid for his own life, yet it is our lives

and the

licenses of our doctors that are at stake.

· Note also Steere's apparent diagnosis made from a letter he reads

in the

article-a letter, one may wonder, if the potential patient knows he

is

sharing.

· One might also reference the Klempner chronic Lyme study,

indicating that

many in the Lyme community were opposed from the start to the study

design

for three months of treatment (one month IV, 2 months oral) for

chronic Lyme.

· Also, the only literature supporting Steere is one discontinued

study,

hardly a mandate to end the only hope for thousands of victims, and

we have

science published in peer-reviewed journals which supports long-term

survival

of the spirochete.

NY Times Magazine

229 W. 43rd Street

New York, NY 10036

FAX: 212 556-3830

CC:

Pataki

State Capital

Albany, NY 12224

Also:

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., Publisher &

ph Lelyveld, Executive Editor, NY Times.

New York Times

229 West 43rd Street

New York, NY 10036

FAX: 212-556-3622

And finally:

ALTMAN, LAWRENCE K, MD

NY Times

229 W 43rd St

New York, NY 10036

ARTICLE SUMMARY (for full text:

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/17/magazine/17LYMEDISEASE.html)

The article portrays Steere as the victim who is being stalked,

threatened

and harrassed by Lyme disease patients and advocacy groups. He

indicates in

the article he is afraid for his life, and he has hired security as

well as a

public relations firm to keep a lower profile. Steere feels most

threats come

from those to whom he denied treatment, those with " chronic " Lyme.

Grann cites Steere as one of the world's most renown medical

researchers and

rheumatologists and quotes Steere as saying there is no chronic Lyme

disease

and that he believes all those patients instead have fibromyalgia,

chronic

fatigue or some sort of psychiatric disorder. He also discusses the

increased power of the patient and advocacy community, which is

rapidly

gaining political and medical allies. The movement is fueled by the

Internet

and insurance company denials.

The author states that in 1970, his 11 year-old sister from CT

developed

peripheral neuropathy. The author's father, a doctor, thought she

had the

flu, but was later diagnosed at Yale with Juvenile Rheumatoid

Arthritis. At

the same time, Steere was searching for the cause of a mysterious

illness

afflicting many in CT, which was later named Lyme disease. The

author

casually mentions that his sister's mysterious illness dissipated

without

treatment, as does much Lyme disease.

It also mentions the 1993 Senate hearings where Steere was astounded

at the

Lyme disease victims in wheelchairs. A Steere supporter,

Walsh, calls

years of IV treatment manslaughter.

Dr. Burrascano is interviewed on the way home from one of his OPMC

hearings.

He confirms that there is scientific evidence supporting long term

survival

of the spirochete and defends the use of long term treatment.

Advocates Forschner and Coughlan are also quoted in the

article

with references made to Coughlan's efforts in Massachussettes to

ensure that

doctors who do not diagnose and treat chronic Lyme patients, are

scrutinized

as threats. Polly Murray, who brought the disease to Steere's

attention, has

tried to speak with him about his position and failed and has thus

turned

against him.

Lastly, the New England Journal article is used to support Steere's

theory

that there is no validity to long term antibiotic treatment.

Pat