Patients Benefit From Drug Firms’ Marketing

Regarding “Drug Firms’ Freebies Banned” (California, Sept. 13) and “BMW to Put 1st Hydrogen Cars on the Road in 2007” (Business, Sept. 13):

I understand, to people unfamiliar with the industry, that it may look as if such tchotchkes and lunches are improper.

Pharmaceutical company representatives, however, are the most informed about new drugs and treatment protocols. I feel they are obligated to get this information in front of doctors and their staffs. Often this is the quickest, most effective way of delivering that information.

In the Business section of the same day’s newspaper, I learned that BMW will be providing 100 hydrogen vehicles free of charge to “politicians, celebrities, drivers in corporate fleets.”

So next time I see my doctor, she may not be fully informed of all current medications that could help me. But my local politician is sure to be able to tell me about all the benefits of a hydrogen vehicle -- a vehicle I won’t even be able to obtain for years.

Does anybody else see the irony in this?

Kathi Weiner

Irvine

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So next year we have a German company planning to introduce hydrogen-powered cars in the U.S. Have we forgotten the lessons of May 6, 1937, when another German vehicle filled with hydrogen crashed and burned at Lakehurst, N.J.?

As desperate as we are to find alternative sources of energy, I say no thanks to this one.

Lee Gardner

Burbank