January 2010 : ME Free For All

January 2010 : ME Free For All: "Is M.E. a genuine illness? poll in 'British experts say ME virus is a myth', Daily Mail, 6 January 2010 #10
Sir,

Invest in ME is a UK charity which seeks to educate about Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS).

You have allowed a poll entitled, 'Do you think ME is a genuine illness?' to be set up on your web site at
www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/polls/poll.html
which itself seems to have been initiated following the recent Imperial College research publication concerning the XMRV retrovirus (British experts say ME virus is a myth, Daily Mail, 6 January 2010).

This is a highly offensive action taken by your staff and does you no credit whatsoever. We would like to request that you remove this poll immediately.

There is no reason or sensible motive, apart from sensationalism, to promote such a poll. ME is recognised as a neurological illness by the World Health Organisation and by the UK government. Presumably you would not run such a poll for other illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, MS or Parkinson's?

Should you need to know the real situation with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) which exists then you are welcome to contact us. There are so many real issues surrounding the perception of ME by the media and promoted by vested interests in the establishment that it would be better if you were to concentrate on those.

The treatment of ME patients in the UK is a national scandal and your newspaper and its web component would perform a real public service, and perhaps attract more readers, if it exposed the people who seek to perpetuate the myth of ME as a somatoform illness.

Regarding the ICL research this has already been discredited by the Whittemore-Peterson Institute of Nevada (WPI), USA, who carried out the o"