At least, that's how it sounds in this Waikato Times report on the first day of presentations relating to submissions on Hamilton City Council's draft annual plan. One of those submitting was quoted as saying The democratic argument is flawed in this instance. Sometimes democracy is not enough, we need wise leadership. Democracy is a dangerous […]
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fluoridation – if you fail in the courts, try fear (& more misinformation)
Since the High Court judgement came out there's been a lot of news coverage on this issue – and an awful lot of misinformation & just plain fear tactics (particularly in social media) from those opposed to community water fluoridation (CWF). Last night's news coverage had this from TV One News (skip to 5:43) and […]
Continue readingfluoride-cancer claims exaggerated? it looks that way
My friend & blog-buddy Grant drew my attention to a story about osteosarcoma at stuff.co.nz – and to the comments section, where one commenter raised the issue of a claimed link between this rare form of cancer and community water fluoridation (CWF). This particular claim has surfaced quite a lot lately, as anti-fluoride groups target […]
Continue readingnon-science nonsense & quaking whales
Over the last couple of weeks the NZ Herald ran some excellent articles on new scientific discoveries and their significance for our lives. It was great! So it was rather sad to see this rather uncritical piece on Ken Ring's claim that whale strandings can predict earthquakes – and heartening to see a quote from Peter Griffin, […]
Continue readingthe daily mail comes late to the pig-ape hybridisation idea
In posting an item about the 'pig-ape hybridisation' suggestion for human origins, the Daily Mail is a) coming rather late to the story (a slow day in the newsroom, perhaps?) and b) showing more regard for sensationalism than for good investigative journalism. The story's one I've posted about before (& I've reposted my original piece […]
Continue readingdrinking in oxygen?
Last weekend I noticed a story in the Herald about an ‘oxygen bar‘ – somewhere where one pays to breathe in 95% oxygen for a fixed period of time. All sorts of health claims have been made for this, & it was good to see prominence given to the scientific viewpoint: that most folks’ blood […]
Continue readingcan people really sense exposure to emfs?
Back in 2007, I was the MC at a Cafe Scientifique focused on high-voltage power lines. Then, as now, there was concern that the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) around these high-voltage lines posed a health hazard, so I did quite a bit of reading around the subject (as always, we had experts along to lead the […]
Continue readingcaesarians & medical hypotheses
Many moons ago I used to do the occasional talk for Parents Centre ante-natal classes, on what to expect during a caesarian delivery. (I’d experienced an emergency C-section, so was happy to let others know what was involved.) So it was to be expected that this op.ed piece in today’s NZ Herald (in the "Life […]
Continue readingchocolate! just in time for easter
For years the husband has insisted that chocolate is a health food. He’s also spun me the line that eating it is good for the rainforest, as the mature cacao trees apparently grow in mature forest. So he’ll be happy with the Herald‘s story on his sweet treat, which has the enticing title of "Sweet news: […]
Continue readingthe amazing hCG ‘diet’, redux
A while back, I wrote about the so-called hCG ‘diet’ drops: homeopathic drops that might just possibly (depending on dilution) contain a molecule of human chorionic gonadotropin (or maybe not), and which supposedly help one to lose weight. Ooops, nearly forgot to mention that you need to accompany your daily dose of magic water with […]
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